Completely Unstrung

Day 56: "It seemed like a good idea at the time." Famous words, those...or infamous. If I had used my head, I would have realized that in this era of "use it once and throw it away" that a pre-lit Christmas tree wasn't a good idea, but I was looking for something to make my life a little easier. I suppose I should be happy that I got two years of good use out of it before one strand of the lights stopped working and refused to respond to any intervention on my part. I changed the fuses. I checked the bulbs. Concluding that the only other solution must be a bad wire, I took it upon myself to unstring it. What was the figure? 300? Each light was held on with either a zip-tie or something resembling a miniature bread clip. One required wire cutters to remove, the other a pair of pliers. Three and a half hours later, the tree and the Crow were both entirely unstrung. I can get new lights for the tree, but I think my personal battery has gone flat permanently.