Getting professional holiday lighting help

Have you caught yourself humming Christmas music while you're out shopping? It may seem a little early, but as News on Six reporter Rick Wells explains, if you put light displays up for a living,

Tuesday, November 12th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Have you caught yourself humming Christmas music while you're out shopping? It may seem a little early, but as News on Six reporter Rick Wells explains, if you put light displays up for a living, the season is here.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in neighborhoods all over town, light displays are going up and the professional light putter-uppers are getting busy. â€œCan we do it Monday then or do you want me to do it sooner." Travis Hogan and Jeff Ribbens of Backyard Source will do about 15 of these displays before the first of December.

Travis Hogan: â€œWe start installing them earlier and earlier, it just seems like its Halloween and right after Halloween it's Christmas." Of course you don't have to have the pros put you lights up, in fact most people don't. "You do have alot of home owners that do it and do very good displays, but that's always a concern, is makin' sure that your electricity is done right."

He says read the safety warnings that come with the lights, make sure you aren't overloading a circuit, or have too many stings of lights plugged together. He also likes to check the lights and put the little clips on before he goes up the ladder. "A lot easier to assemble everything on the ground, and then be ready to go." Rick Wells, â€œWhat do you do if you don't have gutters to clip them to?" Hogan, "You can do the shingles."

Most of those clips are made to slip under the shingles if there are no gutters. It'll take them the better part of the day to finish.

The lights stay up 'til early January, once they're down and packed away, time to think about getting customer's pools ready for spring and summer. The season's go by so quickly.