When our house was built, the crazy-ass electrician did a lot of things that were dumb, but one good thing he did was give us this useless switch
It's next to the front entry foyer, and it does nothing. But it
could control a driveway light post, if we ever got one. We have the underground conduit that runs from the house to the utility pole at the top of the driveway; so if we wanted a light up there, we'd have a way to run the electric.
I've been pushing to have a light post installed at the top of the driveway, near the street. It's pitch black up there, and the driveway is steep. So whether we're crossing the street to check on the neighbor's dog, or people are leaving at night, it's really essential. Right now, I have a solar light on the fence, but it's small; and the solar panel either gets shaded by trees, or covered in snow. I want a proper light post. Besides, we already have the switch on the wall.
Mrs. Scotch agrees, but in the the usual spousal fashion, my idea - sticking a light post in the ground and running a wire to it - won't fly. She wants a whole landscaped thing, because as it is, the driveway just rolls off on either side. And you can't just put a light post in a trough.
It so happens that the garden center in town has recently changed owners. It's now run by a guy who has a landscaping business. The place was clearing-out their old inventory of trees, so the Mrs. went there and met the owner, who later came up with a plan for the top of the driveway. His landscaping business has a lot of heavy machinery, and access to lots of large boulders. So between that, and a large immigrant workforce, they spent 3 days getting all of it into place.
The giant boulders form a wall which retains the soil, giving us a wide, landscaped area at the top of the driveway. They planted trees on the right, and mounted the light post on the left. When the light head (made by hand in Exeter NH) is ready, it'll be wired-in, and then some trees will be added on the left side.
So my desire to put a light at the top of the driveway turned into a quite expensive project. But this is what the Mrs. wanted. And you know what they say.
