We’ve reset all of the circuits, run a test, and all of the lights are back on for tonight, and hopefully until New Year’s Eve.
Again, we’re sorry for any incovenience if you drove by last night and found a dark front yard. We’ve got to find out a way to minimize this problem, but not sure what the solution is at this point.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
The rain today caused several of our circuits to blow, so there won’t be a show tonight. We hope that we can get things dried out tomorrow so the show will run tomorrow night, but be sure to check here before driving over. Sorry for any inconvenience. Mother nature has struck again.
We’ve had a lot of cars stop and see our Christmas lights display this year, and particularly over the past weekend. At one time we had eight cars out front, jockeying for the best position to see the entire show. Had a limo on Friday, and on Saturday, had a person from Ecuador stop to see the show. She said she’d never seen anything like it. She’s coming back with her kids tonight.
We also have been written up on another webpage, http://www.kansastravel.org/kansascitychristmasdisplays.htm, which lists known displays of significance in the Johnson County Kansas area. Check it out and stop by the other displays with family and friends.
If you’re wondering about the heading, this year has been a real challenge to keep the lights on. The LEDs that I purchased for the mega tree and the two front oak trees were meant for a static display and not one that produces an animated show where the lights are on/off, and fade in and out. I bought them from the same source as the ones from last year, which worked very well, but the source used a new vendor in China. Evidently the QC wasn’t the best. The result is that I’ve replaced around 40 strings of lights, and that task is very difficult when working on the mega tree. On top of that, its been very cold, and I find that I need the dexterity of bare hands to do the switch out. The good news is that I can turn all of the lights in for replacements with 2009 lights that, I’m assured, will have been thoroughly tested while being driven by animated light controllers.
So every night I cross my fingers that everything will be working properly. Especially the week of Christmas as it is anticipated that we will have a lot of people stopping to enjoy the show. I would be very disappointed to have people stop and they weren’t able to see the show as planned.
I’m also working on video of the show. I did some shooting last week, but cars kept getting in the way. So Friday morning, I was out front at 7:15am to shoot video. Unfortunately I didn’t time the sunrise properly because it got light early than anticipated. I’ve decided I need to be shooting at 6:30am instead. However, the temperature has been just above 0ºF the last couple of morning, so I’ve passed. Don’t want to turn into a popsicle three days before Christmas. I’ll get it accomplished and uploaded as soon as everything comes together.