Category Archives: Critters

It’s been four days and so far the candy cane lights are intact. Every year for the past three years the wire has been cut at least once – we believe that the rabbits are biting through them somehow for some reason.

So far, so good. I love this view.

No new lights, but I wanted to highlight one touch I added this year.

There’s a bunch of lights over the garage that are anchored at both sides, go up over the beam at the roofline, and are sort of bunched up into a “clot” of lights hanging down on both sides. Visually, it’s always reminded me of a black widow spider web.

Just before we do the Christmas lights, we do Halloween, and I have two large, fake spiders…

No one’s said anything, but you know they’re thinking things.

I like it.

I think it’s finished.

There are, in theory, two or three open plugs for more light strings, but the other issue with this house is that there aren’t as many plants or landscaping features to put lights on.

I have more lights, so maybe some brilliant stroke of insight will strike and I’ll be able to add a few more lights.

Probably not. Time to turn to the tree and the cards. (Reminder, if you’ve gotten cards in the past and you’ve moved in the last two years, email your new address to me. If you haven’t gotten cards in the past but want to get on the massive “Christmas card list from Hell,” let me know and send me your address.”

First and foremost, to answer the major burning question of yesterday, YES!

You can fit an 8′ ladder into a Honda Fit. Hissy was so proud of herself!

(FYI, do not try to fit an 8′ 2″ ladder into a Honda Fit…)

Today I got 90% of the “aerial” lights put up, i.e., those that require a ladder to be climbed to be mounted along the gutters or roof flashing. My legs are cramping and aching appropriately. (I’m hobbling around like an old man. Wait…)

I also got a start with the first three of the “ground” light strings with eight or nine more to go tomorrow. The final total will depend on when I start blowing circuit breakers. The good news for the light count and the limitations in the home circuitry is that today’s LED lights use MUCH less power than the old mini incandescent lights, so now (for example, the lights to the left of the driveway) I can put in 600 mini LEDs to replace 75 or 125 mini incandescent lights. I’ve still got a ton of the incandescent lights, but many are decades old and starting to fail, so as they go they get replaced with three or four times as many LEDs using the same amount of power.

The incandescent lights have a much warmer color to them, but at least now the LEDs are as bright as the incandescents. When the LEDs first came out they were MUCH dimmer and I didn’t get them, but that’s changed a lot. I still use the big incandescent C9 bulbs along the roof line, and I’m finding that getting up on the 20′ extention ladder to get up to the peak of the roof on the end of the house is getting tougher (and more dangerous) every year. So far this year there haven’t been any falls! (Unlike the previous two years, but we don’t speak of those things. No hospital visits necessary, but there have been some “interesting” experiences.)