oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree.....

I love putting up a live tree

     The thrill of the tree hunt, the effort of cutting it down, the correct positioning of the tree and the lights.... I just love it.  Usually.
     I admit, this year was a little different.  My right arm is a little sore.  I know I should just shut up, but I can't use it for a lot of things....especially cutting down a tree.  (I discovered that when I actually cut down a small dead tree and spent the next two days in hell pain wise.)
     Another change is the size of the group outing.  It used to be four or more, then it became three, then two, for the past several years it was three, but today it was just two...John and me.  Emily has a cold, and Jackie can't walk in a tree field, so I was grateful John came.
     We went to the Prairie Preservation Society of Ogle County cut your own lot on Daysville Road.  One of the people working in the field was a former professor of mine while in the Outdoor Education program at Taft.  A theater friend and mother of three former students was cashier.  I realized how much I had in common with these people:  political views, environmental views, the whole concept of a liberal in a conservative county, and asked myself why I haven't been involved in the PPSOC for the past thirty years or so.  Now I have a membership form and will be getting re-involved with them.
     But I digress.
     We found a very nice tree, John cut it down, loaded it in the car and we brought the baby home.
     Yes, dear, we did see the bare spot, but we figured we would put that toward the back, by the window.
     No, dear, I did not realize how big the bare spot was.  Yes, dear, it is huge.
     No, dear, I did not see the other bare spot.
     No, dear, I don't want an artificial tree.
     Anyway, it's up.  Lit.  Decorated.  It looks a little strange.  If you sit on one side, you won't see any ornaments or lights because there are no branches.
     And I did have an accident.  No, not the pee on the floor kind.  I dropped a special ornament.  It shattered.  It was a present last year and it had never actually hung on the tree.  Hand painted ceramic from Italy.  I must not have got it on the branch firmly enough, because it fell to the floor and just shattered.
     That's the bummer part of the day.
     Here are a few pictures.

Looks darn good, doesn't it!

Ok, there is a bare spot or two

I know it's blurry, but I like it.

The sky was on fire tonight.

Almost done...

on the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

Christmas erupted in my house today

     I lugged up several boxes of decorations.  The timers on the porch lights are adjusted, set, reset and still going on and off at strange times.
     Jackie has gone through several tubs and weeded out some of our no longer wanted decorations.  I squirrel them away for the garage sale I am having next year, the one I have been having every year in my mind, just not in the garage.
     When I was  a little kid, my parents had a small cedar log cabin that burned Maine pine incense.  I remember Mom making the annual trip to the Woolworth's downtown on State Street to buy the cones the little incense holder in the cabin held.  You put the cone in the holder, light it, put it in the cabin and put the roof on.  Sometimes you have to light it twice.
     I would stare at it, the smoke gently floating up through the chimney.  I pictured it as a real cabin in the north woods during a winter storm, with me safe and warm inside by the fire.
     I'm on my third cabin as an adult.  The kids got me one years ago.  It was fine until I accidentally stepped on it.  It was like the Jolly Green Giant (everybody: Ho! Ho! Ho!) running amok through Tiny Town.  I tried gluing it, but that did not hold.  Wood glue does not always work on log cabins.
     As I prepped the cabin this year, I opened an end table  drawer to pull out a box of cones.  There are about 70 cones in the box.  I looked again, pulled out another box.  Then another.  Then another.
It appears, I have a life time supply of cones....7 boxes plus a small bag.

     That wasn't all!  Jackie has some smokers.  These are German wooden figures that hold an incense cone.  You pull the top off, light the cone, put the top back on and the figure smokes.  Of course, they are not the same size as the cabin!

      Every year at the German market in Chicago I buy a pack or two to be sure we have enough.  I think we have 15 packs!!  (I plan on going to the market Dec. 4.  That's a Thursday.  Anyone?  Just call.)

     Holy crow, I must be trying to corner the market on all these stinkers.

     And to top it off, I think Julia is allergic and we can't burn them when she is home, or she sniffles, snorts, drips, coughs and has very teary eyes.  Or it's Emily, and she flees as soon as the smoker gets fired up.  Or it's me.  I seem to not be able to see through the haze.

      So I am going through the cones now.  I have burned three of them today.  Each time I light one, I put the roof on the house and stand back, close my eyes, and I can almost feel my mother's hand as she leads me into the Woolworth's downtown.

