Guess who’s back, back again?

Guess who’s back, back again?
Rudi’s back, tell a friend
Guess who’s back? Guess who’s back?
Guess who’s back? Guess who’s back?
Guess who’s back? Guess who’s back?
Guess who’s back?

After another year of debating if I would do a lightshow, I finally decided we would do one while on vacation at the lake in August. My hesitations were mostly based on schedule, with both the kids on travel hockey teams makes it tough to free up the weekends to do the install, the last couple of seasons have been very rushed and I haven’t enjoyed the process like I usually do. I didn’t even write one blog post last year due to the time constraints and lack of enjoyment from always been behind. Luckily the older one now travels with the team and we don’t have to take him. The younger one only travels for 2 (back to back) weekends during the install so a parental split will allow me to only miss one weekend of install time. I also have a few days off at work I need to take, so I should be able keep on track without too much panic.

During my time on vacation I managed to knock off most of the sequencing. I decided not to change the layout too much, reverting to having the panels along the front of the house, vs. in a vertical stack like they were last year. The panels will be laid out the way they were from 2019-2021. The Santa house will be moving back to its original location beside the garage vs. being at the front of the house last year. Small changes to the layout means minimal changes to the sequencing so I could bang them off pretty quickly. I did want to change my network config as I thinks some of the issues last season were because the networks were too dense (as I removed one to use my underground cables for the Santa house, moving it back means I can spread out the controllers over an extra network).

2024 the network layout
Setting up the Networks in LOR 6.3
Sequencing while camping
I’m not sure why this inspired me to start working on the Christmas Display?

The second thing causing me to consider not doing it was I had quite a few lights that we not working last season. Several of the ribbon RGBs that I leave up year round had bad nodes, my 50W floods were acting up last season as was the blow form Santa and one of my bucket lights. Looking at Santa and the bucket lights it was a bad node and a broken wire. I still haven’t looked into the floods but I’ll get to those. Finally I broke down and ordered some new ribbon RGBs from Light-O-Rama (LOR). I debated between HolidayCoro and LOR for the lights but decided on LOR as I needed 25′ extensions and I would need LOR to X-Connect adapters which Coro do not sell, they only have X-Connect to LOR. Coro prices are better than LOR but having to pay 2 shipping charges makes it not worth it. I also think the LOR RGB products are slightly higher quality with better waterproofing on the ribbon lights.

I needed to replace several of the RGB ribbons that I leave up year round as they have bad nodes. I took on replacing theses this weekend, including gluing the RGB channel that has been held on at ones end with a C clamp for the last 3 seasons.

Lots of bad nodes around the door
Lots of bade nodes along the driveway
Along the street was only 1/2 lit
Front Door Replaced
Driveway Replaced
Street Replaced
I was surprised to see moss growing in the diffusers around the flowerbed
Supplies from LOR
Ribbons, extensions, adapters and 5v pixels (for mega tree)

Annual “The Canada Tax” rant: Once again I am reminded of how costly this hobby is living in Canada. First we have the exchange rate which is a 35% premium. Then there is shipping to Canada, a small 18x18x12 box weighing about 2 lbs. cost almost $100. Then there is the GST (I don’t mind this) 5% of the value of the goods, and then UPS charge a handling and brokerage fee, the 3 of these add up another $46. SO I spend almost $200 more on a $300 purchase than I would if I were US based!

After getting the permeant lights sorted I needed to replace the speed tabs around my windows that the Lights are mounted to. These took a beating in a hailstorm this summer with almost every clip around one window being broken off.

To reach the top of the window I needed some help so I built a platform from 2x4s I had left from the Santa House
This 2nd floor window needed almost every clip replaced (42/50)
This one didn’t need quite as many (13/50)
The 2nd floor roof pitch needed several new clips
The Living room window also need many clips replacing
My flat platform for the roof

Finally a couple of last pre install task are to trim the trees, I didn’t do this last year so they were a little ragged, and power wash the outside of the house as we couldn’t do it in spring due to the water restrictions.

Trimmed Ash Tree
Pre Trimmed Ash Tree
Trimmed Spruce
Pre Trimmed Spruce

Lots of pre work has been complete in September with the install beginning the first week of October (usually I wait until thanksgiving but it is pretty late this year so I will try to get a head start). Now to get ready to start putting up lights.

The kids also pushed me to add some new songs this year, some a little more contemporary then the 60’s 70’s and 80’s classics I grew up on. So I have decided to add, Christmas in the Sand, You Make it feel like Christmas, Christmas tree farm, Candy Cane lane and driving home for Christmas. I have the first two already complete, with the rest on backlog. Here is a preview of You make it feel like Christmas with the updated layout.

We will once again be collecting food and online donations for the Calgary foodbank to ensure those less fortunate get to eat a health meal this Christmas.

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