December 11, 2006
In response to a couple of comments from the previous entry: Yeah, tree farms are pretty common around here. I read an article in the Sunday Dispatch saying that there are over 300 Christmas tree farms in the state of Ohio. They plant fir trees, prune and shape them as they grow, and let people come and cut down the tree of their choice from selected areas, every winter. If you're going to buy a real tree, personally I think it's the way to go, because it's a lot easier to keep your tree hydrated when the time between planted in the ground and sitting in the watered tree stand is less than two hours. As opposed to several days of drying out in a parking lot, or whatever. Also, we should probably consider a potted tree, as that does sound slightly more ecologically friendly, but does have less of the Paul Bunyan Traipsing Through the Wilderness feel of going out with a hacksaw into the frozen Ohio tundra to lasso your own wild tree. However we shall take this into consideration.
We are tentatively planning to decorate the tree, which has been standing in our dining room acclimatizing and shedding a few needles for a couple of days now, tonight. Although as all of our holiday plans go, this is subject to change with very little notice. As an example, we've been meaning to get the rest of the outdoor holiday lights up on the house for a couple of weeks now. At this point, it might happen before Christmas and it might not. We still haven't finished raking up all the leaves from the November windstorms we had, and the Halloween pumpkins are still out on the front porch slowly decomposing. (And looking all the freakier for it, too.) The only reason we took the Halloween lights down is to make room for the Christmas lights.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we didn't even consider houses that were part of homeowner's associations. Remember that dead tree I mentioned in our back yard? Still there. There is a plant growing right in front of our house that self-seeded there this spring. We think it is probably an extremely tenacious weed. It is almost as tall as the second-story windows at this point, and has developed branches. And thorns. We kept saying, "Boy, we should really get rid of that weed," and then something else would come up, and now it is scary and large, looming in our front yard like some sort of Tolkien-esque nightmare. We should probably go at it with a shovel, but I'm sort of afraid to.
Okay, time to go start digging ornaments out of boxes. Wish me well.
Posted at December 11, 2006 6:42 PM
Posted by: Stacey at December 11, 2006 7:23 PM
Coming from a self-described Darwinian gardener, it might be interesting to find out what that so-called weed actually is. Could be a black locust tree, which is quite enormous and stately when mature. We have lots of lovely plants that have volunteered, and some of them are wildflowers, perennial natives at that. We have a whole patch of lemon balm that we make delicious tea from (not native, alas), and I gave a friend of ours a few native birches that volunteered in bad locations many years ago that is now a grove in front of her house.
And I, too, am interested in the fate of said squirrel.
One more aside: I love reading about your family trips to get a tree. As a child I remember one horror of an experience to get "the perfect tree". Six kids, as many tree lots, and hours of hunting. By the end of it we were all miserable, and I'll bet the tree we brought home was no more attractive than the first one we looked at. I am somewhat particular, but I completely agree with the view of finding something acceptable, not "perfect". Our "Charlie Brown" sequoia is balanced by a fake tree perched on top of the piano in the basement, and a few handfuls of cedar branches draped across the mantel. It'll do.
Posted by: Bibi at December 12, 2006 1:03 PM
LOL about the fallen tree. How is the albino squirrel doing???