Thank you and things I will be having to rethink for next year.

[towtruck]

I would like to thank you all for welcoming me to this community. 

And thank you for all the support and the knowledge that has been made available here.

I was disappointed to not have been able to get music synchronized lights running outdoors but I managed to get some items installed before the weather stopped me and now I have a better idea of what I want to attempt for Christmas 2014.

Next year I will start setting up earlier.

This year winter hit here pretty hard.  A lot of my display items are buried in the snow ... about 2 feet in the front yard with drifts and snow banks almost 6 feet.  See first attached picture.  This week has 6 to 10 inches of snow predicted.  So happy that I bought a snow blower 

Next year I need to raise the ground items up off the ground.

I tried to make chicken wire balls to hang in the big maple tree out front.  After all the scratches and torn skin, they turned out more lumpy than round but looked pretty good.  I picked up a few holispheres which are much easier to deal with and will be much easier to store.  Once they are wrapped in lights they look pretty good.  See the 2nd attached picture.   I am very happy with the way these look outside in the tree.  Next year I'll plan for 15 of the light balls running off a LE.

I was planning on adding rgb for 2014 to at least outline the house and windows.  Would be nice to have 2 columns of rgb to frame the front door and some rgb elements in the yard.

My big worry is that anything that gets installed for Christmas *might* not get brought back in until spring because of ice and snow.  A long time for some of this stuff to be left outdoors.

So weather proofing will be high up on my list of things to do for next year.

Anyway, I am rambling ...  thank you again, I really appreciate all the help and support.

Steve

[bassmants]

Wow!  That's alot of snow.  Here in the Pacific Northwest we don't see that, but we get plenty of rain.

[arw01]

Wow!  That's alot of snow.  Here in the Pacific Northwest we don't see that, but we get plenty of rain.

Well only if you live on the left side of the State. Live on the RIGHT side and it's dry as a bone over here!.

More details on the holoballs. That was on the list this year and just did not make it to decorate the 55' pine tree!

[aERonAUtical96]

Interesting on the holisphere.  Was at old time pottery and they had something called decoshape.  Same exact thing.  The 10" said 50-70 lights.  I would recommend at least double that.  The 10" decoshape was 7.99.  Curios what the holisphere costs.

Both say the are waiting for patents.  I wonder who is going to win that race.

[drlucas]

Dang that's like the snow I grew up with just outside Buffalo! Attached is what we have dealt with the last week. Can't believe 10,000+ almost a week later are still without power. I know the eastern part of the country got hit just after us.

Setting up rgb for Halloween was the best decision I made. Getting outside while there was daylight and dry roofs made the work easy to do.

I have built everything with the goal of one day take down in mind. I am hopeful that we get a day or two in January with mid50 temps that will lead to a dry roof and I can get up and take items down but right now I'm thinking I might be stuck until spring as well.

These items have all been through the full gamut of weather now so I'm hoping if they haven't failed yet they aren't going too. Guess we will see what happens.

Those balls in the tree look great! My 40' pine will be decorated next year...just haven't figured out how or what yet. Alan how you going to tackle yours?

[towtruck]

Thanks.

This video is that started me on the lighted Christmas balls: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

I can't remember where I saw/heard of the holispheres.  I think it was someone mentioned seeing one at a Christmas show and from there google was my co-pilot.  I bought mine online at simplysmartliving for just under $8 a sphere in a 3 pack.  Word of warning, do not left your wife near that website, it will cost you ... mine started the 'oh, I like that' and 'oh, I always wanted one of those' and 'isn't that a great idea', etc, etc.  The 10" ball I used 70 - 100 lights, the 12" I used 140 - 150 lights and the 14" I used 200 - 210 lights ... they were just light strings I had on hand, so some combination of 50, 70 and 100 light strings.  They are pretty bright.

My wife thinks purple and orange lights for Halloween and add green and blue to the red and white I have for next Christmas.  I am thinking I might be better off going with SS nodes so I can have whatever color for about the same price.  My only worry is how they will cope with being covered in snow for an extended period of time.

[shaunkad]

Check out sparkleball.com