Homepage Article Archive
December 31, 2007

Special Show At Midnight Tonight - New Years
Celebration!
As tonight is the final night for the
Yaglenski Family Dancing Holiday Light Spectacular,
we've decided to throw in some special additions!
At midnight, we'll ring in the New Year with
"Auld Lang Syne" followed by "Reflections of
Earth" and "Heat Miser/Snow Miser" - all
new sequences produced especially for our final
night. The display will run till 1am as part
of the celebration and will remain lit after that
all night long. We hope to see you for this
special occasion!
December 23, 2007

Our Final Night Will Be New Years Eve - With
Extended Hours
The final night for the display
this year will be New Years Eve when the Dancing
Lights will run until 1am. However, from 11pm
thru 1am, there will be no external audio.
You'll have to stay in your car to listen to the
music as a courtesy to our neighbors!
Many Thanks To News Channel 8 DC
A big thank you to Judy Kurtz
from News Channel 8 for putting together such a nice
piece on our display last night. It really
captured the spirit of things and did a great job of
showcasing the lights and our website. Now, if
only she had gotten my name right - LOL. It's
JOHN, not Jeff... but any publicity is good
publicity and she did get my last name right - which
is usually pronounced wrong!
News Channel 8
Video Here
December 23, 2007

News Channel 8 DC Coming Out Tonight
Merry
Christmas everyone! We received a call a few
moments ago that
News Channel 8 in Washington, DC would like to
come out this evening (Christmas Eve) and film the
Yaglenski Family Dancing Holiday Light Spectacular.
We're looking forward to seeing them and you here
tonight! The display is on from 6pm thru 11pm.
December 18, 2007

Santa To Make An Appearance Friday & Saturday
Night
The
jolly old elf himself will make a visit just in time
for Christmas, this Friday and Saturday night from
7-8pm (weather permitting). Santa and his
helpers will be handing out candy canes and wishing
good cheer to all those who visit. Be sure to
bring your letter to Santa and drop it in his
mailbox (include your name and address and Santa
will send you a note back!)
We
Won Again!
Thank you to the judges who chose us as the
winner of the Single Family Contemporary Holiday
Light Display for the Villages of Urbana. This is 5
years now that we have been honored with this
distinction.
December 14, 2007

Thanks to 630 WMAL and The Gazette
The folks from 630 WMAL in Washington, DC contacted
us today for a story they are doing for Mondays
Morning Show about holiday lights. A big
thanks to John Matthews and Mark Weaver who were
great to talk to. Also, thanks to the Chris
Brown at the Gazette Newspaper for
covering the light show in the latest issue.
Weather Heads Up!
With bad weather in the forecast, we'll keep things
running as long as we can on Saturday nite for those
who plan to stop by. Realize that the shows
run weather permitting and if we need to cancel
things for the evening, we'll post information
saying so to the website.
December 6, 2007

Shows Now Running Every 20 Minutes
We had been running the shows on the hour and half
hour, but to make sure folks don't have to wait 20
minutes till the next show, we've modified the
schedule so shows run at the top of the hour, 20 and
40 past. On average you shouldn't have to wait
more than 10 minutes or so till the next viewing.
This gives you plenty of time to see the display
static, but also see the lights DANCE!
December 4, 2007

Display Video Now Online
After the shows shut down for the night, we went
back outside last night and ran things in silent
mode with the video camera rolling and then added
sound back in later with video editing software.
It was pretty cold, so we only captured 2 songs in
all (about 10 are rotating thru our 4 shows) - but
you'll at least get the idea of what things look
like. We'll be capturing more video coming
soon!
Click To See This
Years Video
December 2, 2007

Due
to Heavy Rain, Remainder of Tonight's Shows
Cancelled
We were able to run most of the night fine with many
visitors till 9:00pm when the rain kicked up another
notch and started tripping GFI Circuits. So,
we've cancelled the remainder of shows tonight, and
well start fresh tomorrow weather permitting.
We can operate in light rain but not heavy downpour.
If you have any doubts whether to head out to see
the display, check the website and we'll try to post
an update as to whether things are running.
The forecast looks good the rest of the week, though
tomorrow may be quite windy...
December 1, 2007

