What the. . . doh!!!

The other day, one of the lights that we turn on at night by the second tree house weren't working. No worries, I hauled the ladder out of the bodega, carried it down to the tree by No. 2 and headed up. I had two new bulbs with me and while I was perched atop the very top of the ladder (standing on the part that says "DO NOT STAND ON THIS"--yes, it is in all caps) I changed out the bulbs. There are two lights on the fixture, and the one on the right was the one that was not working, but the one on the left was. After I was finished, the one on the left was still working with the new bulb, but the one on the right was still out. A few hours later, I went down just before dark to turn on the lights. Now, none of the lights were working. No clue, no idea. I flicked the switch, jiggled the wire, kicked the tree. No joy.

The next day, we asked Miguel, the jack of all trades, to take a look at the lights. I was tied up talking to guests when Miguel went down to check out the lights. He told Lucy that the lights were working and they were when I turned them on that night . . . The next day I caught up with Miguel and asked what kind of mojo he had worked to get everything working.

Expecting a protracted answer in Spanish, I called on Lucy to help me out with the translation.

"What was wrong?" I asked in Spanish, settling in for a long discussion on all things electric.

"The bulbs were bad, they just needed changing," replied Miguel.

"What the **&%$$%?" I asked. (Lucy didn't translate this, but Miguel got the idea).

"Bad bulbs. Check them next time."

Arrrggghh.