     Sometimes it just feels good to go back in time.

dum do do dum, can't touch this

I think I might explode

    No, not from anger.  Not from gas.  Not from anything but too much food!
    Turkey, ham, sweet potato pie, dressing, pecan chocolate chip bourbon pie, appetizers, desserts....... holy cow, I think I popped a button!
     Every year I swear I am going to cut back, then the gravy boat appears and I'm eating like it's the last day on Earth.
     When Jackie and I were newly weds, my brother invited us up to Rockford for a dinner.  Might have been Thanksgiving, maybe not.  Anyway, I ate and ate and ate.....Carl commented I was eating a lot.  I said, "I am eating for three."  He looked and me and said, "Is Jackie pregnant?"  And I said, "No, three as in three days.  We're broke."
     We have bought  a roaster to cook the turkey, which frees up oven space.
     But it is strange.  We cooked the bird at 325 and after two and a half hours, the bird looked obscene!
     Seriously!
     It's back legs had spread wide open, and I was waiting for her to say, "Come on big boy, get my stuffing."  (I actually mean the bird's stuffing...it was spilling out because the legs were spread so wide.  If you thought something else, shame on you!  It's a turkey!!)
     And the body seemed to shrink.  I swear, it was half the size from when it went in the roaster.
     This happened last year too.  I don't know if it is roasting too high and too fast, or whether we have incredible shrinking bird syndrome working in the house.
     The turkey was tasty, not dry, so I am not sure what is up.  Next year I think we will oven roast it the day before and just warm it up.
     My niece Cindy had an interesting Thanksgiving theme this year.  She had invited a bunch of people and they were to bring something they had never made or had before.  Cindy was making a casserole with apples, yams, and I think pears.  I hope she sends a report on how it tasted.
     In the spirit of accuracy, I have a couple of corrections.  When I wrote about Julia's birth, we had a 65 Chevy, not a 61.  John remembered that.  He remembers lots of details about past events.  I can't even remember this morning.  Jackie noted that the infamous pumpkin pie without sugar was served at my parents' house at a Christmas dinner.
     I do have a Thanksgiving tradition.  After everyone is gone, the house picked up, and Jackie asleep; in the quiet of the midnight hour, I munch on a turkey drumstick.
     I imagine that is not a good idea, but I'm doing it anyway.
     I just hope I don't break any windows when the last buttons pop.
     Hope your Thanksgiving was happy and your Friday not black, but a rainbow of color.

No place like home for the holidays

I love Thanksgiving

     Most people do.  I have great memories of Thanksgivings past.  Sometimes like Jacob Marley, they can haunt me.
     We were newlyweds.  We went to my brother Dennis's for dinner.  Jackie made pumpkin pie.
The first mental image of this meal was, we ate at a ping pong table set above a pool table.  When we sat down to eat, our chins were almost resting on the table.  We had to reach up to eat, because our arms were considerably below the table.  Somewhere there is a family photo, and we all look like bodyless heads.
     We muddled through dinner and dessert was next.  I think it was Jackie who went to the bathroom when we are all eating pie.  Very quietly eating pie.  With lots of whip cream.  Jackie came back, sat down, took a bite of pie and made a terrible face.  "I forgot the sugar," she yelled.
     You have to give tmy family credit,  they were eating it and not saying a word.
    Often in those early years, we tried to make both sides of the family happy.  We would rush to one house, eat, rush to another house, eat, then drive home... more stuffed than the turkey and just as dead.  We eventually stopped doing that at Thanksgiving, but did continue for a number of years at Christmas.
     In high school, I invited the guy who ran the newsstand I worked in after school.  My mother was mortified and went over and politely uninvited him.  I think his slovenly habits and hobo like attire worked against him.
     I remember one year it was just Jackie, Julia and me.  We lived on Southview Drive, and I may have been working at a hospital in Rockford at the time.  We ate, then sat and looked at each other.  It was the most depressing dinner ever.
     One year we went to an in-laws and they served ham.  Ham!!  I never let her forget that she violated all American traditions plus deprived me of the dinner I had been dreaming about.
     There have been uncooked turkeys, undercooked turkeys, burnt pies, undercooked veggies....thankfully never at one time.
   Vague recollections of long departed aunts and uncles flood my mind at this time of the year.  They were always old, and I never, never imagined life at that age.
     Well, here I am.  And I am thankful for my health, my wife and darling daughters, my extended family, my friends, and all the people who have supported me by their friendships, caring, and willingness to put up with me.
     A blessed Thanksgiving to all.  And to all, good night.