Tonight is the Night!
The Yaglenski Family Dancing Holiday Light
Spectacular premieres tonight. Between 6 and
7pm, we'll be outside giving away free candy canes
to those who attend. We'll see you there!
Just a heads up - rain is in the forecast for
tomorrow and we haven't determined if the show will
be able to play during rain - so best to come out
today!
November 30, 2007

Show
& Display Are Complete
All the work has come together and the light shows
are complete as is the display. We've run
tests, the schedule is set and we're ready to roll
for opening night Saturday. Details on the
shows and schedule can be
found here. Stop by on Saturday night from
6-7pm for free candy canes - we'll be out talking to
those who come to view the display.
November 26, 2007

Testing Going Well...
A few folks have been lucky enough to see the new
Yaglenski Family Holiday DANCING Light Spectacular
over the past few nights. We've been outside
making sure everything is working properly with the
December 1 preview. Remaining items are to add
some more twinkle lights, finish the show schedule,
install the security cams and decorate the backyard.
Everything is on track. See you at 6pm on the
1st!
November 21, 2007

When
You View The Show This Year...
In anticipation of the Holiday Lights Preview just
under 10 days away, here are a few simple rules that
we ask you to follow in order to make the experience
magical for everyone:
-
Please be respectful and courteous to our
friends and neighbors and do not block
traffic or driveways, park or walk on
anyone's lawn, blow horns or play your radio
loudly.
-
Please turn off your headlights when
watching the display and only leave your
parking lights on for road safety. If
you wish to get out of the car to watch a
show or visit with Santa (on select nights),
please park in the Community Center Parking
Lot and walk over.
-
Due to the electrical HIGH VOLTAGE that runs
our display, and the maze of electrical
cords and ground based displays including
strobe lights, it's important that you DO
NOT enter the yard.
-
Smile - this year we have installed a night
vision security camera system to keep
everything and everyone safe!
November 20, 2007

Big
Day Today...
The behind the scenes planning are no more - and
this years display has moved to the yard over the
last few days. Many of the wireframes are out,
the rope light border is up, lower level gutter
lights and about half the trees are wired.
Since our last update, we added a few new items
including a couple penguins in a snowball fight, a
tree of mini trees which will grace our backyard
along with a sign that says PEACE. Capitol
Electrical Solutions comes tomorrow to put in a
dedicated sub panel with 8 dedicated outlets in (to
keep everything safe).
Our giant wreath that hangs in the eves has been
adorned with new Christmas Balls and looks as good
as the day we bought it about five years ago now.
All, the lights have been tested and repairs made
where appropriate - including a new motor for the
light flurries box.
This year, we also switched out all of our C7 lights
(with the exception of the white ones that outline
the house) to mini lights. This will cut down
a little on power consumption while still giving a
bright, festive look.
We're about to the point where we need more front
yard! it's getting harder and harder to fit it
all in.
The biggest challenge over the next 10 days is not
putting the lights up, but running the cords that
will power the show. With 32 channels, that's
32 16 gauge extension cords running from the garage
to the yard. Wow.
October 24, 2007

It
Begins! 2007 Plans Underway...
Well,
we've actually planned far in advance of now but
have officially purchased a few items for this years
display. First was an item from Lori's Lighted
D Lites - the seals tossing a package back and
forth. Stacey has wanted this item for 2 years
now and somehow it kept getting put off.
We'll, it's ordered and on the way. Second
item I am very excited about... 2 16 Channel Channel
Light-O-Rama controllers. This is the same
device that Disney World uses to power their
sequenced and synched Osborne Family Light Display.
We're starting small with 16 channels but more can
be added easily next year. Also we'll have 5-6
sequenced songs with it - so we'll be doing "shows"
if all works out at the top and bottom of the hour.
Not sure how that will integrate with SantaFM but
we'll see...
Special Events!

