Christmas 2009 – Progress is Slow
It’s been over two months since my last post. A lot has happened, but not as quickly as I would like. And there has been some bad and good news during that time.
At this point, I’ve wrapped 4 of the 10 vertical light tubes and one out of 4 (started to be 6 but I’ve scaled back) leaping arches. The bad news is I’ve run out of clear mini-lights, so I’m on hold for any more tubes or arches until the lights are available from Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart. That should be the later part of August. Also bad news is that I’ll have to pay the full retail price at that time. I may just push it and see how long I can hold out for the prices to go down.
For those reading my blog last year concerning the disaster with the LEDs, the 14,400 replacements have arrived and I’ve spent several hours unpacking and putting them on a control to test. So far, so good.
And for another bad news event, the PLUS2009 that was to be held in Louisville at the end of July has been canceled. The economy killed it for lack of enough participants and vendors. That was a real bummer. So three of us in the KC area, Tyson, Jim, and me, decided to host a Mini-PLUS. We’re calling it the Heart of American Mini-PLUS or for those who like acronyms, HAM-PLUS. We’ve even set up a website to disseminate information and have people enroll. We’ve got 25 who have said yes and another 12 who are on the fence. That’s the good news side of that equation.
So its on to sequencing. I’m working on the first song, Decorations, which is a parody of Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys and performed by Bob Rivers. And the clock at the upper left continues its march toward turning the lights on. Where does the time go?
Just a short reminder to be aware of any windage in your area as your tree may be moving during a stormy night or even fall over! You might have to tie you construction to concrete pints in the ground or have a pole in the middle which is paced into a sleeve that is ‘underground’.
Comment by reinhard — July 10, 2009 @ 10:52 am
Sorry for not responding earlier. You are absolutely correct. I had planned for three guy wires from the center stalk to the ground, but when we had some 35 mph winds come through, the tree was swaying at the middle. So I added a 4th guy wire from the stalk to the ground, and then some internal fixation. That quieted things down.
My big concern now is the weight of the thing. With almost 16,000 lights on the tree, plus the garland, plus strobe lights, plus the 3D star on the top, there is a lot of weight bearing down on the bottom tier. I estimate that the top tier weighs around 50 lbs. And then there will be snow and the cold that will add to everything. Just hoping it will hold together throughout the Christmas season.
Thanks for your interest in our display.
Comment by tim — November 24, 2009 @ 5:41 pm