Ahead of schedule!

Hard to believe the trail is compete!
Of course I will always be adding little things here and there.
Grateful for Brooke's help on the web site, David Munoz of Marquee Tents for donating the tent and William with patriot electric.

Matt and Keith, thanks for all your help and hard work!

weather update

Provided the winds are not over 30mph, we should be good to go at 6pm!
There are still several features under construction however the majority of the displays are up and running!

Indeed

The day is upon us.
Thank God for Adderall! And Ambien!
Extremely productive day. We are really close.

Issues with the blower motor for the large 12' snow globe.
Hopefully I can rectify that soon.

Having ample power is heavenly!
I did go purchase another $200 in extension cords.
Btw, Walgreens has them on sale!

The ladder is mounted to the tree and the Fireman is attached! Looks really cool.
If the weather cooperates, we are a go for Thanksgiving night.
I am going to bed now....night!

Oh Jeez

Seems like this final 10% is well.....all the piddly things!
The awesome news is I found and installed a motor for the hot air balloon!
As long as the weather allows, we should be good to go Thursday night!

Me, well that's another story...4 maybe 5 hours sleep per night the last four nights.
I am Pete Griswold after all!
Night!

90% complete

Man are we close.
For the most part, everything is set up.
The tents still have to be completed.

Leslee's "project" tent will not be ready for Thursday due to shipping issues.
We should be 95% complete for Thursday.
Weather permitting, we should be a go for Thanksgiving evening!
Bundle up cause its going to get cold!

We set up with Hot Air Balloon today.
Unfortunately, the motor is inoperative.
The folks that sell most all inflatables on the market (Gemmy) does not have replacement motors which is asinine hence I must find a repair shop on Tuesday. Usually you can swap motors with other inflatables but in the is case, the motor is a 3000 rpm which I do not have! And, it has only been in operation for one season! Crapamundo!

One of the owners of Mozarts on Lake Austin Blvd stopped by tonight and was quite pleasantly surprised. She herself goes all out each year and this year has her lights with a music show!

I was also quite pleased when an APD friend of mine as well as my APD neighbor stopped by tonight and announced they would patrol the neighborhood!
I'm off to bed now....

My two helpers took today (Sunday) off.
A very productive day that is now going to end with me going to bed!

A new inflatable 6' Santa is set up with a weedeater!
I also have a Southpark character chilling in the hammock.
I began refurbishing the boat. Spiderman will be navigating this year with a gigantic snowman on water ski's.
The Ferris wheel is officially up and running!
I assembled and installed the three animated reindeer/sleigh. Two motors need replacing. Not gonna happen this season! Still looks mighty fine.

Had some minor trenching in the backyard for extension cords.

Repaired the fence to keep visitors from entering our immediate backyard and to keep the dogs in. You can only imagine all the landmines from four puppies!

Night!

Egads!

Friday rocked! Stayed up until 2am. Mainly installing deer, varieties of trees, The Cat in the Hat ironing, etc. Purchased an additional 60 tent stakes. Also purchased several more motion lights.
I have motion lights set up throughout the yard for vandalism purposes. The yard pretty much looks like a football stadium if they all illuminate. Spider man arrived in the mail along with an 11' animated inflatable display!

Saturday: decent day. We are probably 80% there. Found an entire bin of extension cords which was MIA!
Today: Focus on more tent set up and securing everything for the big winds this week.

6 days left

Spent most of Thursday setting up the tent ingredients. Unfortunately, the hay we laid down on the trail kicked my booty!

Most every item not only has to be secured to the ground with stakes, but also secured with tent stakes and bungee cords. The wind blows crazily in December. Often times, we hit rocks when attempting to hammer the stakes into the ground. Bent a few as well!

Today we will install the Ferris Wheel, the hot air balloon, repair and paint the boat, among lots of other fun choirs.

awesome day...

Put a good 12 hours in the display today. It is really beginning to come together. I seem to have crazy ideas while assembling and planning. Going to try to involve tiger woods and wood chucks!
Anyway, I can no longer function therefor hasta manana!

Matt and Keith worked for 6 hours each...

There's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Tuesday rocked! Assembled and repaired lights and motors on all the deer aka "deers"!
Assembled the tunnel! Installed many of the inflatables.

I continue to find new items purchased post Christmas 2009.
One item is an airplane with a prop that spins!
Back to work.....

10 days and counting

Sunday was an extremely productive day. All three tents are up. Lights on the roof line completed.
All the snowglobes washed and wiped down. Beginning to install figurines throughout the yard.
Hung the dude up who's ladder slipped out from under him!
Installed the cool Hammacher Schlemmer train as well!

Searching for a new motor for our 12' SnowGlobe. One of the largest ever produced.

Tent installed

Friday...assembled new product indoors!
Today should be a perfect day. The tent was delivered and set up courtesy of Marquee Tents and David Munoz. Hope to complete all the trees today.

Building a frame out of schedule 40 PVC pipe today for the sleigh and four reindeer.

Discovered an inflatable Green Bay Packer football yesterday! Forgot about that purchase...pleasantly surprised!

two weeks left...

Today was partially devoted to maintenance. Most of the holographic figures have light bulb issues. Some are simple to repair, others take a bit of troubleshooting and others need to be "launched into oblivion"!

We completed most of the trees in the front yard. The front beds and windows on the front of the house are complete as well.

Searching the internet for a few more surprises.
Night!

Stuff...lots of it! Arbor day....

Tuesday: Thanks to Andy with House to House lawn care, his guys made two trips from storage.
Visual: The front yard/driveway/garage all look like a Christmas bomb exploded. Good anxiety sets in about this time. Each year I try to have new themes and new placements. In other words, I usually have no clue where most items will reside.

We have installed over 4000 new LED lights in the trees. Probably another 10000 needed in the remainder of the trees. Headed to Sams Club this am to replenish our inventory of LED lights.

Inventory you ask? No way although last night I discovered post-Christmas 2009 items I purchased on sale and forgot about....

We put the finishing touches on the electrical today.
Replaced 5 gfci's today which simply means if any water interferes with the Christmas lights, the power is void hence a dry December forecast is desirable.

Tuesday all the contents in storage will be moved to the house courtesy of Andy with House to House lawn care. Heavens to Murgatroid! Yikes too!

Let the fun begin

Friday Nov. 5th, we began removing old lights from the trees. A rather tedious process to say the least. We typically leave them in the trees year round. Between the elements and tree growth, we have to replace them every other year.

I purchased an additional 4000 LED lights from Sams Club on Friday.

Monday Nov. 8th, we will begin yard preparation for the large tent from Marquee Tents.
Marquee donates their tent each year. http://www.marqueetents.com