Santa's
Final Scheduled Appearance - Postponed Till
Saturday!
Due
to rain, Friday's appearance of Santa has been moved
to Saturday. Be sure to stop by
- Santa will be stopping by and handing candy canes
out to visitors for his final appearance of the 2006
Season. Say hello and drop your
letter off in the mailbox while you are here!
Santa appears weather permitting.
Saturday December 23 -
6:45-7:45pm
Special Events!

Thanks to the Gazette for their Newspaper Coverage
We've had a number of visitors say they stopped by
after reading the following....
One house with a contemporary display in the
Villages of Urbana has become a Christmas landmark
stop for families and has won the competition in
2002, 2003 and 2005.
The Yaglenski family home on 9056 Clendenin Way,
just next door to the Urbana Community Center, each
year attracts children with its moving lights show
and Christmas characters.
Last year, the Yaglenskis initiated a holiday radio
program called ��SANTAfm�, on 88.7 FM, to go along
with their display. This year, they will again
feature the program as well as two new features: a
lights display of a dog house with a dog wagging its
tail and a mailbox for children, perched at the end
of a light-filled path, to drop letters to Santa.
A Santa character will make an appearance at the
display from 7 to 8 p.m. today and Friday to hand
out candy canes to children. The lights are
illuminated from dusk until 10:15 p.m. For more
information, visit
www.yaglenski.com.
Read The Full
Article Here
December 17, 2006

We Won
Again!
Thank you to the honorary judges from the Urbana
Volunteer Fire Department who chose us as the winner
of the Single Family Contemporary Holiday Light
Display for the Villages of Urbana. This is 4
years now that we have been honored with this
distinction. From all of us Yaglenski's - a
heartfelt Thank You and Merry Christmas to all of
you!
December 14, 2006

Frederick County Tacky Light Tour
If you know of a great display near where you live
or that you visit in Frederick County, Maryland,
please let us know about it thru our
contact form.
It's our eventual desire to create a database that
you can "tour" via automobile with a map, picture
and description pinpointing each home. As much
as we like putting on the display, we also like
seeing great displays as well!
Creativity Goes a Long Way
There is no more powerful tool than your noggin.
It�s great when you actually get to use it to solve
a problem. Last night upon looking at the display,
I realized that my front porch, garage and post
lights were throwing way to much luminance onto the
front of the house. This was interfering with the
light globe that projects �snowflakes� on the front
of the house. It was washing out all the detail.
Not to mention at 60 watts each, they overpowered
much of the display lighting. So, what to do?
Others would have probably just settled for turning
the lights out � but I wouldn�t be happy with how
that looked.
As I stood outside, noodling it all through, my
first thought was to replace the bulbs with flicker
lights that look like a flame is burning. Problem
with that was after the display shut off for the
night, the house would be pretty darn dark. Then I
had a light bulb moment literally. All my lights
are controlled by X10 controllers which are
DIMMABLE! Why hadn�t I thought of this before?
Years into doing the display, it just now hit me.
I CAN DIM THE LIGHTS!
So, off the computer I ran to program it in. Sure
enough, a dimmer setting of 50% did the trick. The
lights now appear that �yellow� color that all the
rest of the bulbs look and the snowflake effect is
much more prominent on the house. Through some more
computer programming, I was also able to turn those
same lights off when the end of night show runs
thereby enhancing the strobe effect � and then have
them come on full brightness after the last show is
complete. It all seems very seamless but there is a
bit of programming going on behind the scenes thanks
to HomeSeer Pro 2.0.
If anyone is interested in doing a one on one or
group tour where I can explain how you too can do
Christmas automation (and home automation), just
email me on the contact form and I�ll be glad to
spend a little time with you and show you the
backend of the automation and how the radio station
works along with tricks of the Christmas display
trade!
Backyard
& Side House Decorations Are Up
For the first time this year, we have added some
lights to the back yard. It�s nothing to get out of
your car for, but if you happen to be walking your
dog or on the way to the library via the path that
runs behind our house, you will note that our entire
fence line has been topped with about 800 mini
lights. Also, we outlined our deck with about 400
mini lights that do a fade from color lights to
plain white. It�s a pretty cool effect. Added to
this, we put about 800 minis on the smaller of two
large evergreens that reside in our back yard.
Lastly, we placed a projector on the side of the
house to form another snow falling effect. These
flakes are much larger than the front of the house
and are more defined. It works well because the
side of the house is largely dark. All of these
items were tied into our home automation system and
will turn on and off with the rest of the lights on
the yard.
The decorations are a result of hitting after
Christmas sales at the stores last year and buying
up tons of lights which till now, really didn�t have
a use. But this signals our expansion of the
display into the back yard. The trick there will be
to put up items that our 3 Shetland Sheepdogs
(Shelties) won�t tear up. That will be a bit of a
challenge, but through power cord management and
select placement that gives them room to maneuver, I
think it can be done. Look for more fun to come
next year as we continue to add to our display.
December 12, 2006

