h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm so proud of myself! I built a light dimmer from scratch today. Not much to look at, but it does the job.
It started this way; for several years, I've had trouble getting enough replacement lights for my outdoor Christmas tree. (A holly, about three stories, all red mini lights -- or course red!)
Anyway, first one store, than another stopped carrying red bulbs. Some even quit carrying any replacement bulbs. Then I have to buy some lines that had unusual bulbs. The manufacturer assured me that I could order bulbs straight from them. Sure I can; I found out when I tried that the replacements cost $10 for six bulbs. This on a tree with at least 450 of these bulbs.( Not to mention another 300 to 400 of the other sort.) Sure, that helps a lot!

So, anyway, I decided I had to put the tree on a dimmer. If you run lights at about 80%, it makes them last a very long time -- not to mention you save money on the light bill.
So, having discovered that normal dimmers won't carry enough current, I was debating whether to buy a theatrical light dimmer. Minimum cost, $110 US. Rather expensive for a toy. I decided to give the one hardware store I hadn't looked in a probably futile last look. When the fellows in the electrical aisle found out what I needed, they started pulling things off the shelf and insisting that it's not hard to build a dimmer box.
To cut it short, for $20 (most for an extension cord, which I could have saved if I'd wanted to cut up one I already had) I build a little dimmer. Carries 600w, has grounded male and female plugs. Worked when I tried it on the wall lamp! Yippee!

(Now to get all those lights up. We're up for several days of bad weather. Well, one challenge at a time!)

PS And a happy Thanksgiving to those in/from the US.