O Christmas Tree

Our family is a real tree kind of family. We love to walk into the living room and smell the pine scent. We love that our tree is different every year. We love making a yearly ornament out of a slice of the trunk. Oh, and of course the challenge of keeping the water full and the floor clean. The convenience of an artificial tree is tempting, but we have not given in yet.

We were planning on getting our tree the first week of December, but one thing led to another and come Christmas eve, we still did not have a Christmas tree. We have friends that always get their tree on the 24th. It is their family tradition to go get their tree and decorate it after dinner on Christmas eve. I myself an more of a planner. Decorating a tree is a messy undertaking. But as the month passed by and our living room was still void of a tree, I realized that most of the tree lots were also void of trees. And then I realized that we would be putting our gifts under a house plant if we didn't take action.

It so happened that the Zookeeper was working a 24 hour shift on Christmas eve. I had called around to several stores and guess what, they were all out of trees too. There is a landscaper that grows trees not to far from us, so I gave him a call. He said, "You need a tree today? Well I stopped selling trees a few days ago, but you are welcome to anything out in the pile". Usually this pile is clippings and dead trees from his jobs that he burns every few months. So I thought to myself, maybe we can get some branches and try to shape them into a tree, anything would be better than my sickly pothos plant.

So the kids and I loaded into the truck for the 1/4 mile trip. It was of course, snowing by this time. We pulled up to "the pile" and under the snow there were several Christmas trees still wrapped in twine! I tugged on the first one I could uncover and dragged it away from the pile. Digging Badger helped me get it into the back of the truck. We drove the short trip home and backed into the driveway.

The fairy tale tree story takes a short break here. . .

We somehow managed to get the water-logged tree onto the porch. I was covered in snow and very heavy. I got the tree stand out and tried putting it on, but the trunk was just as big as the opening of the stand. The boys helped me hold it and turn it enough that we got it crammed into the stand, but then it started to lean, so I tightened it some more, and then it leaned some more and the boys thought they were going to be killed on Christmas eve by a huge Christmas tree that refused to stand up.

We'll just do it the old fashioned way. I don't need to water it anyway. So out to the shop I went to find some scrap wood and a few screws. I grabbed the power drill too, because after turning the rusty screws in the tree stand back and forth, my hands were aching. Half way back to the house I dropped one of the screws, a black screw, onto the white, snow-covered driveway. I looked for the screw for ever, but it could not be found. I'm sure one of our tires will find it. Back to the shop to get another screw. I'll just grab a few extra this time. So, I get back to the house, which has it's door wide open, because there is a monster of a tree hanging out of it, while it is literally freezing outside and the heater is blasting, but I don't care because I am sweating after trying to get this tree up. I screwed the first piece of wood into the bottom of the trunk. That was easy! I get the other cross piece started and guess what? The battery goes dead. So back out to the shop I go to switch out batteries. By the way, it is still snowing. So now the cross piece is on and the boys help me stand the tree up. . . until it hits the ceiling. All I can think of is Chevy Chase and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I got the loppers and cut the top 16 inches off that tree. That was easy! We got it to stand up without tipping over and it is now 1/2 an inch from the ceiling. Still room for a star!

I cut the twine expecting there to be a big poof of branches opening up, glad to be unbound. There was no poof. There was no being unbound. There was just a stiff, frozen, skinny tree.

I started to pull the branches down like you would an artificial tree coming out of storage. I thought this is great, I get the smell of a real tree and the fun of fluffing a fake tree.

Notice the frosty color on the branches. That is not camera effects people, that is the real deal.

As I am fluffing up our tree, I begin to wonder how safe it is to put lights onto a tree that is dripping melting snow into a puddle on the floor. I put a few towels around it and decided to take a lunch break.

Back to our previous fairy tale. . .

We plugged in the lights that were all untangled and all worked. We trimmed our tree with Christmas music playing in the background. The kids each put on their ornaments from years past. And they all went to bed with visions of sugar plums in their heads.

And on Christmas morning when the Zookeeper walked in the door, he saw only the love that went into putting our tree up.

Our Knights in Shining Armor

We are in the middle of our Christmas break from school. We have been studying medieval times. The boys have not given up their lessons completely though. They have been taking advantage of the snow and acting out jousting tournaments in our yard. But instead of horses they are using sleds and instead of lances they are using pool noodles.

They have been doing this a lot.

Reformation Day

My knights in shining armor guarding their fair lady.

Little Lady was a fair maiden, but after she took the tulle off her crown,

she told everyone she was a queen.

Digging Badger and Crazy Fox prepared to defend the castle.

The boys and the Zookeeper in the final stages of sword construction. Everyone was a little tired here. They were really having fun, it just wasn't captured on film.

Apple Picking

The kids and I went apple picking today and we had so much fun. We went to a small u-pick orchard. The favorite job was holding the huge picking basket. . .

. . . until it was full.

The orchard has an ongoing contest for the largest apple picked. We didn't know about it until we took our load of apples to be weighed, but Digging Badger's came in at 12 ounces. Little Lady and Crazy Fox both had an apple that weighed 12.5 ounces.

Along with her big apple, Little Lady had one baby apple that she held onto all morning. I bet it is going to be tart!

Crazy Fox was very good at finding any defects on the apples, before he picked them.

We picked Golden Delicious, Rome and Crisp Red apples. We sampled them on the way home and they are wonderful. We are planning on making applesauce, an apple cake and some apple crisps for the freezer.

Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple,

but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.

~Robert Schuller~

I Can Can

It is beginning to feel like real country living around here.