More
Photos Are Now Online
We managed to snap a few new photos
tonight which are now in the gallery... though we
ran out of time. Expect more to be added
tomorrow. There are a few that show the
animation of the wireframes in this years display.
November 25, 2006

Send
Your Letter To Santa!
One of the new items we are adding this year is a
Mailbox for the kids to drop their letters to Santa
in. This box will sit outside "Santa's
Workshop" at the end of the light path. It
will be at kid level for easy access and all letters
deposited will be picked up by the Jolly Old Elf
himself. Be sure to include your name
and address if you would like to get a letter back
from Santa!
In other news, we purchased 20 strands of Mini
Lights which will be placed on all 5 of the pine
trees which formerly had C7 lights alone. This
will bring a fuller look to trees that have grown
rather large over the last few years.
All the yard art (with the exception of the new
items on order) are out on the yard, have been
tested and are working. We got the power grid
in place today with the exception of the network of
strobes which will fire on the quarter hour.
So, what's left you ask?
Well, we lined the lower roof line with new
LED lights and weren't happy with the Pure White
color which ran in sharp contrast to the "Warm
White" color of the rest of the lights. So, we
are sending those back and replacing them and are
hoping they will arrive by Wednesday to line the
lower and upper roof and put up the wreath. We
also need to put the second level Santa ladder up,
wire up all the lights close to the house, run the
lights for the frozen pond, finish stinging the
mini's on the trees and as mentioned previously,
hook up all the strobes. Oh, and get SANTA-fm on the
air!
Lots of work before the Friday debut.
Light
Keeper Pro is AMAZING!
Before I forget, mad props to the folks at
Light Keeper
Pro! Those of you who don't have one and
use mini Lights - run out to Lowes and pick one up
for $17. Light Keeper Pro fixes and diagnoses
problems in Mini Light sets. Today, my wife
came to me to say that she had put up garland on our
stairs and didn't bother to test the lights on it
before hand. Apparently, nothing was working.
I ran to get the Light Keeper Pro, pulled one bulb
out, plugged the socket into the device, clicked the
trigger 2 times and half of the lights instantly lit
up. Amazing! Then, I went to the portion
of the lights that weren't working and repeated the
process. Again, they lit up. Be sure to
stop by their website and check out the demo!
Why throw away lights every year when you can make
them work. By the way, it also helped me find
a problem with one of my wire frame displays.
November 25, 2006

The
Lights Start Going Up
It's
been warm here in Mid Maryland and it's been a great
few days to start putting up this years display in
anticipation for the Holiday Lights debut December
1. If you drive by over the next few days,
you'll likely see the family out in the yard working
on stringing lights, arranging wire frames and
tackling power cord management! New additions
this year will include an animated "Dog and
Doghouse" Wireframe, LED pure white lights lining
the house, trees with more lights than ever and
more. Ideas come to us every day so don't be
surprised when new items pop up! See you on
the 1st!
October 24, 2006

Let The Planning Begin
Actually, that's not quite true. Ideas for
this years display have been floating in our
collective heads since last Christmas, but with 66
days to go till the big day and a little over 30
till the display goes up - the next few weeks mean
much more active work. Since last Christmas,
RadioVOU has become
JOHNfm
which means, come December 1, JOHNfm will flip
formats for 30 days to
SANTA-fm 88.7 until January
rolls around, at which time we'll resume normal programming.
This means a little more work on the voice side of
things, but it shouldn't be that difficult.
January 1, 2006

