I decided to finish the job. Friend is giving me cable tomorrow. I’ll report back.

Black shorted to ground. Again, history. Hang any pictures lately?

Nope. I heard movement in there this past winter. Cats not keeping his end of the deal.

Do you have plaster or drywall walls? Drywall is easy to fix. Are you on a basement or crawlspace? Either one of these would make it easier to fix. Good luck!

Drywall.
I cut open wall and got the wire out. It was stapled. I had to pull the back of the wooden box I built Around the back of the unit too.
Anyhow, as expected the cable was chewed. On top of that, the area is wet. We had an addition put on about 10 years ago and it’s sort of where the new roof line met the old. Anyhow, I need to find leak and have carpenter Assess the damage before I put back together.
Fun times.