Christmas Trees

Well today is the day I’ll be cutting my Christmas tree.  I’m one of the lucky folks who has the ability to just walk out to the “back forty” and cut down a tree off of my own property.  Just one of the benefits of having a farm, I guess!  You can plan your own Christmas tree needs and take care of that with very little trouble.  I was noticing that the live Christmas vendors are selling live trees for $60 and up this year!  I think that is a pretty steep price!  And a lot of the live Christmas trees that consumers buy off of tree lots (and some farms) are covered with chemicals used to control pests.

I don’t spray my trees, so I’m confident that whatever tree I bring into the house is chemical free.  And for every tree that I cut down, I plant three in its place so I don’t feel too bad about wreaking havoc on the environment by cutting down a tree on my own farm.  I think that if I didn’t have that option of cutting down my own tree on my own farm that I’d probably buy an artificial one – they don’t cost that much anymore and are easy to care for.  The only problem with them, as far as I’m concerned is where to store them in the “off season!”

fresh cut
Can’t Get Any Fresher Than This

 

English Assignment

My niece’s English homework assignment required this paragraph that she wrote. Good writing for a fourteen year old!

On a cold winters night, she stands there in the middle of the forest. Her hair as black as the night sky, swaying in

breeze. Her voice as sweet as your favorite candy, while singing the woodland a lullaby. And once their all asleep,

she swiftly falls onto the ground, sleeping, waiting for morning to arrive.

 

No Jam Shredding

We are having our first family birthday celebration in the year 2016, come the end of February, and then it seems that we will be having birthdays none stop up until June then it will slack off until the month of September rolls around and then they will be popping up every other day it seems like. All the way up to Christmas and New Years, then it’s time to start all over again. Having a large family has many positive things to offer its family members in so many ways. But one of the major draw backs is the amount of birthdays that we end up with all year round.

Anyway my kid brother, Andy, is the first to have a birthday in the year and he is a leap year baby at that. Of course that brings on many challenges in it’s self and trying to find him a good birthday gift can be strenuous. But this year I happen to know that he is looking for a decent strip-cut shredder for this office of his self owned body shop.

Businesses hasn’t been all that good the past couple of years so he has had to make some cuts here and there in order to keep the business alive and running. He has a dozen employees relying on him to keep things from going too sour. They are a great group of people that are much like an extended family to my brother, his wife and his kids and to many others in the immediate family (like myself) and we don’t want to see anything bad happen to any of them.

So anyways I have the perfect gift picked out for him to use in his office, which he spends so much time in with all the lovely paperwork that is required with just about anything these days. I’m seriously going to get him a Swingline, DS22-13 paper shredder, I’ve found one online. It is said to be Non Stop Jam Free, it has Auto shut down, it’s made for moderate shared usage and it shreds credit cards, staples, CDs and paper clips. I’m hoping he will enjoy it and use it, all he needs is for someone to get their hands on all of his financial information, that would not be good. So we shall see how that all pans out.

Halloween

I don’t get many trick-or-treaters out here to the farm.  Never have had many of them, we live so far out in the boonies, and our driveway is a very long distance from the road.  So I don’t bother laying in a stock of Halloween candy for trick-or-treaters.  I just lay in a stockpile of quarters and if anyone shows up I’ll give them a couple of quarters.  I figure that when I was a kid I would have much preferred money to candy anyway!  Parents don’t have to worry about kids getting too much of a sugar high from quarters, either!  I figure it’s the perfect “treat.”

sad
Your Money Or Your Life!

Season’s Greetings From The Family Homestead

My parents were adamant about sending out Christmas cards to many friends and every family member that they ever had the pleasure of meeting and knowing. Last year I didn’t get a chance to send any cards out, for many a reasons. But this year I plan on sending out as many as I possibly can that I can read legibly on my mother’s handwritten Christmas card list. I discovered it a few months back in a dresser drawer that I was cleaning out and was pleased to read over it.

Since the place has many pine trees adorning it, I thought it fitting to sent the Pinecone photo Christmas cards that I found online with the photo of the old house that I uploaded and will have imprinted on the front of it. I think the folks that will be receiving them will appreciate.

Christmas will be here soon enough, I have my work cut out for me, there are over 50 names and addresses on that list!

Mom’s Chipped Beef on Toast

As a kid, we were required to eat breakfast every morning before leaving the house. Even if it meant being late for school. However, if we were tardy we did get in trouble. Mother would often rise early and cook a hearty breakfast for the entire family. One of my favorites was her creamed chipped beef on toast, with a side of scrambled or fried eggs. I can’t help but think of Mother every time I enjoy creamed chipped beef for my breakfast.

Daylight Savings Time Ends at 2:00 a.m.

Tonight is a night that I look forward to all year long, each and every year. At 2:00 a.m. we are all supposed to set our clocks back one hour and to let Daylight Savings Time end for the year 2015. This is not my favorite “holiday” life is so much better when it stays lighter out for longer periods of time.

Right in the middle of summer is actually stays light until after 9:00 p.m., which is so awesome. Since I spend so much of my time outside in the yard and the garden that time of the year and I tend to wait for the sun to go down and it becomes dark to to in the house to start to fix,cook, and eat dinner, some of the summer time my dinners aren’t until almost 11 o’clock, sometimes midnight!

Anyway, don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour tonight folks.

a great question
Gotta Love This

Amazing Rainbow

This picture has become very well known by now, on TV, in the newspapers and magazines alike and of course all over the World Wide Web. I don’t like beating a dead horse but this is just to special not to post here.  It’s all in the timing, as they say!

pre 9/11 rainbow
Becoming The Most Well Known Rainbow In The 21st Century

Musician Friends

Just like last year, I plan on doing the majority of my Christmas shopping without having to go into town and deal with all the hassles that I really dislike about shopping in the old fashioned brick and mortar stores, I have never been into spending time at the local mall, I just don’t understand what all the hoopla is about when it comes to shopping, especially around the holiday season, which is starting earlier and earlier with each passing year,

Most of my immediate family members that I am obligated to purchase gifts for are into musician friends in one way or another so it makes it a bit easier for me to find the perfect music related presents online at my convenience.  At http://www.musiciansfriend.com you can actually call their toll free number 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. PST, Monday – Friday and/or 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. PST, on the Weekends and speak to on of their “Gear Heads” who are very knowledgeable with all of the merchandise that they are offering to their online shoppers. Sometimes it is nice to be able to pick up the phone and talk to an actual human being, without having to leave the house to find what you are looking for.

truth be told
Couldn’t Say It Better Myself