you don't light up my life

Life loves to update my essays.

Two Saturdays ago, I told you about the Moravian punched tin light fixtures that grace my patio -- and how difficult it is to change the light bulbs when they burn out (a goodson-toddman morning). With our fluctuating voltage and frequent lightning strikes, the bulbs die young. At least, younger than should.

Several readers made an excellent suggestion. Because changing the bulbs is so difficult, I should swap out the bulbs with LED lights. LEDs are expensive, but they are supposed to allow capital recapture by lasting longer than I will.

I say it was an "excellent" suggestion because I had already thought of it. On my last light bulb frenzy, I swapped out dead incandescent bulbs with LEDs purchased at either Home Depot or Sam's Club in Manzanillo. I cannot remember which.

I had actually experimented with two LED bulbs purchased locally about eighteen months. Both of them burned out within seven months. When I returned to our local light store, the clerk told me the bulbs lasted only a year or two. At least, they were not very expensive. That may be the reason they did not last.

But the bulbs I purchased in Manzanillo were expensive. I made certain that they were designed for outdoor use (I still think that is a factor with the short life of incandescent bulbs) and that they had no other obvious restrictions.

Installing them was difficult. They are slightly longer than the incandescent bulbs. That makes it next to impossible to use the "easy" installation method I have developed over the years. But I managed to get two fixtures set up with LED lights. That was last March. I remember because my brother helped me install the bulbs.

Yesterday I grabbed an LED bulb and climbed my ladder to discover that the first burnt-out bulb was one of the LED bulbs I installed last March. It lasted only seven months. Just like the cheap LED bulbs. Of course, the second burnt-out bulb was the same.

That means I spent the extra money for LEDs and got the life expectancy of an incandescent bulb. You would almost think the government had contracted for my light bulb supply.

It is possible that I am not buying the correct LED bulbs. A reader in Barra de Navidad installed LEDs at her house and they have lasted for years. That eliminates my voltage-lightning theory. Or, at least, calls it into question.

LEDs seem to be the answer. I just need to find the correct bulbs. And I know just where to go for that information.

Readers -- I am at your mercy.

And, if all goes well, there will soon be another essay to update.

A writer's life is always blessed.