Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
"Time Doesn't Wait for me...it Keeps on Rollin'"
So...It's been a good, long time since I've posted a blog. I'm not 100% sure why I haven't posted in the last 2 months or so....lots of reasons, maybe...but anyways...I figured that from here on out I'd at least put up 1 blog a month....even just for me and mine...as a time-line of sorts. I'm not sure that I've got anything of consequence to say...I really just enjoy looking back on years past and seeing where life was at during a certain month or moment...seeing how little Gavin was during a garden post in 2010 or revisiting Ivy's first birthday. I dig that. I have decided that I will try to at least post a monthly "scrapbook" blog of our family's going's on....It's mostly for me and mine, but please feel free to enjoy life along with us. Here's what I've got in this installment:
Chrissy and the kids went down to New Jersey for a few days. Gavin spent the afternoon in pop-pop's kayak tooling around the creek in Deptford, NJ.
Our seeds have germinated and are starting to fill out. Gavin is keeping his own garden this year. This is his row of lettuce. Should be ready to eat in 3 weeks or so.
We keep an asparagus patch...the nice part of that (besides it being a perennial and requiring almost no work) is that it pays off in EARLY Spring. We're harvesting about this much every 2-3 days:
Chrissy went to yoga class and the kids and I hung out on the deck. They made a "nest" for themselves under the slide. Too cute.
Our strawberries are looking great. Lots of our other fruit trees are looking good as well....peaches, apples, nectarines, blueberries, cherries. We're hoping for a nice, big harvest this season.
The kids hanging inside the blackberry arbor.
We finished our chicken coop a few weeks ago. Here's our girls "expressing their chicken-ness" on their roosts...there may be a rooster or two in our midst, however.
case in point.
Alright...that pretty much brings us up to speed on the going's on around here. Thanks for reading. Hope you are all having stellar Spring seasons. Here's hoping for a fruitful Summer harvest and some great memories with our families.
God Bless.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Small Shifts and Poultry Progress
I make up words for things in my brain...or use words in unconventional contexts. Ivy does the same thing. If she's sitting by the fire, she doesn't feel the "warmth"...she feels the "heatness". One word that comes up in my mind this time of year is "shift"...as in "The Shift". To me, The Shift is that time when Winter is finally transitioning out, the ground is starting to thaw, patches of new green start to appear, the ice on the pond has melted and you catch a glimpse of an occasional ripple as a fish makes a quick turn near the surface. Normally, around here, Winter is a VERY long season. As that temperature drops in November...you start to batten down the hatches; put the lawn furniture away, pull the boats up out of the water, tune up the snow blower. Then it's almost 5 full months of very cold and very snowy. We like to be outside quite a bit in the Winter but with little ones, it sometimes gets tough...you know the drill...spend 45 minutes layering them up with warm clothes only to get 10 minutes outside before a face plant or tumble sends snow where it shouldn't be. I dig Winter...but I LOVE the shift...that means, boating, fishing, gardening, outdoor living is right around the corner.
This year's "shift" was hardly one at all. We experienced the 4th mildest Winter on record here and got to spend a great deal of time outside all season. It is still nice to think about Spring and all the outdoor stuff that goes with it. It's been in the upper 60's this week and we've been talking full advantage of this gorgeous weather. I'll show you...but first....
Chicken Update!
The girls have just about tripled in size since we got them. They are two weeks old now and all of them have their wing feathers and most of their tail feathers in:
They are still cute...but it won't be long until they hit that gawky, feather-ruffled, necks-a-little-too-long-for-their-tiny-head stage...the "teenage" phase as it's known in chicken raising. I'm still anticipating one or two of them to be a rooster..we'll see.
Well...being that the ground is thawed, work began on their coop:
My pops (Pa, as he's known to his grand kids) has been designing and mainly working on this baby. We're thinking it's gonna look pretty cool as it comes together.
So today, after work, I got changed and in about 2 minutes was outside with the fam working in the yard. There's some work that needs doing on our gardens so we started on that. We had dinner...then right back outside. I took the kids for a sunset ride in the boat:
with snacks:
and swans:
We even managed to do the thing that spawned this blog's name:
We found the Blue Heron (this was the best shot I could manage as I fumbled in my pocket for the camera while it was flying away from me.
