71,000 Lights

Would you believe 7,100? How about 710? 71? There are probably somewhere between those last numbers decorating this spectacular Christmas tree on the back wall of my cubical/office. It is two sections of mesh net lights that go on the shrubs in front of a house. They used to grace our old artificial tree, but now that we have a smaller tree they are obsolete. When I first put them up I just hung them as a big ol’ rectangle. It looked awful, but I didn’t know what else to do. When my wife showed up for lunch she suggested the tree shape by letting the top panel hang from a center point. Smart girl.

We gathered some small bits of discarded valve parts for decorations, but more was needed. So I brought in a box from the attic at home that contained all my old drafting supplies from way back in the day — pre-computer. I probably have the only tree decorated with circle & lettering templates, pencils with different grade leads, technical pens of varying line widths, a compass for drawing big circles and a pocket protector. Plus there are even some small actual Christmas ornaments on there.

On the way back from checking the MMC P.O. Box in North Augusta tonight the Emperor clicked over the 71,000 mile mark.