Florida Weather and waiting on some new items Delays a Thanksgiving Start Up :(

[Orville]

Well, I was hoping to have my display fully ready for a Thanksgiving Night Start-up.  Florida weather has put a real dampener on that.  Hurricane Nicole put a stop on any outside work for about 4-5 days, got a few things in place, then here we are again with more rainy days in my area, for the last2 days, including today, more rain expected, and it's been too wet to work with power cords and power tools.  So I am far behind with getting everything out and into place.  Plus I have 3 new H.C. Snowflakes, 24-inch and RGB nodes to be put together, which should arrive sometime on Black Friday that will be added to the 2022 Christmas Display.

So it may be the Monday after Thanksgiving before I have everything set up and ready to go.    I can run what I have at present, but just doesn't look great with all the other elements missing, ran a test show, and it's so-so in its present state.

And yet, they are saying it may be clear Tuesday and Wednesday, but possible more rain starting Thanksgiving night through the weekend.  Ugh!

Sometimes I truly despise my home state of Florida when we have excessive rainy days during the time I set up my display, and the hurricane, Nicole didn't help that any either.   And we're still in Hurricane Season in Florida until Nov. 30.

This is the first year I have ever fallen this far behind, as I usually have everything up by the 3rd day of November, but our previous Hurricane, IAN, killed that work too this year.

I just hope I can get this all done soon!   Enough with the rainy days already!

 

[LightsWithSoul]

I know what that's like... When I lived in Hawaii for a couple years the display setup was always dependent on the weather. It was hard to catch a day when it didn't rain haha. Hopefully things clear up and you can get the rest of your show up without any issues.

[dgrant]

Here in Arkansas, I am almost ready for Thanksgiving evening/night. Now they are saying its %60 chance of rain Thanksgiving Day/Night. Oh fun. I've got two roof circuit to finish today on my house and 4 roof circuits to finish on the neighbor's house. Yes, I run two homes for both Halloween and Christmas so its double the work.

[Godney]

Orville i know how you feel up here in Orange Park same thing rain and more rain , I  may get mine operational by Black Friday if the weather holds

[Orville]

5 hours ago, Godney said:

Orville i know how you feel up here in Orange Park same thing rain and more rain , I  may get mine operational by Black Friday if the weather holds

Woke up early {7:00AM} just as it was getting daylight Tuesday morning and the weatherperson was WRONG again. **SIGH**   Was hoping to get out and get some stuff done with an early start and hopefully finish up everything but the 3  RGB Snowflakes that should arrive sometime on Black Friday, but NOOOOOoooooo, open the door to check the weather and what do I encounter, a freaking downpour!  UGH!   And they said it would be all over by Monday evening, yea, right.

There has been so many times when the weatherperson said it's clear, I look outside and it's pouring rain!   And sometimes they say it's going to rain in my area and I never see anything, not even a slight drizzle.   Other times they may get it somewhat partially right.    I just rely mainly on what it's doing and how it looks with the clouds in the sky, dark clouds, it's going to rain.   White puffy clouds, may get a slight drizzle or sprinkle that will dry up within a few minutes, that I can work with, but these downpours, forget it.  Not worth the risk in very wet weather or soaking wet, saturated ground, that just doesn't mix with electrical criteria, especially 120V power cords!

Another day lost do to the weather, which is unusual to get this many rainy days so close together in November, most of the time in Florida November is fairly dry for the most part.

Too bad my 3 RGB Snowflakes didn't come early, then I could at least be getting them ready during these downtimes I'm having this year.

 

Hoping it may dry up by early afternoon, so I can at least get something done today {Tuesday}.

[k6ccc]

Now you know why they call them "Weather Guessers"...

 

[Orville]

2 minutes ago, k6ccc said:

Now you know why they call them "Weather Guessers"...

 

ROFL!   First time I've heard them called that Jim.  Thanks for the laugh, but it sure does describe them perfectly. :)

[Orville]

Well my H.C. RGB Snowflakes, nodes and cables came in Wednesday afternoon during a fierce downpour, got everything inside, unboxed and got the RGB Snowflakes assembled, tested and ready to mount.  Thanksgiving morning, still raining off and on in spurts, just enough to keep me from doing much of anything outside, finally got a bit of a break early evening just before sunset, only got the 3 RGB Snowflakes wired and mounted, started sprinkling just as I finished getting the last one secured to the wall.  Got the power tools back in, along with other odds and ends I had outside back in the house, and wham, a hard rainstorm ensued once again. Ugh!  At least everything was unplugged and capped off.

Still got to mount the 8 blow molds, 3 Candy Canes, 3 Bells, and my RGB Chroma Cross and I should be done and ready to go.  Hoping to be ready by Monday for the full show, that is, if it ever stops raining!  Born and raised in Orlando, FL and I have never seen it this rainy in November, ever, in Florida.  First year I have ever been put this far behind because of rainy weather this time of year.