After we docked, we had 15-20 more minutes of daylight. Gavin decided to "reward the day with a little fishin'" as we've been known to say around here:
While Ivy and I played catch with her new junky frisbee-thing:
Ivy insisted on bringing the frisbee back in her mouth. It wasn't until 5 or 6 tosses in that I realized that what I was doing wasn't playing "catch"...
I was playing "fetch".
Which sort of works...cuz I've never had a dog.
Not a bad Tuesday.
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day. - Genesis 1:11-13
I love that part.
This year's "shift" was hardly one at all. We experienced the 4th mildest Winter on record here and got to spend a great deal of time outside all season. It is still nice to think about Spring and all the outdoor stuff that goes with it. It's been in the upper 60's this week and we've been talking full advantage of this gorgeous weather. I'll show you...but first....
Chicken Update!
The girls have just about tripled in size since we got them. They are two weeks old now and all of them have their wing feathers and most of their tail feathers in:
They are still cute...but it won't be long until they hit that gawky, feather-ruffled, necks-a-little-too-long-for-their-tiny-head stage...the "teenage" phase as it's known in chicken raising. I'm still anticipating one or two of them to be a rooster..we'll see.
Well...being that the ground is thawed, work began on their coop:
My pops (Pa, as he's known to his grand kids) has been designing and mainly working on this baby. We're thinking it's gonna look pretty cool as it comes together.
So today, after work, I got changed and in about 2 minutes was outside with the fam working in the yard. There's some work that needs doing on our gardens so we started on that. We had dinner...then right back outside. I took the kids for a sunset ride in the boat:
with snacks:
and swans:
We even managed to do the thing that spawned this blog's name:
We found the Blue Heron (this was the best shot I could manage as I fumbled in my pocket for the camera while it was flying away from me.
After we docked, we had 15-20 more minutes of daylight. Gavin decided to "reward the day with a little fishin'" as we've been known to say around here:
While Ivy and I played catch with her new junky frisbee-thing:
Ivy insisted on bringing the frisbee back in her mouth. It wasn't until 5 or 6 tosses in that I realized that what I was doing wasn't playing "catch"...
I was playing "fetch".
Which sort of works...cuz I've never had a dog.
Not a bad Tuesday.
Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day. - Genesis 1:11-13
I love that part.
Friday, February 10, 2012
No Snow...so....THIS Happened:
yeah...my kid's rolling on a 2 wheeler. And I gotta say...he isn't just teetering around on the thing....he's ripping it LIKE A BOSS. Since we've had no snow and clear roads all Winter...the biking season has pretty much carried right through from Autumn. That was all the extra time that the kid needed to turn into Speed Racer on his rusty 2-wheeler. I'm dumbfounded.
One of the pinnacle moments of fatherhood...one that after-school specials and made-for-TV movies have shown to be an absolute certainty, is the dad.....running behind the 2 wheeler with his hand on the back of the seat...teaching their child about balance. over and over and over....until...finally....the child FINALLY gets it and wobbles him/herself a couple of yards while the dad gives chase in super-slo motion with arms raised towards the sky in triumph...right before the kid runs into a mailbox.
Nope.
Didn't get any of that.
4 steps.
That's what I got.
4 steps.
That's all it took.
Then he was OFF.
No looking back.
I blame this:
The Strider Bike (Since the boy is now rolling big time, Ivy inherited this hog). The idea is that it makes a kid learn all about balance but has no pedals....it's like a mutant scooter, the crazy thing is that it teaches kids balance at like an insanely early age...which, once they get that down, is apparently super-easy to add pedaling into the mix and, BAM...they are rocking a legit 2 wheeler. See for yourself:
For most kids under 4, they aren't given an opportunity to learn about vehicular balance before actually trying to ride a 2-wheeler...that's why it's usually such a chore when they finally get the training wheels off. This little gem allows a super young kid to get the idea of balance first...then eventually add in the element of pedaling....often without even the transition of training wheels. I gotta tell you....this balance bike turns kids into bicycle ninjas. It's unreal how quickly Gavin took to a 2-wheeler pedal bike after riding this baby for 6 months or so.