One of our sweet neighbors invited the kids and me down to her kitchen to learn how to can. They had a bountiful crop of peaches and extra jars that she generously shared with us. We had a great day learning how to skin the peaches, (the boys favorite part) and the rest of the process. My pantry shelves look so pretty with the jars of peaches all lined up, that I was inspired to do more. We stopped at the local fruit stand last weekend and bought more peaches. I canned some, froze some and made peach pie filling with some. I also had a failed attempt at fruit leather. When we got home from the fruit stand we had two big bags of plums left by our other neighbors. I made two batches of plum jam and have some in the freezer for smoothies.
I also canned some tomatoes and made salsa from our garden tomatoes.

We also had our first full dozen fresh eggs. We had some for lunch today and they taste wonderful!

It is very satisfying to grow, harvest and preserve your own food. Knowing that our pantry is well stocked with the fresh foods of summer, that will last us all winter long, makes me feel like a woman from another era. Although I am not giving up my dishwasher or washer and dryer just yet. And I'm sure those pioneer women didn't blog about their canning experiences.

First of Fall

Autumn is a second spring when every flower is a leaf.
~Author Unknown ~

We celebrated the first day of our favorite season with a bike ride along the Boise River.

I have loved this bridge since the first time I saw it. The bridge itself is not all that much to look at, but just the idea of a single lane, truss bridge feels like small town living. Maybe it's because I drive over this bridge to get to one of my dearest friend's home. Or, maybe it's because my dad always slows down to look at old bridges and barns when he drives. Whatever it is, I always enjoy driving over it, riding over it, or sitting under it. The weather was perfect today. Everything was clean from the weekend's rain storm. The sky was beautifully blue with bright, white clouds floating overhead. This was all framed by trees speckled with golden and red leaves.

We took a break under the bridge to play on the bank of the river.

Little Lady built a sand castle.

Crazy Fox found a big stick and some old fishing line and fished the river a bit.Digging Badger just had fun running in the sand and being outside.Here's little Lady and me with the new bike trailer.

(She loves riding along with me and talked the entire time we were riding.)
How beautifully the leaves grow old. How full of light and color their last days.

~John Burroughs ~

Eggs-cellent

We got our first eggs today!

Crazy Fox went out to feed the chickens and found an egg. He was so excited he came running in to show me. We went back out and found two more. We only have three chickens left and they all layed their first egg on the same day. We haven't eaten any yet, but are looking forward to the taste of fresh eggs.

This Might Sound a Little Corny. . .

Corn Pickers

We got an email from one of the local food banks saying a seed field had been donated to the food bank. They just needed people to come pick the corn. So we were able to go pick as much corn as we could haul away, keep what we could use and deliver the rest to the food bank. So we went to the field and met lots of other helpers there. The kids had a great time picking the corn and carrying it back to me in their huge bags.

Crazy Fox poses for me like a pro.

Digging Badger only picked the huge ears.

Little Lady was a little concerned she would be lost forever if she lost sight of me.

We had taken a few loads to the car and were just packing up the last of the boxes when a man came up to us and told us nicely that we were in the wrong field. He said the food bank had made a mistake. He told us to take what we had already picked and go. Then he left to go tell the other twenty families that were picking his profits to go home.

My Mini Mr. Fix-Its

We have been looking for a used tag-a-long trailer for Little Lady. We finally found one, but it had a flat tire. The Zookeeper taught Crazy Fox how to patch bike tubes about a month ago and he has had lots of practice already. He took it out to the shop to repair the tube.

Digging Badger decided to take the hand brakes off his scooter.

(They have been sticking and slowing him down).

The tube is all fixed and ready to go back on.

This is what we call discovery learning.

See anything wrong in this picture?

He won't make that mistake again.

Now that the chain is on, Crazy Fox tightens everything up.

One last turn of the wrench and those brakes won't be slowing him down anymore.

Don't worry, he still has the foot brakes.

August in Review

The last few weeks of summer flew by without even an update on "the blog". We were too busy spending our days playing and enjoying each other. We had a lot of fun things to fit in before we started school last week.

We did a lot of this. . .

And this . . .

We had some sleepovers . . .With some puppies . . .

We went fishing in Cascade and Little Lady caught her first fish!And then she caught another one!The boys decided they better check their bait.

We found out that our car was in fact totalled, so we have been looking around for something else. Everything has worked out so far, now we are just looking for something that is a good fit for our family that is also in our budget. So for now, the kids and I are in the commuter kia and the Zookeeper is back to his diesel guzzling work truck.
The Zookeeper took the boys to work with him one day and they enjoyed a great day of fishing and playing in the creek at our neighbor's property.

Little Lady enjoyed a gymnastics class over the summer, but has suddenly decided she doesn't want to go anymore. One less thing to do each week!

Around here the cool evening breeze does not make us think of fall, but football season. The boys started back to football practice a few weeks ago and had their first scrimmage at Boise State. They won, and they are so excited for their next game on Saturday. I made sure the camera battery was charged, but forgot the minor detail of the memory card, so no pictures of that, but here's some of practice.

Digging Badger trying to get past Crazy Fox.

Crazy Fox doing drills with his team mates.

The boys took bowling lessons and did really well. Little Lady joined in a few practice games and has gotten to the point where she is holding the ball with one hand and I would guess has about as good of form as I do.

Our new family mascots from the pond next door. Toad-poles or Tadpoles?And a new litter of kittens.

We started school last week and found out about a campaign to send President Bush "A Thousand Thanks" for all the things he has done during his term as our president. The kids painted these and couldn't believe that they could actually mail them to him. I guess he is sort of a cardboard figure to them right now. It ties in perfectly to our first unit, electing America's leaders. I am hoping to re-learn right along with them.

The kids spent most of their summer hours making memories with each other. I don't think there is a better gift we could have given them.

The tans will fade, but the memories will last forever.

~unknown~