Computer Controlled Lights Testing

Here's a shot of "Area 25." Uh...anyway...we had to move operations from the garage to the back porch. You can see Joseph in his manger supporting an LOR controller panel. The long flat board at the bottom right is the revised 17-hole roof panel. I have another 13 holes that represent the mega tree immediately above Joseph's head. I screwed the controllers to plywood so that they don't rest on the floor. They are supposed to be upright and away from anyplace that may collect standing water. I'll get video up soon.

Light-O-Rama Testing

I really need to work on getting the sequences done. Today, I drilled 17 holes in this piece of wood. The intent was to stick a single C7 light bulb in each hole, then hook up the lights to 17 channels on the LOR controllers. It will help to see the bulbs blink (for real) as opposed to watching the computer animation. When sequencing really fast songs, the animation does not sync perfectly on the screen. So, after I drilled all the holes, I tried screwing the bulbs in to the wood.......and found out that the wood is too thick. It's 3/4 inch pine.

Not having any other wood on hand, I drilled holes into cardboard (look under the wood). I knew the cardboard would be too flimsy.
Having wasted a few hours of prescious time, I went to Home Depot and got a piece of wall panneling for $.41. It had a dinged up corner so it was on clearance. I drilled a new set of 17 holes, popped lights in, hooked it up to LOR, and voila!

Christmas Train Track in the Garage

Here's another shot of the christmas train track. Around the bend, I made the garland slowly move from the outside to the inside. The track is 5.5" wide by .75" thick. I should measure the track itself to see how many feet of track we have. I bet the garland is a 25 ft. stand, so maybe I can formulate an estimate based upon the garland.

Stapled through Christmas lights

So, I have been stringing blue LED icicle lights under the train track today. Then, I hid the wires with green garland. It's slow going. I thought about doing the stringing before I raised the track, but I thought this way would be easier. It will sure turn out better than if I did it upside down, then flipped it. I'm using those 3M adhesive hooks. They're under $4 per package; each package contains 24. I used one package today and estimate I'll need another 5-6 to finish the project.

I hesitated to staple the stuff because I want to be able to resuse the track for years to come and not have to worry about staple holes. Plus, staples are much cheaper than adhesives. So, on my third staple, I shot one right through a strand of lights. Great. At least I was smart enough NOT to have the strand plugged in. So, can I pull out the staple, and continue? Or is the strand trashed now? If it does work, will it be dangerous? I dont know these answers, so I've posted the questions on Planet Christmas. Two people have replied saying the same thing:

Make sure the set is unplugged. Pull out the staple. Look at the wire, is it damaged at all? If the coating is damaged but nothing else, use electrical tape. If the wire is damaged, cut out the bad part, reconnect, cap it, and apply electrical tape. Even better is heat shrink tubing the same size as the wire if you happen to have any. Basically you want to make it waterproof.

Since, this is an indoor strand (which I failed to mention in my original post), I think it will be OK if I just put some tape on it and continue on.

Package in the Mail Today!

It's hard to see, but I'm holding an Annalee doll that I bought from a Planet Christmas friend. It came in the mail today while I was working on the train track. She's frm 1990 and is in great condition.

Garage Progress is Slow

I have been slacking on the garage set-up recently. I got up the USA tree, most of the backdrop, the large wood table, and a couple elves. We've still got a lot of stuff at storage and it's getting crowded and hard to move around. It's fun though.

How to grow a mega tree

We installed the in-ground sleve for the telescoping flagpole today. I can't believe it only took 45 minutes!

From Copeland Christmas Blog

The flagpole instructions recommend digging a 12" x 22" hole. Our ended up being 14" x 28". It used exactly three 50 lb bags of sakrete. We used the fast setting, ultra strength bags. John pounded four pieces of rebar into the walls of the hole for added strength before we poured in the quikcrete. We also put 2-3 inches of small rocks in the bottom of the hole as recommended by the flagpole instructions.

The blue top is a cap that you use to cover the sleeve when the pole is not in use. After the sleeve was immersed in quikrete, we tamped the quikrete to get out air bubbles, then we put the pole in the sleeve and kept adjusting it until is was level. It took about 5 minutes to get it perfect. Then, we took out the pole, inserted the blue cap, and it was done. The quikrete will take 24 hours to cure.

We orderd the sunsetter flagpole from ebay. It was $125 + $15. This was a steal! I extensively researched prices all over the country as well as our town and the neighboring towns. By the way, you know how Ford and Mercury are the same car but have different names...well, Sunsetter and Topflight flagpoles are the same also.

Installed a Sub-panel in the Garage today

Okay, so we didn't do it ourselves. We had a legit electrician install it. It's a 120 amp panel. He dropped down three 20 amp circuits for the garage display. He also ran over another three 20amp circuits to the south side of the house for the controllers.

He got to the house at around 10am and left before 3pm. Parts ran $382, labor was extra. When he came out in Oct 2006, we told him we'd hve him back in 2007, so all the work he did last year was done knowing that we'd want to expand. Everything is GFI protected. John, I, and the electrician insisted on this, even though some other Christmas light enthusiasts hate GFIs. It's just not worth it to knowlingly create the slightest possibility of someone getting hurt.

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Village on top of the Pantry

Here's a shot of the village scene I put on top of the pantry. I used empty village boxes and soup cans to give height to some areas of the scene. I used one snow blanket and one power strip. The lighted garland was a thrift store purchse. So is the second house on the left. The other houses are from John's parents. They bought a whole bunch of pieces last year at the auction they always go to.

I'd love to hang a moon above the scene. Maybe a reindeer/sled. I looked at Wal-Mart, and thought about getting some mini icicles to hang, but I decided to keep looking.

I went to Goodwill yesterday to peruse their Christmas stuff. I found three sleds and one of them may just do the trick.