Keeping my fingers crossed for some clear days to get everything done this weekend, but the weather guessers are still saying to expect rain all weekend.  Good Grief!

Edited November 25, 2022 by Orville

[dgander]

I feel your pain in Lake Mary. I started 3 weekends ago. The spiral tree was first, got it up and then came Nicole. I spent a few hours the following weekend fixing what she damaged. And then that weekend had only one dry day. It's been a day here and a day there that I could work. Two Saturdays of working from 7am to 7pm straight. One of which it kept sprinkling on and off. Finally got everything done last weekend but couldn't weather proof until Tuesday. Was able to kick it off as a full test Thursday night but only for an hour before it got misty again. No rain Friday, though found a section of blues out, fixed that. Tonight I have a section of red out. I'll fix that tomorrow. No more rain it looks like for 2 weeks, whew.

[Orville]

On 11/26/2022 at 10:53 PM, dgander said:

I feel your pain in Lake Mary. I started 3 weekends ago. The spiral tree was first, got it up and then came Nicole. I spent a few hours the following weekend fixing what she damaged. And then that weekend had only one dry day. It's been a day here and a day there that I could work. Two Saturdays of working from 7am to 7pm straight. One of which it kept sprinkling on and off. Finally got everything done last weekend but couldn't weather proof until Tuesday. Was able to kick it off as a full test Thursday night but only for an hour before it got misty again. No rain Friday, though found a section of blues out, fixed that. Tonight I have a section of red out. I'll fix that tomorrow. No more rain it looks like for 2 weeks, whew.

I was outside Sunday Night 11/17 and working on adding missing elements, but had to stop because, yes, it started a fine misty rain at first, not too bad, then it got too hard to do any work in, so I stopped when the misty rain started to get a little heavier.  Just managed to get everything inside {power tools and cap off power cords} before the heavier stuff came down on me.   I've still got a bit to do, hopefully Monday {today} 11/28 I'll be able to almost finish up, depending on how long I'll have shade on the "display" side of the house.  I can't work in the sun due to some of the medications I take for BP, so that has to be very limited.   I don't really have much of a yard in a manufactured home park, and that sucks, so my display is all on just the one side of the house where I can place it.  No more ladders for me, so no lights around the roofline any longer.   So my display is compacted due to the yard limitations.   I miss the huge front yard I used to have years ago.

My 3 red small translucent bells will be missing from my display this year, they finally are too cracked and broken to use, so I had to retire them.  Been looking for years to find replacements, but have had no luck on that score.  They use incandescent single C7 bulbs, I had 4 large ones and 3 small ones originally, large ones also cracked and broke to an unusable condition, and after all these years {small ones lasted 4 times longer than the large ones!} I finally had to retire them.  Been using those little bells for close to 20+ years, only got about 7 years use out of the large ones.

Well, time for my morning coffee and to get started working on getting the rest of my display elements up.  At least it's a little cooler this morning, haven't seen a weather report yet, so really don't know how hot it'll get today 11/28.  Hope it stays cool, I hate the hot weather!  Don't mind in the mid to high 60's or low 70's, but I hate the 80's and up! LOL

[TheDucks]

today's project (main) Trouble shooting My Tree. one string of dumb RGB is out again. (I connected my battery operated test box the last time and it started working)

I hear you loud and clear. NO LADDERS (or work platforms). Mt Step stool has a top rail to hang on to, that works for now (no depth perception, stepped off the ladder 1 time 1 rung too high.)

[lightingman117]

Moved into new home earlier this year. Decided I'd try for a display this year sometime in Sept.
Note: haven't done a setup since 2017 due to moving/not having a yard. 
Planned to get the basics done in Oct. as a family to lite things up on Thanksgiving night like always.

Got sick.
Tried again.
Got sick.

Thankfully I live in FL and had beautiful (slightly drizzly, but not cold) weather Fri/Sat to get the basics done.
Hopefully will finish up next few days for a Dec 1st start! 

My perfectionism is getting the best of me because I keep cutting 100ct strings into two 50ct strings and soldering new ends on so I have 10ft sections for the perfect length 

[Orville]

Well went to put up my 2 trellis arches, and TA #2 the pixel strand was bad, only the very first pixel worked, the rest were DOA.  So now I am going to have to replace that strand of pixels on that arch before putting it back into service.  Not looking forward to that project, but will do that sometime today or tomorrow.  Didn't get anything done today, Wednesday 11/30 due to woke up with a severe migraine, took some medication for that, which knocks me out for about 6-8 hours, so the day was pretty well show by the time I got up to do anything.  I usually get up between 3am-4am and in bed around 11pm-12am.  Yep, only sleep for a couple of hours or so, been this way for me since I was a child, liked to drove my parents crazy. ROFL   And still that way now for me, well, unless I get a blasted migraine, then that usually kills it for doing anything that day.

Well, hopefully I'll be ready in a couple more days with everything in place.  This years has been rough getting my display up in time, which it wasn't.