New
Policy For The New Year - The Display Is Now Closed.
I've decided after tonight that New Years and all
it's celebrations don't mesh well with intricate
Christmas Displays. A little after midnight,
our display was hit with some very minor vandalism.
The North Pole sign was bent forward as was the elf
next to it at the end of the workshop, and the VOU
Decorating Contest Sign was pulled out of the
ground. Granted, this was minor... but I have
decided that December 30 will be the final day for
the display from this year moving forward, and that
all decorations on the yard will be removed on the
31st. Also, this years display will now be cut
short and I will be bringing the lawn items in
tomorrow.
All in all, it's kind of sad, given the fact that we
had two walk up families tonight that stopped and
chatted with me about how much they enjoyed the
lights. Regardless, it has been a great season
full of fun and smiles. Thank you to all the
great folks that stopped out to say hello and enjoy
the spirit of the season.
December 25, 2005

We
All Need A Little MORE Christmas
Because of the popularity of the display this
Christmas season, we have decided to extend the
display a few additional days. Lights will now
be on thru January 6th. Merry Christmas &
Happy New Year from all of us to all of you.
December 23, 2005

Video
- Finally!
It's taken a while but I finally took a tiny bit of
video yesterday and compiled it for those who are
out of town and can't see the display.
Hopefully in the next day or two, I will get my
digital camcorder out and shoot some better quality
stuff, but for now, at least there's something that
shows a little bit of motion in my display!
Video
Here
December 22, 2005

Strobes Revised - Flashing on Quarter Hour
Update: Thanks to my brethren on
PlanetChristmas, I hooked up a single C7 candle
in line with the strobes, and they are now
functioning as they should via X10 control every 15
minutes - where they fire for exactly 45 seconds and then
turn off. Not only do you get a cool display,
but you can set your clock to it!
Strobes Are Up - Flashing on The Hour & Half Hour
The finishing touch for this years display was to
get 25 curtain strobes out on the lawn and in the
trees - and this was accomplished yesterday.
They turn on every half hour for 1 minute, thanks to
a digital timer from Home Depot (which wasn't my
first plan). Stop by at the top or the bottom of the
hour to see. It's quite a sight!
Unfortunately, 1 of the 25 strobes didn't work so a
location I wanted to place one isn't being covered,
but no one will know except me. I also ran
into a problem trying to time the lights to come on.
Originally, I planned to use X10 control to turn
them on every 15 minutes for 30 seconds at a time.
This was easily accomplished in the software that
runs the lights - however - the X10 controls allow a
small amount of current to flow thru the device, and
in turn, that was enough to charge the capacitors in
the strobes, and start them firing on their own!
Took the better part of an hour before I gave up.
After going to
PlanetChristmas and telling of my problem,
someone mentioned that the X10 controls are built so
that if someone turns an appliance or light on, that
the circuit will turn on. So, the small amount
of electricity that was flowing, allowed the strobes
to fire, which turned on the circuit. They
suggested hooking up a single C7 light in line with
the strobes, which should stop this. Will test
tonite!
In other news, RadioVOU is now running with voice
work between every 3 songs and at the top of the
hour. Sounds more like a polished station now.
Oh, and we won the Holiday Decorating Contest for a
third year.
December 16, 2005

We're Famous... In Our Own Minds!
A
big thank you to Patrick Dunne for the nice press
and colorful picture featured in Thursday's Gazette.
The article entitled "Lighting Up The Holidays" did
a nice job covering what we do and why we do it.
However, Patrick... I am 39!
Read The Article Here
December 13, 2005

