Who knew that ladders could be so expensive, when wielded by electricians? Our electricians came back today, to replace our collection of errant smoke alarms (we're convinced that we were ripped off by the [different] electrician who installed them); to replace non-LED lights under the kitchen cabinets with some more eco-friendly ones, and to help reset our outside lights/Ring camera, which has, at this corner, been dysfunctional ever since Spectrum changed our modem, put us on a new network, and - presumably in company with the rest of Los Feliz and beyond - created havoc for all the devices connected with it until we righted them.
$250, I queried the electricians, when they presented me with a quotation this morning before starting on the work. $250?? That's the cost of hiring the ladder, they said. They were apologetic; they knew it was a rip-off - but that's what their employers charge. At this point, I was on the point of going out and buying a ladder, but the problem is all too clear: Alice and I know perfectly well that we can't carry or lift or erect a tall stepladder like this (we tried with a shorter one in Santa Fe, and our neighbor nearly wrecked his back with it, too) - as today's electricians themselves pointed out, grunting, these things are heavy. But at least the lights and camera are working again, so we ought to get lots of little videos of skunks and possums again.
