One of the first things I did when we moved into our house almost 18 years ago was put up the brand new UncommonUSA 20' telescopic flagpole I had purchased beforehand and had in storage. Knowing that the US Flag is supposed to be either lit or taken down at sunset, I originally chose to put a 150 watt halogen lamp with a dusk to dawn sensor on the overhang of my garage at flag level aimed right at the flags. LED light fixtures weren't really known or readily available, then when they became available they were prohibitively expensive. Lowe's recently had a fixture made by Lithonia Lighting for less than $60 with my military discount. I had decided the next time the 150W halogen lamp burned out would be the last. Yesterday morning, I swapped out the fixture.
The one I chose is rated for 2500 lumens, but the light temperature is switchable, from 3500K/4000K/5000K. The power rating regardless of light temperature setting is a minuscule 17 watts and it has an integrated dusk/dawn sensor. I initially had it set for 3500K mimicking what I had. But last night when we came home after dark I thought it was too dull and yellow looking. So this afternoon I threw a ladder and climbed up to switch it to the whiter 4000K. As I suspected, it made the colors of the my brand new US Flag really pop.
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The flags tonight at 4000K
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The fire hydrant was a gift from my former neighbor when they moved away. It was removed by his Dad's construction company on a street renovation project, and my neighbor had it in his yard. It is deceiving how heavy those bastards are until you try to pick one up. The yellow second flag is for The Patriot Guard Riders and has their "Riding With Respect" saying on it. That will fly until November 1st, when I switch it out for the standard black and white POW/MIA flag for Veterans Day. That will stay up the entire month of November.
I may get a side benefit of annoying my *COTHO neighbor "Mrs. Bitchy McBitchy Bitchface" (H/T to fellow blogger Mr. Garabaldi for that nickname) as she leaves for work in the dark wee hours of the morning. The light shines into the woods past the flagpole and eventually onto her driveway. I hope it shines just right nice and bright as she drives by now that most of the leaves are down. Now it is setup exactly as the old one was, so only the higher light temperature may get noticed. However, I'm sure you can figure out what my response to any complaints will be.
*COTHO: Cunt Of The Highest Order