fivecats journal

A large and grateful tip o' the hat to zeppomarx for the suggestion of using EditPad Lite.  EditPad Lite (a freebie, btw) accurately displayed all of the XML encoding that was somehow inserted into this message and also was able to cleanly identify -- and replace -- all of the garbage characters.  Two more search & replaces to swap out the XML coding for a "<" and ">" and this entry was cleaned up and ready to go.

Now, I only wish it was worth the wait.




Morning After Snowman
December 2005 Raleigh, NC
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[This entry was started back before Christmas and sat, untouched, for close to two weeks.  Instead of tossing it and writing something brief -- who me? -- I'll let this part go along as originally planned]

First, a word about the image above.  The kids next door, Brittany and Brad, have a strong desire to dominate the neighborhood with their Christmas displays.  Regular readers will recall that Brittany wasn't too pleased that I had our lights on before anyone else on the block.  (And, having learned their weakness for custom, i.e. 'No lights before Thanksgiving', I'll be sure to exploit it for the foreseeable future)

What I haven't mentioned his her regular inflatable lawn decorations for a variety of holidays throughout the year.  Now, I understand her enjoyment of All Things Holidays but just because someone makes an inflatable lawn decoration and just because someone else chooses to sell those inflatable lawn decorations that doesn't make them worth owning or displaying.

Factor in the additional fact that the kids next door are seemingly the only ones in their social circle who own their own house and are, therefore, the regular hosts of monthly parties where considerable drinking goes on and the image takes on some additional significance.  Granted, we have yet to wake up to one of their friends passed out on their lawn, but the common sight of their inflatable snowman looking passed out on their lawn most mornings these days was too good to pass up.

As for Christmas, and what it has to do with this fellow to the right, just ( click on through to the other side... )


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[Okay, so, yes, I know there's something majorly wrong with this entry. As in "there is no entry." I've tried reposting it several times and it's just going to have to wait a while. Stupid software. Where's a tech support person when you need one?]

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Red Light
December 2005 Raleigh, NC
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Contrary to popular belief, I actually do learn from my past. Most of the time. Okay, some of the time. For instance, at work, "The Wizard of Oz" and I are ancient history. I will check the yard for Big Rocks before mowing the lawn now. And I won't be cutting my hair again for a long, long time.

Today's "What Have We Learned" comes from a story I told back a few weeks ago having to do with being the first on our block to have our house's Christmas lights turned on. Those who have been following along with the story will remember that we were the first because I never took them down last year. They've been up there, unlit, all year long where I've smiled at them through the seasons.

What I failed to mention a few weeks ago was that a number of the lights no longer worked. Like lots of them. The one string that ran across the apex of the roof (which, in my defense, had some serious problems last year) was completely dead with some of the bulbs partially filled with water. Those that ran along the gutters were maybe 20% dead, with many of them suffering from a sad lack of paint on the outside of the bulb.




Green Light
December 2005 Raleigh, NC
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I climbed up on the roof this past weekend and spent some time replacing most of the dead bulbs and resolved to take them down sometime after Christmas.

It almost feels like cheating now.

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First Christmas Lights on the Block
November 2005 Raleigh, NC
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The picture above, taken this past Saturday afternoon, stakes my official claim as having the earliest lit Christmas lights on any house on our block. And our whole neighborhood. Probably the whole town and within a 5 mile radius. Not that I drove through that many streets to verify this claim, but I feel pretty safe in saying it.

You'll notice that I didn't lay claim to having put our lights up the earliest, just that they're the first that have been lit.

Yeah, you guessed it.

This goes back a few years. About three years ago, after hanging all of the lights in December, I couldn't see any good reason for taking them down again. Bonn, on the other hand, was a bit more concerned with "what the neighbors might think" and kept asking me to take them down. I viewed this with a healthy degree of Male Laziness while she ended up viewing this as a Battle of Wills.

One Saturday afternoon in May I heard a ripping type of sound coming from the front of the house, accompanied by the shattering of glass. She'd finally had enough and managed to yank them all down. I was equal parts annoyed that so many light bulbs were broken (leaving broken bits of glass everywhere) and impressed that she'd actually managed to do so.

The next year I dutifully took them down sometime in January or February. When she discovered that I'd done so, she asked me why.

"What do you mean, 'why?'" I asked.

"I just assumed you were going to leave them up all year," she said with a shrug.

So, last year I did.

Now, some of the paint has flecked off of the lights and many of the lights have broken since last December, but that's what second-hand stores are for. I plugged them in on Saturday afternoon and loved the sight of them. Saturday night, when they were the only ones lit anywhere around, they made me smile. Driving home after picking up The Boy from work they made me laugh as I drove down the road towards home.

Sunday evening Bonn came storming at me. "I can't believe you have the Christmas lights on!"

"Um, they've been on since Saturday. I forgot to turn them off."

"But we're the only ones around with them on!"

"Yeah," I said beaming pride and happiness.

She just shook her head.

Last night I saw our Christmas Lights Competitive Next Door Neighbors and asked if they'd seen our lights on. The young wife smiled and said she had, but her husband had refused to put out their lights until after Thanksgiving.

"Okay," I said, with a big smile. "That's okay. We just need to be clear that I Won."

"Maybe," she retorted. "But we have a tree up already."

Sure enough, there was a small, while table-top Christmas tree lit up on a table in front of a window in their living room.

I just smiled.

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