Puttin up da tree!

Well, today was finally the day. Even though I had the tree in the tree-stand since we purchased it, we still had not gotten the decorating done. Well, today I added the famous "bubble lights" and other lights and then this evening, we all worked on adding the ornaments. So, it looks nice now. I'll probably send a picture out to all the Ceiva owners.

It was fun to watch my kids decorate the tree. We have quite an assortment and the tree was a bit narrower this year than in the past years so we didn't put the whole lot on there. This tree is quite tall and nicely dense in foliage so it holds the heavier ornaments very well. It smells great too.

We also finished the interior decorating (Xmas wise) too. We now have garland on the indoor banisters (with twinkle lights) and the other little doodads that we normally scatter around the house are now in their places. Above the entertainment center is the collection of bears that Mark has purchased for his mom over the years.

Well, tomorrow is another day. Love to all and take care.

Jerry

Video editing - argh!

Well, today I completed a video editing project - argh! That's the word that best fits trying to edit MPEG video files on a home computer. I have to think that somewhere out there, someone has a good system (hardware and software) that makes such editing a breeze but it sure doesn't seem to have graced the PC yet. Sudden explosions of the software are a common malady that leaves you high and dry without a product unless you (as I am) are used to doing saves about every other minute.

It was a good day. At least I got that project done.

I'm going to bed now. Hope you too had a good day and are enjoying the holidays. I really enjoy having my kids home with me again. Just wish my poor wife could be off work too. Looks like she "might" have the week after Christmas off and that would be nice.

Take care. Comment if you like - cya - Jerry

Finding a tree

Since my wife had to work today and my trombone blowing daughter had a lesson to attend (and my son was playing video games), my eldest daughter and I were left to our own devices and so we went tree hunting. As it turns out, the guy who usually sells us our tree each year, LEFT! I was so surprised.

He comes down from Wisconsin each year and sells the trees beside the grocery near our house. Well, he is usually here right up until a couple of days before Christmas and then heads out - usually leaving the trees behind. Well, I guess the year before last he must have gotten in trouble with the grocery store for leaving them, so last year when I finally showed up at his door step (or trailer step), he was running them all through a wood chipper! Argh! So, I quickly picked out a real beauty and paid him $20 for it (sometimes you get a real bargain if you can just rescue the tree from the chipper in time).

This time, he just left. I don't think he chipped them up and I don't think he sold them all because there were lots of trees on the lot just a day ago. This morning - nada! Argh. So, that meant we would have to look elsewhere for our bargain tree.

Well, a day ago, we went to the mall to pick up Mom's glasses and along the way we saw another tree lot that is part of a farm - there all year and selling Christmas trees every year. We had purchased one tree from them in the past but it was a bit of a drive. Well, since I was going that way for the trombone lesson, I just decided to go ahead and give them a shot.

The temperature was beyond cold! I guess that is just part of picking out a Christmas tree but this year, December has been colder than any I remember in a while. On the positive side, we have our snow still with us!

We found a nice tree (a Douglas Fir) and it was available at somewhat of a discount, so we threw it in the van (yes IN the van)! Amazing what you can get inside a mini-van!

One of the odd aspects of having children in college is that you must wait on the tree decorating thing until they return home. It just would not do to decorate the tree without them! Since the college pushes exams right up to the weekend before Christmas, that means we end up tree shopping one-week before Christmas. However, we compensate by leaving the tree up for a while!

Back home now, our tree is in the stand and I will soon be decorating it with lights and then the whole family will participate in the application of our many heirloom ornaments (many of the "kid manufactured" variety).

Here is hoping you have a nice holiday!

Jerry

A great day

Well, it was indeed a great day today. I drove to my kids' college and picked them up and brought them back home. Now my life feels complete - because I have my family all back together again. It's a chore this moving stuff - lots of hauling and lifting and pushing and shoving but after it's all said and done, it is certainly worth it to have my kids back home again! Wow - what a great feeling and a great day.

Despite the fact that our van is pushing 150,000 miles, it made the trip down to school and back just fine - for which safe trip I am truly thankful to God.

Upon arrival home, I made the kids stay in the car while I ran to plug in the outdoor lights! I wanted to show off our lighting and it's kind of traditional that they see the outdoor lights as they drive up. Well, it wasn't quite late enough for the timer so I gave it some help. To my surprise, I found that the crab tree lights didn't come on. Upon closer investigation, the problem was obvious - rabbit tracks coupled with a very chewed in half power cord. Ugh. I'll have to fix the extension cord I guess (and I bought something at the hardware store to keep the bunnies away - nothing to hurt them - just run them off!). It's a chemical that is supposed to smell like a fox was in the area (use your imagination). We were just getting ready to go to the vision store and pick up Mom's new glasses so I quickly gave the yard a few squirts with the bunnie repellant. Wow - you should have heard the complaints from the crew as they piled into the van and caught a wiff of the "treatment" I was spritzing around the front yard! Well, here's hoping it works! (on a questionable note, I may find that my front yard is completely devoid of rabbits tomorrow but populated entirely by love-lorn foxes!)

We watched Christmas with the Kranks this evening - a very funny movie. It was good to hear my children laugh again and to enjoy the funny antics of Tim Allen - one of my favorite comedians.

All in all, a great day. I'm tired, going to bed and happy knowing that we are together again.

Love to all - Jerry

The beginning of a blog

Not quite sure what to think about this. I've never published a blog before. Guess I'll give it a try and see how it goes. I don't even know who might read this and in some odd moment, find it interesting. I just thought I would give it a shot and share it with my friends and family.

Amazing thing this Internet. It provides information, helps us grow in knowledge and rapidly promotes world-wide commerce. Of course there seem to be a few down-side things with it (as with all things) but on the whole, it's a pretty cool thing. I was just thinking about the fact that this business of "blogging" is another outfall of the Internet.

Well, thanks for checking in from time to time. I appreciate your comments and will try to share some things that "might" be of interest. Maybe I'll share some of my old stories from when I was a kid and the things I used to get into... or .... maybe I won't.........

Take care. Christmas is almost here. Hope you were good so Santa doesn't pass you buy or drop a lump of coal in your stocking!