If I only had a brain...

At the heart of every "over the top" show, is a small workhorse doing all the number crunching just so everyone can see the twinklys. While we do have a number of computers, some old, some new, we did not have one dedicated to the Christmas show. Recently, we found a good computer at the Goodwill for around $25. Most of its hardware was gone but it had a good motherboard and other things. Using leftover parts and a lot of software upgrading, we got it running like new. Please be aware that when purchasing used computers from nonprofessional computer stores, there can be undesirable programs, viruses, videos and pictures on the hard drives. Since other components in the systems that have names, we gave the computer a name also. Meet Blitzen, the Christmas Computer! Transfering all the programs, pictures and videos associated with the show to this one computer from 4 other ones was a challenge but worth the effort to have a dedicated computer for the show.

Angels In The Attic.

Two angels were found upstairs in the Christmas Room in the Help and Hope to Others thrift store. With some repairs and bulb replacements, they will be a nice addition to the manger scene in the side yard. A little harp and horn section will make music for the baby Jesus!

Snowflakes Galore! Nine strings of eight snowflakes each with a controller to vary the flashing pattern. The snowflakes will be combined to make a temporary light fence on the side yard.

Two reindeer will be added to the herd along with a 5' tall Christmas card. An additional 14 strings (mostly blue) were included in the purchase. All these items were purchased and we paid less than $40! The Help and Hope to Others thrift store is a wonderful place to shop for Christmas items.

There Is Always Hope!

In the small town of Dallas, Oregon, there is a place where people work to help others (literally). A combined facility that houses a thrift store, food bank and other services ready to help their community. Friendly people staff the thrift store that has bargains in every corner of 3 levels of the building. This wonderful place helped TimberTownChristmas by providing an excellent deal on lights for the Christmas show. Organizations such as this is what caring and giving is all about. We encourage you to head over there and check out the place for yourselves.

A Peace Of History.

There is a store in our town called the Tina Miller Thrift Store. Items are donated to the store and sold with the money going to the Tina Miller Teen Center. Pictured above are some of the items purchased there included in a bin of 55 light strings. The blowmolds are from the Empire Plastic Corp. (no longer in business) made in a period from 1968 to 1972. A visit to Ebay told us that some blowmolds are worth a considerable sum. Our "Frosty" from our show is going for about $80! Who knew? Of the six new ones we got, we found out that the one above with the wreath is worth about $30. Apparently, some of the others might be rare because a Google search turned up almost nothing on them. We don't really care what they are worth, just as long they bring smiles to the viewing public.

Just what i needed! A huge set of Red, White and Blue triple cluster lights was found midway down in the bin of lights! I will add these to my 4th of July Show after checking the operation of them. Hopefully, no major repairs will be needed.
This is what I bought for $25 bucks! What a deal! (sort of)

After sorting through approximately 55 strings of various types and stowing each string in a separate bag, we ended up with this (minus the blowmolds). Upon prelimanary examination of the strings, we found that about 15 or more strings had no plugs on them. So repairs or discarding them will be on a case by case basis.

Seeing Stars Too

Cliffs Of Dover

After putting even more lights on the Star, a test was in order. Here is the result. But after viewing it, we decided it needed even more red and blue lights. When the new lights are added, it will have a total of 2751 lights including the strobe light. 2 SSRs are needed to run the Star now, so one of the new SSRs will be dedicated to it for the Christmas Show as well. Taking the additional lights off for Christmas doesn't seem to be a good choice so they will remain on the Star. The Christmas profile will be altered anyways so it will not be much of a problem to update it.

Seeing Stars

Now with even more lights!

There will be Christmas in July (sort of) when our Star makes an appearance on top of our shop in our 4th of July show. Seen above with all the channels on, it now has 2451 lights on it including the strobe light. Its a good thing all the lights won't all be on at the same time for an extended period of time because of the risk of overheating the SSRs. The Star now has 7 channels instead of 4 and will have more versatile use. We are hoping the crowd will love it.

Oh, Say Can You See..

After rummaging around in our local Goodwill (a treasure trove of parts and things), we found 2 single slide projectors along with some slides. Costing a combined total of about $20, it makes for a nice addition to our show. The slides included will also make images for other holidays and events. We are planning to use one on the house and the other on the shop.

In our 4th of July show, we will shine these flags on our shop. Hopefully, they will be seen along with the other lights.