The first time several lightbulbs in my house blew within a few days of one another, I was puzzled. Murphy’s Law? Disturbance in the force? Electric eel over the dam? An appliance conspiracy?

Then I realized.

When a bulb blows, I don’t replace it. Not right away. I simply avoid that spot and do my flitting around the lights that do still work.

Then, another bulb blows. I still don’t replace it. (If I drop small, dark objects, I can always wait until sunrise to look for them.)

Some time later, “pop” goes bulb #3. Now, perhaps, I begin to feel uneasy. It occurs to me that burned-out light bulbs may not show my domicile to its highest advantage. And what if, you know, Martha Stewart dropped by on her way from her parole meeting or something.

Plus, batching is efficient, right?

So I get a chair and three light bulbs and get to work.

Do you see what’s happened? I now have three light bulbs that were replaced at the same time. Assuming I use those fixtures with somewhat the same regularity, odds are pretty good they will all blow at about the same time some months in the future. And if, at that point, I put off changing them until a fourth bulb has blown . . .

I figure that if I live here long enough, eventually I will get it to the point where every light bulb in my house will blow more or less simultaneously. And it will be a beautiful thing to behold.