Yesterday we put up the tree. While out on the patio trimming branches and cutting off a couple inches from the butt to prepare it for the tree stand, it didn't feel quite right. Here it was the first day of Winter and I was outside doing this in jeans and a t-shirt. (Today it is cold enough where I will need to wear a shirt and jacket when I got outside.) That had me remembering what Winter is really like. Below are a couple of Winter Scenes.
This picture was taken UP on the tundra 4 years ago give or take a few days. The road grader plowing the driveway belongs to the county road commission. It is one of the few places UP on the tundra where the county will plow private driveways for a fee. We paid for driveway plowing for this Winter even tho nobody is living there because if you get off the list for plowing you won't get back on it. In a couple of years we may be back there and we want to make sure we don't have to plow the driveway ourselves as I have done that in the past and with a small plow on a Jeep it is a hassle.
This picture was taken in the Spring. It was March 23, 1997. That mirror sticking out of the snowdrift is attached to a 1970 Ford pickup. It was parked there for the Winter and looks like it would be awhile before it could be driven again.
Yesterday we put up the tree. While out on the patio trimming branches and cutting off a couple inches from the butt to prepare it for the tree stand, it didn't feel quite right. Here it was the first day of Winter and I was outside doing this in jeans and a t-shirt. (Today it is cold enough where I will need to wear a shirt and jacket when I got outside.) That had me remembering what Winter is really like. Below are a couple of Winter Scenes.
This picture was taken UP on the tundra 4 years ago give or take a few days. The road grader plowing the driveway belongs to the county road commission. It is one of the few places UP on the tundra where the county will plow private driveways for a fee. We paid for driveway plowing for this Winter even tho nobody is living there because if you get off the list for plowing you won't get back on it. In a couple of years we may be back there and we want to make sure we don't have to plow the driveway ourselves as I have done that in the past and with a small plow on a Jeep it is a hassle.
This picture was taken in the Spring. It was March 23, 1997. That mirror sticking out of the snowdrift is attached to a 1970 Ford pickup. It was parked there for the Winter and looks like it would be awhile before it could be driven again.
It is 5 frikkin degrees, and those pictures really "warmed" me up. I am definitely NOT a winter person anymore. That must come with age. Love the tree.
ReplyDeleteWe may not have the cold, but my toes are feeling blue! I may have to go borrow my coworker's space heater. She's out this week, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteYou tree is beautiful!
I really miss that dog. The snow? Not so much.
ReplyDeleteDCup, are you blaming me for your cold feet again?? Wait 'til the hot flashes kick in, your feet won't be cold then.
ReplyDeleteThe Old Lady, that was your dog.
So, are you saying you don't miss the dog?
ReplyDeleteSharp lookin' tree y'all have there! Ours achieved stabilized vertical stature earlier this evening, with a few gobs of light bulbs that blinked on and off. I declared mission accomplished, only to be told the mission had just started.....
ReplyDeleteThat snow....that's a Michigan winter.:) Do you get lake effect or just the usual 40 feet awarded to all Yoopers?:) I must admit, it makes me homesick (for fifteen minutes, then it's get the hell out of this stuff!). I always loved snowstorms. Having a 4WD truck didn't hurt anything, but a couple feet of snow plugging everything up but the refrigerator door, seemed to slow the world down, and muffle it.
Any Michigander will laugh at this: This morning (10ish) we went tree shopping. We got our tree from an outside lot. We picked the one we wanted, paid....and hauled ass for the car to warm up!! We had the wind chill from hell! 20 MPH wind and 31 degrees out!!
Sissy weather I'm teased all the time by those still suffering in the land of no jobs now. But when you've been down here for 10 years and gotten used to "Winter" South Carolina style, frostbite warnings are issued in this kind of stuff.:) Plus the humidity was very high. Plus a 20MPH wind is often mistaken for a tornado. We just don't have the critters. Despite my Polar King heavy coat I used to wear at work (when it was zero or lower), gloves and a yarn cap, I was still shaking like a dog producing square bricks! The natives really, really suffer, For them, this is pure agony.
Global warming is really changing our lives. We got about 5 inches of snow yesterday so eastern Finland looks like it should. This was not the case last winter.
ReplyDeleteHyvää Joulua to you, Kulkuri.
Enrique
Thanx to all that complemented the tree. About all I did after we got it vertical in the stand is string the lights and help with the garlands towards the end of the decorating. The Old Lady did the most of the work of decorating the tree.
ReplyDeleteFuture, the snow is usually the result of lake effect unless the Big Gitche Gumme freezes over. When I was young and dumb I would go out during or after a storm and go drift busting with my vehicle. Sometimes with not so good results. I have noticed I feel more comfortable with snow on the ground than when it's cold and bare ground.
Just stopping by to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
ReplyDeleteThen you should come to Finland and feel the snow under your feet...
ReplyDeleteI hate christmas and I'm going camping tomorrow to get away from it all.
ReplyDeleteAnd I pretty much hate winter anymore also. But broke down and bought a pair of insulated boots yesterday and love them.
Doing christmas in this country in the winter time is stupid. People will die this week going long distances to be with family.
I'm posting about that in the morning. It's just a fucking made up date on a calender, move it to summer for here.
Or don't do it at all, it's not for you, it's for others to get richer off of you by selling you stupid shit that you don't need.
Did you plant a tree for the one that was cut down? What are you going to do with it after christmas?
ReplyDeleteI haven't had a tree for about 20 years.
lovely little tree...I can't wrap my mind around that much snow..we just never ever have snow like that..part of me would like it maybe once a year..and then texas heat the rest...but wow..all that snow..i'd be building a villiage of snowmen and women...and making angel wings evey where..have a very merrry christmas
ReplyDelete