Bear with me while I tell you my tale of woe and triumph:

Yesterday, I walk into the room where my closet is, and I don’t see the telltale glow along the bottom of the door where I should.

Grumble, grumble, stupid bulb, grumble, grumble.

So I turn off the power, and change out the bulb.

I turn it back on, wait a couple of seconds, and…

Nothing.

GRUMBLE, GRUMBLE, GRUMBLE!!!!!!

So, I swap out the lamp, swap out the power cord, and use a different socket.
Nothing, nada, and bupkis.

Sure enough, the ballast died.
Grumble the grumble all to grumble on a grumble sitting on a grumble all the way to grumble!!!!!

Okay, here’s the deal, ballasts die. Sooner or later, they give up, and you need a new one. Hopefully later.

I wistfully look over at the piggy bank I keep for such emergencies. Alas, instead of the fat, plump, juicy piggy of plenty I was hoping for, was an emaciated creature best described as “bacon jerky.” I was glad it wasn’t a real pig or I’d feel devastated about not feeding it enough.

Now, that one light represents half of my indoor garden. If I can’t get a replacement, that’s going to sting.

So basically, I’m up a grumble without a grumbly grumble, and did what many people do in such circumstances; I started whining about it:
“I can’t believe it grumbling did that!”
“The thing wasn’t even that old.”
“Anybody know anyplace having a sale?”
And so on.

A couple of hours later, the “… thing wasn’t even that old” still stuck with me.

Pay attention, gentle reader: the point I have will be with you shortly.

Since I keep records and receipts for all my major garden purchases organized, I was able to look up not only the date of purchase, but the paperwork that came with the ballast.

By looking at the paperwork I learned that because I had done due diligence in selecting a ballast, not only did it have the feature I most wanted (HPS and MH), but it came with a three year replacement guarantee.

Since I had the receipt showing the ballast was under a year old, I exchanged it at the local hydro shop where I bought it in a hassle free five minutes.

So the piggy is safe, and I made it a promise to start feeding it better.

If I hadn’t had the paperwork, I would be shy one light right now. Records aren’t just for plants, they are for the hardware too.

Peace, love, and puka shells,

Grubbycup