D-Fence! (Part 2)

The Light Fence after final assembly.

Christmas Canon Rock

We thought we were done with testing but we never finished the Light Fence project. So after a few hours of finishing the lights and setting up, a test was in order. This is the result of that test. Sorry about the audio as we didn't put the speakers close enough to hear it clearly. The Light Fences were created to mark the border of the yard so nobody will park along the yard or drive into it. Earlier this year, someone did actually drive into our yard off the hill and ran over one of our cherry trees. The tree is ok with only some scarring of the trunk on one side because its still a young tree and bent over when they ran on top of it. The Fences will be suspended about 2 feet off the ground as not to be in the view of the rest of the show. Because of a SSR shortage, there will only be half of total amount of Light Fence put up which will total 80 feet this year and 160 feet next year.

Introducing....

And now a word from our sponsors...

Actually, its our flyer and audio from the Christmas Light Show Intro combined. Or if you prefer, an InfoIntro.

Christmas Past

By now you probaly have a good idea of what kind of Light Show we will be having this year, but what did the house look like last year?

Almost looks like an ice cream sundae, doesn't it?

Redragonlady seeing her home after arriving from work.

The view from the street.

We think it will a lot brighter this year to say the least. A little bit of hard work will yield great results. We hope that it will bring out the Christmas spirit in even the most Grinchiest person.

Whats The Frequency?

Earlier this year, we got a very nice FM transmitter from a Canadian company. We set it up and tested it with very good results. We selected an unused frequency on the FM band and then thought all was well but..... somehow a few months later when we were retesting it, now there is a radio station on it! Rrrrrrr. We assume that its a new station or thats its bleeding over into the frequency we had chosen. So began another search and selection process and now the frequency is: (DRUMROLLLLLLL) 87.9! So now, you can listen to the music from your car on 87.9 FM. How do you know what frequency you can use? You can tune your car radio listening for faint static between stations or visit this website: http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/vacant
Add your zipcode and it will predict what signal strengths and locations for your area. I found its not 100% correct but will give you a pretty good idea where to look on your radio. By the way, the place where we got the transmitter is at the Canakit company. http://www.canakit.com/
We made 2 signs from plywood and painted them red and white to let viewers know where to tune into so they could hear the music. These will be posted on the front and side of the house.

On The Fence

Some light elements you will have to build yourself. We had this little fence that wasn't being used for anything and being only 6 foot long couldn't enclose much, so we decided to let it fence off the fire hydrant in the corner of our yard. My wife painted the tops of the pickets to look like lights and then I added a multicolor string of lights to accent it. Another cooperative effort between us resulted in a nice addition to our show. It will be attached to another string for power and it will blink on and off as the other string does.

The Craziness Continues....

Tis The Season / Zat you? Santa Clause

After a delicious summer BBQ, we decided to treat our guests to a preview of the Christmas lite show. (Actually, its just another test to check load limits of the SSR's, but don't tell them that ok.) Also it'll be the last test out in the yard until we setup for the show about a week before Thanksgiving. Please note that the light elements are not in their correct places and not all channels are represented but it does give you a pretty good indication of what will be there for Christmas. The results of the test proved that the SSR's could handle the load for at least an hour (the length of time for one Showing) and none of the SSR's showed signs of overheating. YEAH!!! Still a lot more work to be done and now we're sure it'll be completed on schedule.

The Sound Of Music

Finally, after several months of hard work, we've completed all the song programming for this year! We're hopefully going to have one set of non-Christmas Rock n Roll songs for one night of Rocking Out! There are more songs to program for next year, but that will be next year. LOL Below are the songs we've prepared for this year, with the Intro bringing information about the show. Enjoy!!

2010 Song List

00 Intro
01 Get Ready
02 Jingle Bells Techno
03 Winter Wonderland
04 Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
05 Hallelujah
06 Tis The Season
07 Sled Zeppelin
08 Intro
09 Zat You Santa Claus
10 Santa Claus Is Back In Town
11 Wonderful Christmas Time
12 Linus And Lucy
13 White Christmas
14 Run Run Rudolph
15 Intro
16 Wizards In Winter
17 MusicBox
18 Christmas Canon Rock
19 Santa Clause Is Coming To Town
20 Holly Jolly Christmas
21 Decorations
22 Amazing Grace Techno
23 Silent Night
24 I Want An Alien For Christmas