Ivy's got it now...and I wouldn't be surprised if she was on a pedal bike by her 3rd birthday. No pressure but, at any rate...we've been having a blast tooling up and down the neighborhood on our hogs. Here's proof:
It's crazy-amazing to watch your children's world get bigger. They learn to roll over, suddenly their world gets bigger by a blanket. They learn to crawl, suddenly their world gets bigger by a room. They learn to walk, suddenly their world gets bigger by a house. They learn to speak, suddenly their world gets bigger by words. They learn to ride a two-wheeler, suddenly their world gets bigger by:
Part of me wants to say: "Get back here!! You're still so little".
But there's that other part of me...that part that I know that I have to embrace that's screaming "GO MAN, GO!!".
Ride, Captain, Ride.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Wakey Wakey, Eggs and Bacey
Been on a bit of a blog hiatus. I'll be back next week with some new ramblings. Just a quick state of the family: Everyone's healthy, everyone's happy (most of the time) Until next week, I'll leave you with:
Rosie The Snowman (Snowwoman) Y'all!! (yes, those are red and blue milk caps).
Another 4-7" coming tomorrow. It's about time.
Talk to you soon.
Rosie The Snowman (Snowwoman) Y'all!! (yes, those are red and blue milk caps).
Another 4-7" coming tomorrow. It's about time.
Talk to you soon.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Gavinism...5 Year Old Edition
The bottom line is...the kid comes up with some real gems....I'm reserving this space for the absolute best of the best. One of which occurred tonight. Let me set the stage....
We just said goodbye to a bunch of Chrissy's family: her mom, older sister, niece, twin sister, and 2 nephews who came up to visit the day after Christmas and spend a few days to celebrate Gavin's birthday (yesterday, the 27th.)...we just got done reading his bedtime books, brushed teeth, and were getting ready to say goodnight prayers when he and I had the following exchange:
Me: "Well, Gav...today was the first full day of you being 5 years old, how did it feel?"
Gavin: "Well, I know that I'm getting older because the segments of my fingers are bigger. You see this segment here? (pointing to the top part of his finger where the fingernail is), well...it used be down here....and you see this segment here? (pointing to the next knuckle down)well...it used to be way down here....also...my pinky finger is fatter than it used to be".
Me: "Wow...um...that's great man...let's say prayers."
The kid's something else. So's the girl...I may have to start an "Ivyism" tag...she's getting there. Throughout this weekend, she had multiple personalities....at any given moment she could have been Ivy, or Mary, or King David, or Joseph, or baby Jesus....It was kind of touch-and-go for a while...you'd have to figure our who she was or be forced to endure correction (by a 2 year old, I may add).
God Bless us, everyone.
I still can't believe my man turned 5 this week:
12-27-06
12-27-11
Keep going strong, big man...the Lord's got mighty things in store for you. But enjoy your ice cream first.
Christmas post and Relatives visit coming soon.
We just said goodbye to a bunch of Chrissy's family: her mom, older sister, niece, twin sister, and 2 nephews who came up to visit the day after Christmas and spend a few days to celebrate Gavin's birthday (yesterday, the 27th.)...we just got done reading his bedtime books, brushed teeth, and were getting ready to say goodnight prayers when he and I had the following exchange:
Me: "Well, Gav...today was the first full day of you being 5 years old, how did it feel?"
Gavin: "Well, I know that I'm getting older because the segments of my fingers are bigger. You see this segment here? (pointing to the top part of his finger where the fingernail is), well...it used be down here....and you see this segment here? (pointing to the next knuckle down)well...it used to be way down here....also...my pinky finger is fatter than it used to be".
Me: "Wow...um...that's great man...let's say prayers."
The kid's something else. So's the girl...I may have to start an "Ivyism" tag...she's getting there. Throughout this weekend, she had multiple personalities....at any given moment she could have been Ivy, or Mary, or King David, or Joseph, or baby Jesus....It was kind of touch-and-go for a while...you'd have to figure our who she was or be forced to endure correction (by a 2 year old, I may add).
God Bless us, everyone.
I still can't believe my man turned 5 this week:
12-27-06
12-27-11
Keep going strong, big man...the Lord's got mighty things in store for you. But enjoy your ice cream first.
Christmas post and Relatives visit coming soon.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Here We Come A Wassailing....
Short Version:
2 years ago, our family walked across the street and Christmas Caroled to our neighbor. One and done.
