I Got Those Lights Up ..
I was talking about putting up a few posts ago. The weather on Saturday was awesome and made it a pleasant job, instead of a hand numbing job. Most years my hands and face are frozen during the process of putting up the Christmas lights. It took me a few hours to do and surprisingly I didn't run into to many problems.
Last year I had a few strands that were cut by some IDIOT who must hold it against us for celebrating Christmas. I noticed that most of my lights were out and upon closer inspection, found them to be cut in several different spots. It was so irritating to me. What a ignorant and destructive thing to do.. but it is the season for forgiveness, so I forgave and move past it. I made the repairs and was able to salvage a few strands.
Every year I start near the Garage and work my way toward the other side of the house. When we built the home, we had the electrician install outlets in the soffit that operate off a switch by the front door. It makes it very easy to just turn them on and off. No running outdoors in the freezing cold to unplug them.
I keep the whole process as simple as possible and don't go to extremes. I am not afraid of heights, but don't trust myself to climb on the roof to hang them up high. Maybe when I was younger and didn't fear broken bones as much, I would have scaled the roof line. I think they will look just fine where I can reach to place them.
You can see my tote full of lights in the foreground. Several years ago, I traded in the old incandescent lights for led ones. They use a lot less electricity and look just as pretty.
I always wrap the columns in garland then wrap lights around them too. I've noticed that the garland is showing its age this year. I had to sweep up a lot of needles that are now falling off of it. We may only get a few more years out of them, before needing new pieces. It's sad because these were once my wife's grandmom's pieces of garland. I remember wrapping the columns outside of her condo with them every year. They lasted a long time for us.
On occasion, I have to think outside of the box and figure out how to attach the lights to parts of the house, in a temporary manner. It this particular case, I used a wire tie. I left the cut end a little long and slid it in between the aluminum wrapping and the vinyl siding. Works like a charm!
I bought this telescopic folding ladder a few years ago and absolutely love it! Easy up and easy down. It extends about 13 feet (they make smaller and taller ones) and gets me just high enough to get the job done. I wish I had a really tall ladder, but storing it would be a pain. And YES.. That's a beer sitting there. It was my reward for making it down the other side of the column without one bout of stress or mumbling to myself.
This is from a somewhat local (Pennsylvania) brewery called Evil Genius.. Purple Monkey Dishwasher - a Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter with an ABV of 6.7%. It was the perfect mid-task treat.
Now that my beer break is over and the clouds are beginning to roll in, it's time to wrap the lights around these 18 foot tall Arborvitae. I can not reach the tops of them with the ladders I own, so I resort to a pole I rigged up with a little extension. The extension has a hook at the end of it that keeps the wire at the tip until I get the lights where I want them. It may not look pretty, but it has really worked quite well for me.
The lights are all up and I am ready to flick the switch to see how they look. It's not quite dark enough yet, so I take a quick walk around the house to admire the sun setting over the lake. I hear the geese squawking back and forth between the duck quacks. Other than that, things are pretty quiet. It wasn't a spectacular sunset, but pretty nonetheless.
It's about that time!!! A flick of the switch and their lit. Not to bad.. not too bad at all. I wish I could get them up to the peaks, but am satisfied with what I could do. Maybe one of these years I'll rent a tall ladder or pay someone with a lift to put them up high.
We also put the wreath up. I felt sort of weird turning on the lights so early, but driving through the neighborhoods, I notice I am not alone. I was talking about it with my wife and she said that people are probably needing a little joy, a little sooner than normal this year. I believe her. I do think we are starting the celebration early to help pull ourselves out of Covidepression. (don't steal the term I came up with haha)
I also put up a small tree, to the right of the front door, covered in the same lights.
One last picture that is more artistic than the others. I wanted to take one for my cover shot. I always did like taking artistic shots, and this one is the perfect one to finish out my post. We'll enjoy these lights for a few weeks past Christmas, then they will come down. Hopefully we get a warm day in January, so I can do that and not freeze my butt off while doing it.
