Shrubbery Cleanup and more, December 2, 2016 · · PAGE 34.

December 2, 2016:  I spent some time this past weekend to cleanup the storm debris on the roof and clear out the gutters while standing on my ladder.  I also tied a cable to my only rake that has a hole in the handle.  It allowed me to toss the rake on the roof above any limbs and moss and drag them down to my position on the ladder and remove that stuff.

This view of the front of the house shows a cleared roof above the front door (yellow oval leaning to the right).  There were limbs and moss up there.  I got up on the flat roof of the Florida room and cleared all that without having to step on the sloped part of the roof.  The gutters at the back were cleared easily from the flat roof or from the ladder above the guest room and patio area.  The yellow "U" shape in the photo below outlines the Hibiscus tree that has been pruned down to a better size.  The recent cool nights in the low 50's helped to clear a number of leaves from that tree.  I trimmed all the low-hanging leaves from the tree Philodendrons exposing just how much the ferns were hiding the lower limbs from the Hibiscus.  I have pruned a lot of those for now.  Some red blooms are still on the Hibiscus tree.

The straight yellow line even with the gutter in the image above shows how I have cut off the palm fronds that were growing in front of the house over the top of the philodendrons toward the hibiscus and above the gutter.  The last yellow line ~ shows the area in front of the philodendrons that still needs some ferns pulled out.  I want to get this area looking more like the photo below.  I have a lot of work to do on the bushes in front of the garage wall.  I found a couple of fire ant nests over there and treated them to get rid of those ants.

This closer photo shows some of the details lost in shadows in the second photo above this one.  There are some ivy vines in there that need to be removed.

This angle of the bottle brush tree shows how much it is leaning as a result of the hurricane.

Here is a close-up view of the bottle brush tree trunk.  When it is time to replace this tree, a Florida Magnolia would look really good there.  We had a few of them at our house in Palm City, Florida back in the 1990's.  They do not grow 100 feet tall like the Magnolia trees up in north Georgia.

And now, for the MORE part of this page.  I have had some lights flickering lately.  I replaced one circuit breaker last month, but I discovered more bad circuit breakers as a result of using my leaf blower via the power outlet in the Florida Room.  I found out the light in the dining area and the light over the kitchen sink are on the same circuit breaker with the power outlet in the Florida Room.  The dual 20-ampere circuit breaker at the bottom of the power panel feeds the refrigerator and some of the outlets above the kitchen counters.

Here is the inside of the breaker panel where some oxidized power bus tabs and some old circuit breakers were the source of the flickering lights.  I have removed three of the four circuit breakers at the bottom of the power panel.  The "smoky" color is from the "sizzle" of a bad connection due to the breaker contacts to the tabs being old and not so tight as a new breaker that is really hard to install.

Here is a closer view of the center part of the image above.  I used a file on the oxidized tabs to get them clean and ready to accept the new circuit breakers.  The circuit breaker that was connected to the broken (now smaller) tab feeds the washing machine in the garage.  It still works.  Now that I have seen this problem, I will get another dual 20-ampere breaker and install it at the bottom right location when needed.  This image shows how the existing old 20-ampere breaker is connected to the undamaged tab at the bottom of the panel.  That breaker feeds the dish washer in the kitchen.

This image shows the tabs after I cleaned them with my file.  The old circuit breaker for the clothes washing machine is properly seated and working fine.  The two new circuit breakers are ready to be installed.

Here are the new and old circuit breakers along with the receipt from Lowe's.  The new circuit breakers have the yellow Square D logo

This photo only shows the bottom of the panel with the recently replaced circuit breakers visible.  The bottom 20-ampere breaker in the dual unit powers the refrigerator.  The other switch there is for some of the kitchen counter electrical outlets.  I knew it was time for new circuit breaker when the lights inside the refrigerator were flickering.   

Here is a wider view of the power panel showing the breaker replaced last month higher up on the panel with the yellow Square D logo plainly visible.  That one powers the lights and outlets in the northeast bedroom.  The yellow X marks the circuit breaker with the broken tab on the power bus.  The yellow O marks the location where a dual 20-ampere breaker will be installed when the X location can no longer be used.  The old single 20-ampere breaker in the O location powers the dish washer in the kitchen.

There may come a time when the entire circuit breaker panel may need to be replaced, but it is not at this time.