With nearly every exterior light not working, we soon found the culprits: Wires were scattered with butt and screw-on connectors while other wires were cut without protection on the ends and therefore frayed ends splayed. Still more wires were leading to, well, unused wires. And all of this was apparently our Cortez’s norm.

Andy and I stood back to look long and hard at our work.  Even though it was a small task, this was our first job we could see, our first visual gratification . . .