Several years ago in new york city there were areas with abandoned buildings. And as I understand it, as more broken windows and graffiti were allowed to be visible, the worse it got. Like, the mere existence of broken windows and graffiti somehow helped to create a culture of broken windows and graffiti. And worse things tended to follow. Dunno exactly how scientific the study of THIS strange phenomenon was, but we have a similar experiment in our house. We are graffiti free, the windows are in tact, but our light bulb situation is out.of.control! It started with a nightlight. Small, dim, weird size, odd location. Kinda easy to overlook. Then a second nightlight bulb blew. Again, it’s that damn weird size bulb, where ARE those suckers? And honestly, they don’t really generate much light. Typically only decorative lamps, not important, like the READING LAMPS. oh. Then the reading lamps started to blow. And the light fixtures under ceiling fans, and the front porch lights. All this happened right around christmas, in which our house is filled with trees, snowman villages, nativity sets, garland, and everything heavily festooned with lights. So the slow burn of the bulbs was masked by the glory of christmas.

thenchristmasleft

Just gone, overnight. And the fact that every other light fixture was dim or dark finally sunk in. Then one actually burned. With fire. A light fixture on the porch ignited, full flames, smoke, snap, crackle, pop style. Dunno what exactly failed, but that was enough to rouse my slumber. I’m on this. Now where are those damn nightlight bulbs?