1 year ago, our good friends, The Corbetts, joined us on vocals and mandolin as we serenaded 7 or 8 homes in the lower part of our neighborhood. We sang a tune or two to each house...many of which were very surprised and blessed by our gift of song.
This year....
14 of us went out to spread some Christmas Cheer to the Michael Lane/Wayne Ave. area of Dudley, MA.
We recently began attending a new church and have quickly become connected with some wonderful families.....families who love The Lord, and love each other...families that want to do right, honor Him, live and learn by His Bible alone, and enjoy time with one another. Tonight pretty much hit all of those points.
It was a great night for caroling....48 degrees...not too cold for folks to hold their doors open to listen to a song or two.
We went out with a pretty basic 3 song setlist:
1. Jingle Bells (we had 4 kids under 5 years old...they had a good time jingling bells and laughing all the way)
2. Hark The Herald Angels Sing: We HAD to add something about Christ in our set. Plus....I always get all rev'd up at the "Join The Triumph Of The Skies" part.
3. We Wish You a Merry Christmas...just a classic wassailing set-ender.
Our first practice was also our first caroling stop...the deck of my parents home....a dress rehearsal, if-you-will.
A little blurred with no flash but....you get the idea.
After that...we hit maybe 12 or 15 houses in our neighborhood. It's kind of funny....When you knock on some one's door unexpectedly in the night and then burst into song on their front lawn....our culture isn't used to that. So, usually, the first song is spent with the homeowners trying to pry family members away from the TV to come and listen and/or keeping their dogs from jumping through the glass storm door and tearing us to shreds. I will say that, by the middle of the second tune...every family we visited was on board and singing along. We even brought one woman to tears. Booya.
here's some random shots of us on the road:
We nominated Timmy Nault as our official caroling photographer...so...while He wasn't in most of our actual caroling shots...we had to pay him his due (complete with his kind-of-creepy, kind-of-cool fur hat):
Trust me...he's cool.
We even had a "Drive-by" caroling occur when a van that was driving down the street stopped to see what was going on...they got jumped with an unexpected "Jingle Bells" before they sped on their way.
Our night ended back at our home with delicious Hot Chocolate, tasty Winter Brews, lots more music, and lots more laughter. Easy....Simple....Perfect.
When I started facilitating drum circles years ago, I read and recited a quote from and African drum instructor, Babatunde Olatunji, who said :
"All people, from all walks of life, all colors, we have things that we can do together, and it's the simplest thing to make music and sing together..."
Add to that Psalm 147:1:
"Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him".
It was wonderful to bless our neighborhood with song this evening. It was even better to honor the Lord through good, happy, pure times of rejoicing this precious season with friends and family.
I am grateful for my friends, old and new, that I shared this night with. I am more grateful to celebrate the season...and to have honored The Lord...the Creator...who clothed Himself in His own creation...who came to us...and came to love, know, teach, guide, and inspire us.
I would love nothing more than to go back in time, to "join the triumph of the skies" and proclaim our Saviour's arrival with the angelic hosts.
Tonight may be as close as I'll ever get.
I'll take it.
2 years ago, our family walked across the street and Christmas Caroled to our neighbor. One and done.
1 year ago, our good friends, The Corbetts, joined us on vocals and mandolin as we serenaded 7 or 8 homes in the lower part of our neighborhood. We sang a tune or two to each house...many of which were very surprised and blessed by our gift of song.
This year....
14 of us went out to spread some Christmas Cheer to the Michael Lane/Wayne Ave. area of Dudley, MA.
We recently began attending a new church and have quickly become connected with some wonderful families.....families who love The Lord, and love each other...families that want to do right, honor Him, live and learn by His Bible alone, and enjoy time with one another. Tonight pretty much hit all of those points.
It was a great night for caroling....48 degrees...not too cold for folks to hold their doors open to listen to a song or two.
We went out with a pretty basic 3 song setlist:
1. Jingle Bells (we had 4 kids under 5 years old...they had a good time jingling bells and laughing all the way)
2. Hark The Herald Angels Sing: We HAD to add something about Christ in our set. Plus....I always get all rev'd up at the "Join The Triumph Of The Skies" part.
3. We Wish You a Merry Christmas...just a classic wassailing set-ender.
Our first practice was also our first caroling stop...the deck of my parents home....a dress rehearsal, if-you-will.
