By:
The Dude on the Right
Fine, I don’t promise anymore. Again, this blog was supposed to be about
the size of a man’s unit, with a totally unscientific study by Trash about Garth Brooks,
and the rantings of one of our staff members, Whammy, but alas, I finally
accomplished something more important than giving you dudettes supposed tools to
help you determine if you really want to get down with a dude based on, well, it
will just have to wait, because this is more important in my life right now,
especially since getting down with a dude will never be important in my life.
What could be more important? I finally finished my Christmas display.
If you read my
last blog, you found out that my Christmas decorating was not going very
well. Decorations were all over the floor, I was one track short of
completing my train set-up, I had to buy more train
track connectors, and I was
almost ready to just say "Screw it." and leave the display in total disarray
because, well, as Christmas is approaching, pretty much, every day, I go from
being filled with the holiday spirit to being a total Scrooge. I finally
just decided to get the damn thing finished, and I finally finished it, but it
wasn’t easy.
First off, I decided I needed a couple of new additions, and on
my way back home from a weekend with old friends in Chicago, I stopped at the
first American Sales store (they sell the
village series that I started collecting) on my way back, and as I looked, on display, they had
the extra lighthouse I wanted, they had the windmill I wanted, and they had the
boat I wanted, but they didn’t have any of them in stock to sell. Them my
obsessiveness kicked in, because, as I continued heading home,
I knew I couldn’t finish this
display without them. So I drive closer to my house, supposedly
remembering where the next store was, but, low and behold, I forgot the powers
that be turned this store into an outlet store. I started swearing a lot,
especially since I was in total "I have to get these pieces" mode or else I
probably wouldn’t have even been able to get to sleep. So, yes, I drove
down the street, to the new American Sales store, and yes, they had everything I
needed; The boat, the windmill, and the lighthouse, and I also picked up what I
hoped would be enough fake snow.
Finally back at home, safe and sound, and
over the course of a few days, I knew I needed a better game-plan than I had
before, so I formulated it. First off, get the train track secured to the
plywood, using anything from thumbtacks to wood screws if necessary. With
the train track finally secured, it was time for the basic layout of the
buildings and the mountain for the ski hill. Envisioned in my head, things
started
to come together except for the fact that the new, plastic, pebble road, needed
to be straightened out (it comes in a roll), and for a change, the internet was
no help at all. Not really sure of the best way to do this, I heated a pot
of boiling water, put the rolls of "road" in the pot, and let them simmer a bit.
After that bit, I laid them out on the floor, flattening them with a bunch of
Pyrex baking dishes, and low and behold, this actually worked.
The next issue,
when dealing with these goofy village buildings, is getting the power to them,
but somehow that all worked out, and alas, my lighthouses were lighthousing, the
sawmill pond was sawmilling and ponding, my ski-lift was ski-lifting, my
windmill was windmilling, and my boats were, well, not really boating, just
sitting there on some blue plastic that is supposed to be water, but at least
their lights were lighting. All that working and the train was still,
well, training.
Finally
the last project was at hand, re-hang the Christmas ornaments that fell off of
the tree at my last debacle, and then, lastly, get all of the snow positioned.
Surprisingly I had enough snow, the ornaments all fell into place (except I do
need to get some super-glue to fix my Angel and Snoopy), but, for the most part,
other than cleaning up the rest of the mess in my living room, my Christmas
display is done. Finally. And just in time for the six inches of
snow that fell this afternoon and evening that gave me a nearly three hour drive
back to my dude-pad today, mostly my fault, because I wasn’t as good as a
weatherman as I usually am. Maybe I should have called my sister, she’s
the one that really needs a "Weather Channel" Intervention, but that’s another
story for another blog, or maybe a podcast. Merry Christmas to those of
you that are Christmasers, and Happy End of the Year to those of you who aren’t.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!