| - New for 2006 - |
Solar Power on the Severns home - Visit our solar site to see charts of usage and production from August to present. Right now
(Dec.) we are making about 20 kwH per day and using over 70 kwH (Severns home only). But... we banked a bunch of electricity (in
dollars) over the summer and our intention is to break even over a one year period.
Rudolf 2.1- The laser is gone, but in it's place are new high powered blue LED glasses, an LED collar, and additional twinkle lights.
Snow Machine - It's actually soap, but it looks like real snow. Snow juice costs $20 a gallon plus about $10 in shipping. We use
almost 2 gallons a night. Therefore we are not buying it, but making it from distilled water and Meguiar's car wash soap for about
$2 per gallon. Video (Windows Media) The audio for all of the videos on this page is from our Opening Night routine.
Upgraded Magnolia Trees - We have added LOR control to the Magnolias as well as strobes and C9 twinkle lights. The mini light
can be dimmed, ramped, faded, and are on three separate LOR channels, one being just the trunk, so we can light only the trunk
and turn on the twinkles bulbs on the branches for instance. Video (Windows Media).
New LOR controlled Lawn Animals - We have replaced all of our old white (rusty) reindeer with new gold colored ones. In addition,
all the reindeer, the Polar Bear and the two Snowmen are LOR controlled. Now they can really sing! On Opening Night they sang to
a portion of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Video (Window Media).
The Mega Tree - "Mega Tree" is a term used by computerized Christmas Display Geeks to describe a big Christmas tree built using a
pole and hoop that is computer controlled to make a spinning effect. Our Mega Tree is 12 ft. tall and has 8 blue and 8 green LOR
channels. Keep you eyes on that tree, it does some crazy stuff! Video (Windows Media).
New Songs - Andy dove in and programmed a few new songs this year including a version of the Star Spangled Banner (US Navy
marching band) that now opens and closes the display. He also did sequences for Trans Siberian Orchestra's "Remember" and
Christmas Canon". And.... he completely re-wrote: Trans Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve Sarajevo, Chuck Berry - Run, Run
Rudolf, and Booker T. and the MG's - White Christmas. Andy now has a deeper appreciation for the tedious work and time that
goes into programming a song.
All other existing songs have been upgraded to take advantage of the new display features (where appropriate), including TSO's
"Wizards in Winter", our most popular song from last year.
Comments on the videos:
These videos are lousy. One of the singers is out of frame for the whole Queen song. There are some computer hiccups that throw
the audio sync off. The dimming on the magnolia trees is not visible. But... they do give an idea as to what is happening. So, don't
just watch the videos, come out and see for yourself because the real thing is 100 times better. An abbreviated version of the
Opening Night routine plays nightly at 8:00.
(Dec.) we are making about 20 kwH per day and using over 70 kwH (Severns home only). But... we banked a bunch of electricity (in
dollars) over the summer and our intention is to break even over a one year period.
Rudolf 2.1- The laser is gone, but in it's place are new high powered blue LED glasses, an LED collar, and additional twinkle lights.
Snow Machine - It's actually soap, but it looks like real snow. Snow juice costs $20 a gallon plus about $10 in shipping. We use
almost 2 gallons a night. Therefore we are not buying it, but making it from distilled water and Meguiar's car wash soap for about
$2 per gallon. Video (Windows Media) The audio for all of the videos on this page is from our Opening Night routine.
Upgraded Magnolia Trees - We have added LOR control to the Magnolias as well as strobes and C9 twinkle lights. The mini light
can be dimmed, ramped, faded, and are on three separate LOR channels, one being just the trunk, so we can light only the trunk
and turn on the twinkles bulbs on the branches for instance. Video (Windows Media).
New LOR controlled Lawn Animals - We have replaced all of our old white (rusty) reindeer with new gold colored ones. In addition,
all the reindeer, the Polar Bear and the two Snowmen are LOR controlled. Now they can really sing! On Opening Night they sang to
a portion of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Video (Window Media).
The Mega Tree - "Mega Tree" is a term used by computerized Christmas Display Geeks to describe a big Christmas tree built using a
pole and hoop that is computer controlled to make a spinning effect. Our Mega Tree is 12 ft. tall and has 8 blue and 8 green LOR
channels. Keep you eyes on that tree, it does some crazy stuff! Video (Windows Media).
New Songs - Andy dove in and programmed a few new songs this year including a version of the Star Spangled Banner (US Navy
marching band) that now opens and closes the display. He also did sequences for Trans Siberian Orchestra's "Remember" and
Christmas Canon". And.... he completely re-wrote: Trans Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve Sarajevo, Chuck Berry - Run, Run
Rudolf, and Booker T. and the MG's - White Christmas. Andy now has a deeper appreciation for the tedious work and time that
goes into programming a song.
All other existing songs have been upgraded to take advantage of the new display features (where appropriate), including TSO's
"Wizards in Winter", our most popular song from last year.
Comments on the videos:
These videos are lousy. One of the singers is out of frame for the whole Queen song. There are some computer hiccups that throw
the audio sync off. The dimming on the magnolia trees is not visible. But... they do give an idea as to what is happening. So, don't
just watch the videos, come out and see for yourself because the real thing is 100 times better. An abbreviated version of the
Opening Night routine plays nightly at 8:00.
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