Red Dirt Ramblings®

Firmly rooted in the Oklahoma soil

Bulbs Squared

Bulbs squared or close thereto

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how I hate your lights.

I hate them when they tangle.  I hate them when they lie dead.

Oh Christmas, oh Christmas tree, how I hate your lights.

The tree is up, and once I changed all these bulbs, it is shining bright, but it took superhuman effort again this year.  I don’t understand why.  It should be so easy, but it’s not.

Still, I liked how these bulbs looked when I replaced them.  My friend, David, from A Photographer’s Garden Blog wanted us to square our photos today, and this was the best I could do.  To answer his question, yes, I do see a lot of subjects squared when I’m taking a photograph.  I thought it was a fault.  Goes to show what I know, eh?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. David Perry

    Was just wrestling with a half-dozen strings of lights, took a break and found this post. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiinnnn.

    I like your shot, despite your woes.

    And Marnie, I suspect the effect you refer to with the red flowers is this: I shot through one blooming Pineapple Sage plant to another about ten feet away. The red blurs are out of focus flowers just a foot or two in front of the lens while I am focused on flowers perhaps ten feet away. Does that make sense?

  5. Marnie

    I can identify with your frustration;)

    I love David Perry’s photos! I just visited his site. I wonder how he got that affect with the red flowers.
    Marnie

  6. Martha

    Me, too. I clicked over because on the feed I saw square bulbs and couldn’t help but look to see what Dee is up to now.

    And, what does it mean to square a photo? Just to post it as a square rather than a rectangle?

    It does look nice that way.

    Martha´s last blog post..Mark Zampardo’s New Book – A Landscaper’s Guide to Perennial Flowers With English Spanish Glossary

  7. Nola

    My one track mind…your title said “bulbs”, so I’m thinking daffodils, narcissus, tulips! Took me a while to get with the program. I no good with light bulbs, too challenging, and I have no patience!

  8. Curtis

    Put up the lights and they work this year. Store them and next year half of them work.

    Curtis´s last blog post..Quick Garden blogging

  9. Mr. McGregor's Daughter

    I have the best light set. The bulbs pop out so easily, no wires to untangle, as the whole plastic unit comes out & the replacement bulb just pops right in. My problem is limited to finding the replacement bulbs. They end up in a different place every year. At least it made a nice photo.

    Mr. McGregor’s Daughter´s last blog post..It’s Going to be a Long Winter

  11. tina

    Pretty cool post. Not at all what I was expecting!

    I bet you thought I would show the tree, didn’t you? I was extremely frustrated with the annual bulb replacement, so I thought I’d be funny.~~Dee

  13. Kim

    A number of years ago, we spent a little extra and bought the “heavy duty” little white lights so we wouldn’t have to do the “light change cha cha” every year. Those were great, but I hated putting them on the tree and taking them off. Last year, we bought a pre-lit artifical tree (a really good one that looks and feels real) and now I don’t struggle with the lights at all. It’s the easy way out, but it sure reduced my light stress.

    Kim´s last blog post..A December Memory

    Kim, I think I’m ready to purchase a pre-lit tree. It would save me from crawling around on the ground trying to find burned out bulbs.~~Dee

  14. Karen - An Artists Garden

    This made me smile Dee – I hate Christmas lights, the worst thing is that every set we have seems to have a different sort of bulb!
    Square is good!
    K

    Karen – An Artists Garden´s last blog post..ETSY and Christmas Shopping

    We are the same way.~~Dee

  15. Lisa at Greenbow

    You know what they say about Christmas lights. You can tell a lot about a persons personality as to how they deal with their Xmas lights. Well, I don’t do the lights. What does that say? tee hee…

    Lisa, I think mine must say “Impatient” about me.~~Dee

  18. Kylee

    Dee, I indeed feel your pain about those darn Christmas lights. Even worse, we have little white ones strung along our pergola and they are used all year long. Of course, they decide to die when it’s 17 degrees outside. Grrrr! Really, that should be brrrrr…

    Kylee´s last blog post..How To Have Poinsettias in July

    Hi Kylee, glad you feel my pain.~~Dee

  19. eliz

    we don’t have a tree this year, but for years we used multi-colored indoor/outdoor lights that worked great with a couple replacements. I think those little lights can be trickier. Great photo!

    Eliz, what’s tricky is popping out the little sockets & feeding the cheap bulb wire through the little holes. The people who make the little bulbs must have a terrible time making them.~~Dee