Thank you for swinging by my blog and checking out the post. Have a great day!
“Colored lights blink on and off, racing across the green boughs. Their reflections dance across exquisite glass globes and splinter into shards against tinsel thread and garlands of metallic filaments that disappear underneath the other ornaments and finery... All it needs is a glance from you to come alive.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
All words, pictures and art pieces are the sole property of B D Miller Gallery, unless otherwise noted and credited, and are not to be reproduced or copied without the prior written consent of B D Miller Gallery.
About Me ~ The Artist
My art work incorporates a wide variety of subject matter, including landscape, seascape, cityscape, and still life images. My works are the product of a continuing process of exploration through which I seek to portray personal and visionary interpretations of my surroundings. My paintings are impressions of places and events from everyday life, an interpretation of my imagination, and personal responses to what I see and feel on a daily basis. More recently I have invested generous amounts of time into my landscape painting. I am surrounded by natural and man made beauty, which inherently presents itself in the tri-state area, and almost demands that I paint it.
Not everything is art. Art is not everything, but it comes close. Art is everywhere and all the time. Art makes you experience the beauty of the world, the people in it, and the places we call home. Art itself is so influential that it can tell stories, show feelings, and express passion or fury. Art exists in addition to language; expression of sensations and thoughts, revealing a way of thinking too subtle and delicate for words.
For me art requires love, honesty and perseverance. In return, it reveals some personal, non-analyzable, and creative untamed passion. For the public, art with its magnificent beauty, improves mood and health and builds better human beings and communities. It engages the intellect, softens the heart, strengthens the soul and frees the spirit.
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They can be found for sale on
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Very nice house lights, it's beginning to look like Christmas.
It sure is! 😁 Thank you
MMM, Peanut butter porter, that sounds amazing. I was at a place in Grand Rapids, MI that brewed their own a while ago and it was really fantastic. We have some trees that I made out of tomato cages that we put in our front yard. That is about all we do in terms of lights outside. We will be doing a bit more inside this year. Last year we didn't even put up a tree because we were still reeling from the flood damage to our basement.
Yeah.. It was very good. And the six pack is gone now..lol. Grand Rapids sounds like a cool place in my book.. I think I'll try for a summer trip rather than winter hehe.
Tomato cage trees?? Sounds like a neat project. and flood damage.. uggggg.. that SUCKS! Been there and that is not fun at all.
!ENGAGE 20
Yeah, Grand Rapids is a really fun town. I love it when I have a conference there. My wife and I were supposed to go see Elton John at the college venue there, but it got postponed until 2022.
ENGAGEtokens.You have decorated the portico very nicely, most of my lights are already damaged so I have to buy new ones. Here, people are already decorating their homes and I can't wait to see the beautiful holiday season. Everything will be so beautiful and Kharkiv will become a lively city...
Kharkiv? Ukraine? Sweet. That's a big city. I used to have a friend that lived nearby. He used to talk about Freedom Square being the place to go for the Christmas Festival.. I wonder if they will have it this year..
I am looking forward to the lights and festive feeling.. we need some joy in the world 😊
Yap, I live in Kharkiv, a strange city with Russian heritage... Ya last year I went to freedom square to celebrate Xmas, I don't know about this year but let's see what happens...
!ENGAGE 10
ENGAGEtokens.G-dog approves of this. Lol.
Lights: Check
Form and function: Check
Colour matching: Check
Mid-task bevvy (beverage): Check
Jeep: Check
Safe use of ladder: Check
Fishing rods stowed: Check
Sand and paint drywall in garage: Work in progress (or fail)
Lol.
Hahaha.. thanks for the creative comment. I had a nice laugh and smile. The drywall has been that way for a long time.. I meant to finish it long ago but then it got cold and that's that. One of these days I'll pull everything out of there and finish the walls and epoxy the floor.. Someday!
Ladder safety after drinking beer 🤣
Yeah, a few coldies (Aussie slang for beers) is a good way to begin any ladder-work...safety first BD. :)
!ENGAGE 20
ENGAGEtokens.