Thanks to everyone for your comments. Especially, it sounds like I may not be totally nuts! The program seems like it should work, and in fact does for the back porch and back yard, but not the front of the house. Note that other programs for different lights do work in the front of the house.
So, adding the scene, as i indicated, seems to have fixed the problem !! i do not understand why it was necessary, but it is working so i will leave as it is .. Like the rest of you, if i insist in understanding this, i can kiss off too many hours over the next weeks just to prove i can beat the ())#& computer.
Thanks again .. really appreciated. if i do figure it out, i will post.
Tom