I got some sage advice from some knowledgeable friends
on-line and off...
and every time I got close to understanding the solution
I would uncover more about the wiring that was complicated
and still not have a solution. Like a lot of people,
(totally guessing here) I make like I know what's going
on with electricity. I know the science... the principles,
but mostly, I know how not to become a blackened piece
of charcoal splayed out on the floor at the foot of a ladder.
You know what I mean? I have the basic electrical safety
concepts down. But that does not mean I actually know
that the hell is going on with the spiderweb of wire running
around my house. So... I had this issue with a plug that
would not work. Hasn't worked for ... well, since we moved
in. I opened everything up... traced wires back to the panel...
made mistakes doing that... did it all again... made new mistakes...
got great advice... based, sadly, on the mistakes I had made in
tracing wires...
However... I finally got it down to simple enough terms
that I was able to form the question properly and was
told categorically... no question... no option... Wire "x"
goes to a light switch somewhere in your house and you
don't know where it is.
Twenty seconds later... maddening eureka moment and
it the light floods into the attic. The light switch in the
dining room, beside the thermostat!!! that I have, along
with Suzanne, assumed was to on/off a plug in the dining
room behind the buffet - a plug we have never used, is in
fact... the end point of the mystery circuit. Flick!!! problem
solved. Sweet geezus, I am glad I didn't hire an electrician
to come over and tell me to flick that switch. :)