A little blurred with no flash but....you get the idea.
After that...we hit maybe 12 or 15 houses in our neighborhood. It's kind of funny....When you knock on some one's door unexpectedly in the night and then burst into song on their front lawn....our culture isn't used to that. So, usually, the first song is spent with the homeowners trying to pry family members away from the TV to come and listen and/or keeping their dogs from jumping through the glass storm door and tearing us to shreds. I will say that, by the middle of the second tune...every family we visited was on board and singing along. We even brought one woman to tears. Booya.
here's some random shots of us on the road:
We nominated Timmy Nault as our official caroling photographer...so...while He wasn't in most of our actual caroling shots...we had to pay him his due (complete with his kind-of-creepy, kind-of-cool fur hat):
Trust me...he's cool.
We even had a "Drive-by" caroling occur when a van that was driving down the street stopped to see what was going on...they got jumped with an unexpected "Jingle Bells" before they sped on their way.
Our night ended back at our home with delicious Hot Chocolate, tasty Winter Brews, lots more music, and lots more laughter. Easy....Simple....Perfect.
When I started facilitating drum circles years ago, I read and recited a quote from and African drum instructor, Babatunde Olatunji, who said :
"All people, from all walks of life, all colors, we have things that we can do together, and it's the simplest thing to make music and sing together..."
Add to that Psalm 147:1:
"Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise Him".
It was wonderful to bless our neighborhood with song this evening. It was even better to honor the Lord through good, happy, pure times of rejoicing this precious season with friends and family.
I am grateful for my friends, old and new, that I shared this night with. I am more grateful to celebrate the season...and to have honored The Lord...the Creator...who clothed Himself in His own creation...who came to us...and came to love, know, teach, guide, and inspire us.
I would love nothing more than to go back in time, to "join the triumph of the skies" and proclaim our Saviour's arrival with the angelic hosts.
Tonight may be as close as I'll ever get.
I'll take it.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Wreathing Havoc
So...second year in a row...probably gonna become a family tradition....
The Leo Family Homegrown Christmas Wreath.
If you remember back a blog or two ago...the one about the 12 ft. tall Christmas tree...when all was said and done...I had a solid 5 foot of pine tree bottom sitting in my side yard. This became the greens for our 2011 Christmas wreath.
We started by setting up our dirty ghetto table in our dirty ghetto driveway...hey...that's how we roll 'round here, know what I'm sayin'?!
We used the octagonal frame that Gavin and I made out of scrap wood and "L" brackets last year. In this shot, Gavin is using some pliers to take out last years staples to get ready for this year's greens.
Starting to attach some greens.
The girls arrive with the lights.
Almost done with the greens. A quick side-note. To those who have a super keen eye for keen observation...you'd notice that during many blog posts and facebook update
photos throughout the past 2 1/2 years or so, I'm wearing the same ratty, washed-out, stretched-out long sleeve black T-shirt that you see in this photo. The truth is...I'm wearing this shirt inside out because on the front-side it says "50 Cent G-Unit" and has an icon of a bullet with wings. Not my style at all but...Truth is....
I bought this shirt at a thrift store for 3 bucks like 3 years ago....and being a big, fat dude....this shirt has been key in some hardcore snow removal, gun-range shooting, and overall cold-weather protection over the last 2+ years or so...I can't begin to describe how comfortable this shirt is...It's getting a bit gnarly these days...but I'm not-at-all ready to get rid of it. It continues to be a key component to my Winter Well-Being...Anyhow...let's get back to the topic on hand....
The girl with the bow.
Stapling up some serious Winter-Berries...We're almost there.
A silly little basket-head...]
So....with greens, lights, pine cones, and berries attached....
Here's what she looked like all set up:
...and here's what she looked like come nightfall:
Blessed and thankful for the Lord's guidance, peace, and provision.....and praying the same for you and yours this Christmas season and into the New Year.
Merry, Merry Christmas,
The Leo Family Homegrown Christmas Wreath.
If you remember back a blog or two ago...the one about the 12 ft. tall Christmas tree...when all was said and done...I had a solid 5 foot of pine tree bottom sitting in my side yard. This became the greens for our 2011 Christmas wreath.
