| Before we look at the
Christmas lights, I thought I'd show a little more about Christmas light
installation. If you missed my installation tips in
2004, please be sure to review them too. |
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| I store my lights in large plastic boxes. Each box or set of
boxes contains a related set of lights: mixed colors for the house, single
colors for bushes, and clear lights for bushes. |
I put each string into its own plastic bag and label each
bag. This keeps the strings from getting too tangled, and makes it easier to
install the following year knowing exactly where each string goes. |
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Here is a new toy I got in 2005 - a Christmas light tester
aka buzz box. On top of it is my now-retired Radio Shack continuity tester. The
SF-102 buzz box makes finding dead bulbs trivial. Just plug the problematic string of
lights into the box, push the red button, and use your ears to find the bad
bulb. It will buzz loudly. For a Christmas light nut like me, the light
tester is worth its weight in gold. |
| I also diagram the basic layout and all connections. In 2005
I split my lights across four 15 amp circuits and tested each one with an
amp meter to make
sure I wasn't exceeding the current limit. The last thing I want to do is
burn my house down with Christmas lights! FYI, my electric bill was about
25% higher in December. |
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| I found that with using my reach stick, I was able to
minimize the number of times I had to move my big ladder. Moving the small
ladder is easy. I can barely move the big one by myself. |
Notice that the lights are on as I am installing them so
I
know immediately if any strings or bulbs are not working while I still have
the ladders up on the house. Having to drag the ladders out again for
repairs is to be avoided. |
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| It would be tough to get any ladder up on the garage roof, and
I'd rather not hang over the top roof. This is another place where my reach
stick comes in handy. |
My big helper. He likes climbing the ladder and going on the
roof. I am more nervous about him being on the roof than he is. |
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| Here I am demonstrating how to use my reach stick. Its just
an old piece of wood trim that I cut a notch in one end. I use it to hook
the lights over cup hooks that I previously (over the summer in warm
weather) screwed into the wood facing. |
Nobody will notice if you
replace an occasional burned out
colored bulb with a clear one. However, the reverse is not true. |
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| Just like in 2001,
there was a fantastic sunset on the day I put up my Christmas lights. Enough
installation, time to see the lights! |
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| What a job! I hung every
single light myself. |
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| My house looked even nicer after a late December
snowstorm. |
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| The picture above is my favorite from
2005. At some point I put colored lights on the
small trees near the curb. I said I would not repeat my "candy cane trees"
from 2002 and I didn't. I think these look better. |
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| Day and night, from the left... |
and from the right. |
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| Merry
Christmas 2005! And as always, please remember that Christmas Spirit is not
what you drink. |
