My Day
The “joys of the Season” include trying to avoid extended hospital stays followed by physical therapy caused by falling off a roof while putting up lights. I think they should be banned, but my Mother likes them and almost no one else bothers anymore. Fortunately the neighbor who created “Christmas in Vegas” has left. They had every lighted object sold in their rather modest front yard and all of it blinked.
This is her side yard that faces the main road. The front has them, but you can’t really see anything because of the trees, but they are there.
8 comments
Delightful, Bryan, risk to life and limb notwithstanding.
People in small communities… Cinco Bayou or (near my late parents’ place) Livingston or even Goodrich or Putnam’s Landing where they lived (truly tiny) do a style of decoration that tugs at my heartstrings as the immense displays in some Houston neighborhoods cannot. Your effort for your Mother is part of that tradition, and I felt a distinct twinge of nostalgia as the photo came into view. Good for you. You are doing a community service for all residents your own age and older: the holidays really were better in the “old days.”
I have an aversion to ladders, and with my decaying feet, I mount them only when necessity demands, and with trepidation even then. But I really admire people who put up small, local holiday decorations. Thanks for the memories.
.-= last blog ..How Many Quid Pro How Much Quo? =-.
I don’t know which is worse, the ladder, or doing from the roof. It is quicker doing it from the roof, but it is a lot further to fall, and you are joined by cats wondering what’s going on, and if they can “help”. You definitely do not want to put down anything paw-sized that you need.
I’ve been replacing lights with LEDs because I think the colors are better, and they certainly use less power. I also avoid single color lights, because they don’t look like Christmas, they look like an advertising display.
They look nice, Brian – You gotta figure out how to put lights on the house without needing to get on a ladder like that though…. maybe around the windows instead?
I like the white LEDs, too – they look light blue…
.-= last blog ..Michael’s Cryin Over Spilled Milk =-.
I’m considering renting a bucket truck or rolling scaffold next year. My knees are complaining about the climbing. I have a couple of neighbors who would be happy to help, but I wouldn’t trust them to climb stairs, much less a ladder. They want to do things quickly, and they don’t have health insurance.
i like my neighbors’ solution: leave them up all year.
.-= last blog ..My inner cryptobiologist lol’d at this one =-.
You run into two problems given the way they are mounted. They trap leaves and cause rot along the eaves, and they get corroded, so you have to climb up to repair them, otherwise it would be a once and forever operation using LEDs.
If I were a cat I wouldn’t need it. Cats are one the problems encountered when working on the roof.