Santa's Workshop Arrives Today - FM Transmitter Swap
Got
a call from A. Duie Pile yesterday trucking telling
us that the Workshop will be delivered today before
1:30pm. Looking forward to setting it up tonite. Hopefully it won't be too big a chore!
Also, a few days ago, we swapped out the original FM
Transmitter for a
Ramsey Electronics FM30 - Digital FM Stereo
Transmitter. It's a 25mW of output power and
has a little more range and better control over a
number of elements of the broadcast. The other
transmitter worked fine, but the "radio guy" in me
(I worked in broadcasting for better than 10 years)
wanted a higher level of flexibility. Yeah, I
know. Go ahead and say it.... GEEK! At
the same time, a buddy of mine introduced me to the
SAM Broadcaster software package which allows me
to fully program our own "RadioVOU" station.
Tune in. I think you will be surprised at how
good it sounds. Best of all, it's commercial
free! If you live in the Villages, you may be
able to pick us up. Currently, we are looking
for ways to stream the station over the internet as
well.
December 8, 2005

Santa's Workshop Is On The Way!
Just got a note from Jennifer at Linda's Yard art...
"I just finished the packaging on your order. It
will come in two large boxes, one weighing 52 lbs,
the other weighing 74lbs. It will be coming to you
by freight in 2 - 4 days. The company will contact
you to schedule the time when the boxes arrive at
their terminal nearest you".
Holy Moly... I just ordered 126 pounds worth of
display! Anyway, I would guess that puts it
getting to Urbana between Wednesday and Friday of
next week.
December 6, 2005

FM Transmitter... Strobes
The
USPS delivered some nice surprises yesterday with
the arrival of the FM Transmitter (pictured right)
and 25 Curtain Strobes. The transmitter was
easy enough to set up. Hook to the sound card
output, then into a Y Connector and then into the
transmitter. The reason for the Y Connector is
so that you can hook another wire in to act as an
antenna for the system. I'll take pictures
soon so it's clear what I am talking about. In
the process, I also created a sign in Adobe
Illustrator CS that will be
produced by "Signs By Tomorrow" of Frederick to front the
display. You can
check
it out here (acrobat
reader required to view file).
The strobes are nice - and we tested a few.
Now, to hook them up in sequence and figure out
where they are going. Also, need ideas on how
to ground mount some of them. I'll be hitting
Google and Planet Christmas for that.
December 4, 2005

More
Items On The Way - Word is Spreading
After a few hours surfing
planetchristmas.com
(which can be detrimental to your wallet), I
purchased a low power FM transmitter which can reach
about 100 yards from the house and 25 Curtain Light
strobes to place in the pine trees that line the
property. The strobes should add some
additional sparkle when fired at timed intervals and
the FM transmitter will allow those stopping by
during the week, to hear the music that accompanies
the display on the weekend.
We had one local reporter snapping pictures last
night, and another newspaper is supposed to stop by
on Tuesday. Traffic out front has gotten
busier and at one point, we had 4 -5 cars
simultaneously queued to pull directly out front and
view the display. If by chance you do visit
and see me wandering around checking bulbs or cords,
be sure to wave!
Santa's workshop is due to arrive in the next 7 days
- hopefully before the judging of the Villages of
Urbana holiday light contest.
December 1, 2005

Photos Online & Display Ordered.
Thanks to Flickr and my buddy Mike, we've found an
easy way to add photos to the site that requires a
minimum amount of effort... so it's safe to say,
this year should be well documented. Also, you
can see that we have taken a ton of pics over the
last 3 years that just never made it to the site
before now. Enjoy
browsing! Also, I hope to do some movies
for download before the end of the season.
On the progress front, all of the wireforms are out
and are corded. Also, last nite, I completed
the skating pond (a favorite of our guests).
Remaining to do's are the 5 white pine trees that
line the right side of the front yard, one blue tree
to the left of our garage, the second story string
of lights (looking for a contractor to put them up -
I hate getting on the roof), Santa's ladder on the
second story and the wreath. It may sound like
a lot but it's not too bad and we look on target to
launch the 3rd.
Finally,
ordered Santa's Workshop from Linda's Yard Art.
It was a toss up between them an Lori's Lighted
D'lites who I used last year, so I figured I would
spread the love around. Jennifer at Linda's
has been so nice every time we stopped by and on the
phone. I just wish they had a website with
more pictures (they promise an overhaul in 2006).
I'll probably call Lori's tomorrow and order a small
item or two. Since the Workshop very expensive, we've pretty much tapped out this years funds.
It is huge though... 16 feet long in all. And
this means, I won't be getting any other Christmas
presents from my wife... but that's ok by me!
Only bad thing is that the Workshop won't be done
till Monday which means it won't be here till
probably the 10th or so. More reason to stop
by more than once!
November 30, 2005