We started by setting up our dirty ghetto table in our dirty ghetto driveway...hey...that's how we roll 'round here, know what I'm sayin'?!
We used the octagonal frame that Gavin and I made out of scrap wood and "L" brackets last year. In this shot, Gavin is using some pliers to take out last years staples to get ready for this year's greens.
Starting to attach some greens.
The girls arrive with the lights.
Almost done with the greens. A quick side-note. To those who have a super keen eye for keen observation...you'd notice that during many blog posts and facebook update
photos throughout the past 2 1/2 years or so, I'm wearing the same ratty, washed-out, stretched-out long sleeve black T-shirt that you see in this photo. The truth is...I'm wearing this shirt inside out because on the front-side it says "50 Cent G-Unit" and has an icon of a bullet with wings. Not my style at all but...Truth is....
I bought this shirt at a thrift store for 3 bucks like 3 years ago....and being a big, fat dude....this shirt has been key in some hardcore snow removal, gun-range shooting, and overall cold-weather protection over the last 2+ years or so...I can't begin to describe how comfortable this shirt is...It's getting a bit gnarly these days...but I'm not-at-all ready to get rid of it. It continues to be a key component to my Winter Well-Being...Anyhow...let's get back to the topic on hand....
The girl with the bow.
Stapling up some serious Winter-Berries...We're almost there.
A silly little basket-head...]
So....with greens, lights, pine cones, and berries attached....
Here's what she looked like all set up:
...and here's what she looked like come nightfall:
Blessed and thankful for the Lord's guidance, peace, and provision.....and praying the same for you and yours this Christmas season and into the New Year.
Merry, Merry Christmas,
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Stamping a Moment in Time
There are eras/days/events/hours that you wish you would never have to live again.
There are eras/days/events/hours that you never think about after they happen...just a flash in the pan, then dissolve into some distant memory that you may or may never recall throughout your life.
There are eras/days/events/hours that are so important/epic/life-changing that you will forever use them to mark life-long changes in your path through life.
There are eras/days/events/hours that you just want to look back on fondly because they were just pretty awesome.
Tonight falls into the last category.
To make along story short:
Chrissy went out to do some Christmas shopping tonight. It was me and the two little ones for the bulk of the evening. Some things to note:
It's Christmastime.
It's the first night in 2 weeks that it's even felt "Christmasy" and chilly.
I had this night planned and in the bag from the get go....complete with a night-before stop to WalMart for supplies.
We made These:
Watched This:
I hung out with Them:
I drank one of These:
While curling up next to This:
Simple. Fun. Family. That's just about all I need.
Merriest of Merrys to you!
God Bless.
There are eras/days/events/hours that you never think about after they happen...just a flash in the pan, then dissolve into some distant memory that you may or may never recall throughout your life.
There are eras/days/events/hours that are so important/epic/life-changing that you will forever use them to mark life-long changes in your path through life.
There are eras/days/events/hours that you just want to look back on fondly because they were just pretty awesome.
Tonight falls into the last category.
To make along story short:
Chrissy went out to do some Christmas shopping tonight. It was me and the two little ones for the bulk of the evening. Some things to note:
It's Christmastime.
It's the first night in 2 weeks that it's even felt "Christmasy" and chilly.
I had this night planned and in the bag from the get go....complete with a night-before stop to WalMart for supplies.
We made These:
Watched This:
I hung out with Them:
I drank one of These:
While curling up next to This:
Simple. Fun. Family. That's just about all I need.
Merriest of Merrys to you!
God Bless.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Extreme Tree Trimming
Well...like many others...this weekend was the weekend to procure the family Christmas tree. I posted a similar post last year:
http://findtheblueheron.blogspot.com/2010/12/tree-trimmingliterally.html
about our exploits in securing our tree. This year was much of the same....same place: (a guy right in our town who's got a couple acres with trees planted on it)
same date: (first weekend in December)
Not-quite-the-same price: he went up from $25 to $30...but, in the end, I'm still supporting a local brother
same harvesting means: hand saws are for chumps....I say let the Stihl do the work.
same over sized tree: refer to the pictures below for explanation.
WE FOUND IT!! Now..a couple of factoids to bring up.
