Tuesday, January 4, 2011

So this was Christmas...

… and what have I done? I've taken down the Christmas tree, that's what.

We typically leave the tree up until the first day or two of January. This time, Jeannine liked having it so much that she rechristened the sun room the "Christmas tree room". But all holidays come to an end, and the tree was beginning to drop lots of dried needles, so it was time for it to go.

Yesterday I'd taken all the ornaments off the tree… or at least I thought I had. While taking down the tree, I found four ornaments that had escaped my searching gaze.

I got out my loppers, or pruning shears I guess is what they are really called, and set to work. It usually only takes about ten minutes or so to cut all the branches off the tree. Here it is about three-quarters done…



… and here, totally shorn of branches.


At my request, Jeannine took a few shots of me wielding the loppers (I don't usually wear my hat backwards, but I had been sitting near a window and the sun was right on my neck, so I threw my hat on like that).


And then once the tree was stripped of its verdant finery, it joined the last few years' collection of Christmas tree trunks in the garage…


… waiting for me to someday make good on my idea of turning them into walking sticks or something. Maybe that would be a good New Year's resolution. -- PL

12 comments:

mikeandraph87 said...

Make sure you've got through the list of ornaments since those four popped up. I'd hate for the Trek ornament crisis to happen.

Just a random thought from the blogging you do it made me think:Would you be interested in writting a biography in a few years? I'm sure all of us here and others would snatch it up and love to read it!

FF said...

How convenient the sun was on the back of your neck.... When we all know your one cool dude ;)

B.Thomas said...

I like the picture of you wearing your hat backwards Peter, it makes seem a little more ''hip.''

Anonymous said...

I just took my tree down a few hours ago at the request of my girlfriend, although I was trying to keep it up until Little Christmas...but it was time for it to go I think. I don't think it had been drinking water for a while resulting in needle-sharp needles and branches that snapped instead of bend. Part of me will miss it, but the other part is glad we have room back in our small apartment. Although my cat Whedon might miss it more then we will LoL. :-D

Aaron Hazouri said...

My wife and I used to burn the old pine tree branches and trunk in the fireplace after Christmas... we'd use it as kindling. The branches full of needles would burn up pretty quick!

We found out that locally, they use the trees to help re-build dunes at the local beach, so now we donate 'em. But turning them into walking sticks is a really good idea. Wish I'd thought of it!

Adam Riches said...

Just stopped in to say, "woah!" The lack of green background was a shock to the eyes after stopping by your blog everyday. :-)

PL said...

"Miserable Dreamer said...

...turning them into walking sticks is a really good idea. Wish I'd thought of it!"

Please feel free to use the idea. Maybe you'll actually make one before I do (it's at least six years and counting...). -- PL

PL said...

"Adam Riches said...
Just stopped in to say, "woah!" The lack of green background was a shock to the eyes after stopping by your blog everyday. :-)"

Hopefully, not too much of a shock!

I have felt for some time that I needed to ditch the green theme (which, as you might have guessed, was originally chosen for the TMNT connection). Today I was messing around with various design settings in Blogger, and I liked the very clean nature of this one. I may change it again, but for the time being, this is the new look. -- PL

PL said...

" mikeandraph87 said...
Make sure you've got through the list of ornaments since those four popped up. I'd hate for the Trek ornament crisis to happen."

I made sure to pick it off the tree first, and put in carefully in the top tier of the plastic ornament caddy we now use. So I think it's safe!

"Just a random thought from the blogging you do it made me think:Would you be interested in writting a biography in a few years? I'm sure all of us here and others would snatch it up and love to read it!"

I appreciate that you and a few other people might like to read something like that, but I think as far as a biography (or more accurately, an autobiography) goes, this blog is going to be it for me. I don't know if I could get up the energy to really research my own past to write a true autobiography. And in truth, right now, the part that most people would probably be interested in reading about --- the TMNT years -- is something I don't find a lot of interest for in myself. Maybe that will change as the years pass, but right now there are other things of greater importance to me. -- PL

Anonymous said...

Poor poor little tree... we'll be doing that this weekend. We usually save the branches for starting bonfires or for getting the stove going for maple syrup season.

In regards to those trunks, another idea could be to create a 'teepee' frame with some twine, so flowers or vines to grow up it.

I also wanted to comment on how nice the blog looks now. The change from the Green is nice, just a little plain. The blocks around the dates and the fonts are very easy on the eyes.


~Amy from Dover

mikeandraph87 said...

Thanks for that,Mr. Laird. I was thinking like 10 to 12 years down the line in the first place. I do confess when I joined as a result of the sale that was all I was about,but now I'd actually rather read about other things you have to say or have done.

Anonymous said...

my grandfather used them for staking his tomato plants...