If I ruled the world, everyday would be the first day of spring

I am not feeling very funny tonight

     It just seems the world is hurting.
     The events in Missouri, the tragic death of a young man, the confrontation between police and protesters, the frustration and hate that has surfaced.
      I have read news stories of the shooting.  I have read stories about the refusal of the grand jury to indict.  And I am confused.
     I don't think any person wants to cause the death of another.  I don't think that is in us.  I can't imagine being put in a position where I have to make a split second decision on whether a person is dangerous or not and whether to fire a weapon or not.  You can't convince me that that officer shot because he wanted to.
     And I understand a population that has seen young people being jailed and killed by a system that is not seen as fair, would at some point erupt.
     What I don't understand is how we got here.
      All people should be treated equally.  Yet, we know they are not.   As a people, as a nation, we need to make it a priority to change that.
     I just wish I knew how that can be done.  And how I can help.
     Because it's not just a black problem, or a Missouri problem  It's our problem.

   
   

slippin and a slidin, weeping and a moaning.....

I almost forgot how to drive in winter conditions

     And I wasn't the only one!  I just turned onto Flagg Road when I saw a white car in the ditch, trying to get out.
     I hit my brakes.....but just went on down the road.  So I called Jackie and had her call the county police in case the person needed a tow.
     I was not going fast.  At least I didn't think I was.  I approached 20th st. and the light turned red.  I hit my brakes...and kept going forward.  I laid on my horn and waved to people as I continued sliding through the intersection.
     Later I came back the same way and there was a wreck on that corner.
     TV news was filled with reports of cars in ditches, trucks jackknifed, motorists stuck.
     Imagine what we would be like if this was a real snowfall, like in Buffalo?
     And while we are at it, if you have six feet of snow on the ground does it even make sense to shovel your car out?  You can't go anywhere!  Just leave it.  With luck, you'll find it in the spring. Think of all the money you'll save by not buying gas!
     I have a hazard on my driveway this year....my dirt pile never got moved.
     But there is hope.  I think there will be some 50 degree days in the next two weeks.  Warm weather, and a couple of young boys to man shovels, and I will be ready for winter.
     My timing was right.  The snow blower got picked up Saturday for a tune up and oil change.
     Again, I could have done that earlier.  Could have moved the dirt.  Could have brought in the stuff from the yard I meant to do in October.
     Could ofs and should of....or is it ovs?  sounds better......don't matter in life.
    It's what you actually do.
     And I'm going to bed.

I've been working on the railroad

I hung some curtain rods

     That relatively simple task can be accomplished in less than half an hour by most people.
     It took me the better part of the afternoon.  And I am not done.
     It all started when someone decided we needed a new bedspread in the blue bedroom.  That's the one Julia uses when she comes home.  So we got a new bed spread.  It was white, with a pattern.  The curtains were off white.  So we had to get new curtains.
     Mind you, the house is only 2 years old.  Actually, we just hit our two year anniversary!!  Woo hoo!  Could celebrate on the patio, but.......
     Anyway, we bought white curtains.  Which means the off white could go in the yellow room, where the computer is and where I sleep at night when my shoulder hurts too much to stay in bed.
     We bought quality rods.  My eyesight isn't as good as it once was, but I believe the rods were made in Chana.
     I got out my stud finder, which immediately lit up when I held it against my chest.  (Beth, stop laughing.)  Got my mini step ladder and found the stud, realized I didn't have a pencil to mark it.
Got off the step ladder, got the pencil, climbed back up and marked where the stud should have been.
Went to the basement and got my drill, drilled a pilot hole.  No stud.  Had to use plastic anchors.   Went to the basement to get bigger bit.  Went back to the basement for bigger, bigger bit and brought the whole shebang upstairs.
     Went back up the step ladder...I think you get the picture.
     It was like a stair stepper workout.  Up, down, up, down.  I can't believe I could drop a screw so many times.  Next time I have to remember not to put on hand lotion before doing a project.
     I finally got the small window hung.
     The bigger window went a lot faster.
     It's never good when it goes good.
     I need a center support for the wide window.  The center support that comes with the rod will not work.
     So it's a alot like Dolly Parton at 90... a little saggy in the middle.
     I mounted the brackets to the wall, and the middle bracket has to mount on the trim.  All three brackets are the same size.  If I mount the middle bracket to the trim, it pushes the middle out about one half to 3/4 inch.  Plus, the bracket is wider than the trim.
     Damn.
     But they are up.  My next challenge is to find something I can use for a center bracket.
     And it has to be black, because that is what the rod is.
     This was a relatively easy task...wonder what the ceiling in the basement will be like??
     Time will tell.