Happy Farm'n Friday! We've been busy installing the outdoor Christmas lights. The roof line was finished last weekend, and this week the three evergreen trees in the front yard had their light wraps attached. This weekend will be the porch and retaining wall installation, and I've a new idea for the 72 feet of front-facing wall.

Last year one of the trunk wraps lost 50 lights for reasons unknown. I assumed it was a fuse (because it was exactly half of the lights on the string), but swapping out the fuses didn't turn the darkened lights back on. Turns out THAT wasn't the problem at all...

A stupid tree rat had chewed through the wires and STOLE one of the bulbs and its lamp holder. That little thief! Mr.Fogu reconnected the wires so the remaining 49 bulbs lit up again. The missing lamp is at the top edge of the tree wrap (about 12 feet up the tree), so it is not as obvious from the street that it was ripped off by a squirrel. Grrr...

Holiday Discounts!

It's the end-of-year shopping season and a good time to pick up some farm'n video games! Holiday discounts are available on multiple platforms:

PC/Steam (End December 3)

• Farming Simulation 19 = $19.99 (20% off, normally $24.99)
• Fantasy Farming: Orange Season (early access) = $9.79 (30% off, normally $13.99)
• Harvest Moon: Light of Hope SE = $9.99 (50% off, normally $19.99)
• Little Dragons Cafe = $17.99 (70% off, normally $59.99)
• Littlewood (early access) = $13.49 (10% off, normally $14.99)
• My Time at Portia = $20.09 (33% off, normally $29.99)
• Stardew Valley (just updated to version 1.4) = $13.49 (10% off, normally $14.99)
• Stranded Sails: Explorers of the Cursed Islands = $20.99 (16% off, normally $24.99)

Doraemon: Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon: Mad Dash are not included in the Steam farming game discounts.

Nintendo Switch (Ends December 4)

• Farm Together = $13.99 (30% off, normally $19.99)
• Harvest Moon: Light of Hope SE = $19.99 (50% off, normally $39.99)
• Harvest Moon: Light of Hope SE Bundle = $24.99 (50% off, normally $49.99)
• Little Dragons Cafe = $17.99 (70% off, normally $59.99)

Wada's Happy Birthdays for Nintendo Switch is also on sale for $14.99 (62% off).

Nintendo 3DS (Sale ends December 4)

• Harvest Moon: A New Beginning = $14.99 (50% off, normally $29.99)
• Harvest Moon: Skytree Village = $14.99 (50% off, normally $29.99)
• Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley = $14.99 (50% off, normally $29.99)
• Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns = $9.99 (50% off, normally $9.99)

The 3DS sale also includes Hometown Story for $9.99 (50% off)

Xbox One (Sale ends December 2)

• My Time at Portia = $20.99 (30% off, normally $29.99)

Game Sale Data

According to Weekly Famitsu, the Japan release of Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town has now hit 100,000 sales! The Nintendo Switch game sold another 2400 copies to place it at about 101,700 sold. On the other hand, the game's ranking dropped to #25 out of 30.

Nintendo DREAM 4-col Comic

It's been a while since we've had one of these! Here's the translated version of Igusa Matsuyama's 4-box comic that originally was published in the March 2013 edition Nintendo DREAM magazine, featuring protagonist Hart from Harvest Moon: A New Beginning.