Escaping Dino Display Delights Temecula: Honk If You Drive By!
TEMECULA, CA — Temecula resident Terri McKenzie-Wood is home for the holidays this year after wrestling with enormous inflatable Christmas dinosaurs.
No, they didn’t bite her.
She bears a large battle wound and 30 stitches after getting caught on her backyard fence while setting up the display, she said. And she’ll have an L-shaped scar as a reminder of setting up one of the most adorable holiday displays in the valley.
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McKenzie-Wood has a gift for making others laugh. That’s why when she ordered an inflatable dinosaur off Temu, she dreamed up a story that would delight her Temecula neighbors.
“My house backs up to Pauba, and I love Christmas,” she said. “This year, I wanted to do something facing Pauba in the backyard.”
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When the dinosaurs arrived, three ended up being 15 feet tall. She was amazed at how tall and whimsical they were, she told Patch.
“I dreamed up a dinosaur escape from our yard to the hillside,” she said.
According to McKenzie-Wood, setting it up came with more than a few complications.
“My intent was, the week before Christmas, to have the dinos escape the common area behind my house,” she said. “I just wanted to bring joy to the little dino lovers out there.”
Instead, she found herself calling 911.
Not putting safety first, she said she got caught on a light pole, and her ladder collapsed as she climbed from one side of the wall to the other.
Her idea caused a trip to the hospital by ambulance and 30 stitches on the L-shaped leg laceration.
“I was only able to get two of the dinos escaped over the wall, with the other three peeking offer the fence,” she said.
Now on medical leave for a few weeks, she enjoys hearing drivers honk in happiness at her display.
“As I sit here for the next week or so with my leg propped up, if you love my escaping dinos, give a little honk as you drive by!”
If you go, check out her front yard display of a much safer Charlie Brown scene. Visit: 33071 Corte Bacarro to see Lucy, Linus, Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
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