We finally got a very nice weekend to work on landscaping. I cleared the yard of sticks, mowed the lawn, and sprayed for weeds; I was ready to tackle the lighting project.
I grabbed the box of lights and read the instructions. (Yes, I read the instructions.) I started putting the pathway lights together as I took pieces out of the box. I found the wire on the bottom of the box. I discovered it was only fifty feet long. I needed at least 75 feet. I decided I would install the lights that I could, and go to the store later.
Before, I installed the lights, I needed to put up my flag. We replaced the flag because the old one was torn. (Yes, I had the flag properly retired.) I put the flag on the pole and put the pole into its bracket on the post. Now I needed to line up the spotlight so it would show off the flag at night.
I plugged in the transformer and the dusk-to-dawn sensor into the GFCI outlet. Then I put black tape on the sensor, and laid wire along the house, by the flag and alongside the walkway and driveway.
I measured out the spacing of the eight pathway lights. I would be short only about 6 feet of wire. The stakes of the pathway lights were separate from the lights. That allowed me to pound in the stakes into the hard ground. Unfortunately, the stake for the spotlight could not be separated. I used a broom handle and a sledgehammer to create a hole to put the spotlight’s stake in the ground. Efiwym, my wife, was very happy it worked out well. She even told me it was a great idea, even though, it was her suggestion, as to give me credit.
I initially installed all the stakes six inches from the walkway and driveway. Efiwym suggested that the lights could be knocked over when people got out of their cars in the driveway. We decided twelve inches were better. Out the stakes came and were moved over.
I put all the pathway lights on the stakes and clipped the light wires to the main wire. Since the dusk-to-dawn sensor was covered, I could check if the lights worked as I connected them. Due to the short wire, I could only connect 5 lights. I needed to go to the store.