Another Year - Decisions, Decisions
The display started going up this
past weekend. Items were brought down from the
attic, sorted and tested. Every year seems to
bring a few surprises, but this year - nothing major
has occurred in the storage process other than the
usual burned out bulbs and fuses. I say that
and knock on wood at the same time. Wireforms
are out on the lawn and we are searching for a few
new items to add to this years display.
Also new, we decided to scrap the c7 bulbs that
lined the driveway and property in favor of a
"rope light fence" constructed with standard rope
light and pvc plumbing tubes and t joints. My
wife isn't sold on the look, but I think it's just
different than we are used to. It's growing on
me already.
December 6, 2004

Frosty
Saved & Photo's On The Way!
It's the dread of anyone who uses rope lighting
every year. Will a strand die? Will I
take my beautiful rope light sculpture out of the
attic to discover it won't work anymore?
Unlike twinkle lights, once a portion of rope light
goes, there's not a good way to replace it without
replacing the whole rope. Furthermore, since
many of the steel framed designs are specific sizes,
you might have to have rope light custom made to
length. Anyway, I was in luck. When
frosty died, I discovered it was almost 3 - 18 foot
sections in length which matched up perfectly with
standard rope light sizes. The only issue was
that the rope was all one color now. So, I
discovered Krylon had a new product out that let you
paint plastic. I wasn't sure if it would be
see thru enough to work coloring the rope light but
much to my surprise and delight... it worked
perfectly. Taping the sculpture up to allow
only certain portions to be painted was a pain but
it worked out in the end.
By the way, I am sure most of you are wondering when
I am going to put pictures up. The answer is
very soon. The display for 2004 is
pretty much complete so, I can now take to
photographing it in detail. This will include
the new items for 2004 that just came in at the end
of last week and are on the lawn!
November 29, 2004

More Display On The Way
Talked to the folks at Lori's Lighted D'lites today
to see if I could add things to my order.
Luckily it was set to ship today and had been all
boxed up, so adding one more item wasn't a problem.
We decided the light pond needed something other
than the skating frosty. While penguins don't
inhabit the north pole, we found one that was cute
enough with a Santa hat on, that we believe he must
be lost and ended up at our "north pole".
See items new to the Yaglenski Display in 2004
November 27, 2004

The
Tradition Continues...
The 2004 Edition of the Yaglenski Family Holiday
Light Spectacular is well under way. Work was
nearly completed this past weekend on the display.
Total effort this year involved nearly 32 man hours.
Stacey & I put in more than 2 full days of work in
getting things out of storage, tested and out on the
lawn. Our next door neighbor suggested we rent
a cherry picker to place the lights on the tallest
portions of our houses and it was a great idea.
In the past, outlining the house and placing the
wreath involved use of an extremely long ladder and
scary climbing on a tightly pitched roof.
Things haven't gone off without a hitch this year
however. Despite my intricate planning of the
maze of electrical cords that criss-cross the front
yard of the palatial Yaglenski Mansion, we were
consistently tripping the circuit breaker. At
first, I thought it was a defective strand of
lights, but no matter what combination I plugged
things in, it seemed the tripping occurred.
Finally, it wouldn't turn on any more. So I
looked at the source, and found I had managed to
melt one of the light timers and plug ends together.
Apparently, I had so much voltage going thru a
single extension cord that the heat fried the timer
and the plug. Separating the lights on to two
separate runs of cord and two timers now have things
working perfectly and no heat issues.
Then, there was the issue of Frosty The Snowman.
Our beautiful 4.5 foot tall rope light sculpture
that tips his hat to you. Well, as rope lights
are notorious to do, a portion of the rope failed,
which essentially means you have two options.
Restring the ropelight yourself of toss the
sculpture. Luckily, I decided to try
restringing the lights and things turned out fine.
The only tricky part will be painting the ropelight
with Krylon Plastic Spray Paint so that certain
areas have color.
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