1. I'm 6'2"
2. The top of the tree is nowhere in sight in this photo
3. We have 8' ceilings in our Living Room
The reality is...the guy who we get our trees from has trees that are 3 feet tall and trees that are 23 feet tall...and all of them cost the same price. This adds an interesting element to choosing a tree because you are in the unique position of not necessarily selecting a tree, but selecting a part of a tree...last year we cut ourselves an 11' tall tree, lopped the top off of it, then shaped the bottom of it into a nice Christmas tree shape. This year, it was just the opposite. Chrissy spotted this one and decided that the top half was a keeper. Around here, we don't just TRIM the three....we chop that mother in half.
So, I fired up the ole chainsaw ant let 'er rip:
which elicited this response from my daughter:
shock, terror, and sadness at the fact that I just chopped it down. She's, by nature, a nurturer, and fell in love with our tree as it stood in the field...she had a real hard time understanding that it had to get cut down in order for it to be brought home and put up in our house. She came around, eventually.
Loading her up onto the tractor. One of the nice things about buying a tree here is that the owner comes out in his tractor and trailer and hauls the tree out of the field right to your care for you...now heavy lifting.
Gavin made sure that the tree was secure during it's trip from the field to our van.
just a cool shot that Chrissy took.
Once we got it to the van...we loaded it onto the roof rack. I had to snap a pic because this thing was a giant root ball away from being the Griswold Family Christmas Tree:
Which stirred up the quote:
"Dad...that tree wouldn't fit in our yard".
"It's not going in our yard, Russ, it's going in our living room".
During the trimming and shaping portion of our afternoon, there was also a very aptly quoted:
"...little full....lotta sap".
At any rate...when the sawdust cleared, we were, as usual, left with a nice little Leo Family Christmas tree:
May all your Christmases be white...we'll bring you some figgy pudding...for auld lange syne...deck your halls...laugh all the way...come and behold him...and all that stuff.
Merry Christmas from The Leo's
http://findtheblueheron.blogspot.com/2010/12/tree-trimmingliterally.html
about our exploits in securing our tree. This year was much of the same....same place: (a guy right in our town who's got a couple acres with trees planted on it)
same date: (first weekend in December)
Not-quite-the-same price: he went up from $25 to $30...but, in the end, I'm still supporting a local brother
same harvesting means: hand saws are for chumps....I say let the Stihl do the work.
same over sized tree: refer to the pictures below for explanation.
WE FOUND IT!! Now..a couple of factoids to bring up.
1. I'm 6'2"
2. The top of the tree is nowhere in sight in this photo
3. We have 8' ceilings in our Living Room
The reality is...the guy who we get our trees from has trees that are 3 feet tall and trees that are 23 feet tall...and all of them cost the same price. This adds an interesting element to choosing a tree because you are in the unique position of not necessarily selecting a tree, but selecting a part of a tree...last year we cut ourselves an 11' tall tree, lopped the top off of it, then shaped the bottom of it into a nice Christmas tree shape. This year, it was just the opposite. Chrissy spotted this one and decided that the top half was a keeper. Around here, we don't just TRIM the three....we chop that mother in half.
So, I fired up the ole chainsaw ant let 'er rip:
which elicited this response from my daughter:
shock, terror, and sadness at the fact that I just chopped it down. She's, by nature, a nurturer, and fell in love with our tree as it stood in the field...she had a real hard time understanding that it had to get cut down in order for it to be brought home and put up in our house. She came around, eventually.
Loading her up onto the tractor. One of the nice things about buying a tree here is that the owner comes out in his tractor and trailer and hauls the tree out of the field right to your care for you...now heavy lifting.
Gavin made sure that the tree was secure during it's trip from the field to our van.
just a cool shot that Chrissy took.
Once we got it to the van...we loaded it onto the roof rack. I had to snap a pic because this thing was a giant root ball away from being the Griswold Family Christmas Tree:
Which stirred up the quote:
"Dad...that tree wouldn't fit in our yard".
"It's not going in our yard, Russ, it's going in our living room".
During the trimming and shaping portion of our afternoon, there was also a very aptly quoted:
"...little full....lotta sap".
At any rate...when the sawdust cleared, we were, as usual, left with a nice little Leo Family Christmas tree:
May all your Christmases be white...we'll bring you some figgy pudding...for auld lange syne...deck your halls...laugh all the way...come and behold him...and all that stuff.
Merry Christmas from The Leo's
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