trimming the tree

ok, so the tree was trimmed today and here's the picture shoot in reverse order

the completed product, angel and all...
my super, elf finding new ways to use a tree skirt.

and the angel is up!
here's our elf bel taking the skirt part of tree skirt a little too literally. she looks great, though!


shh... don't tell the girls, but they're actually working TOGETHER!

elf em is helping to sort out the lights.

c'mon, with socks like that, who needs lights on the tree?

we tend to start our lights at the bottom.


stand back, the light ninja in action. if chuck norris was a fan of Christmas, he'd take tree trimming lessons from em.

advent activity sunday

bel reached 5th grade this year and got to take part in the advent wreath project. this is a FUN activity, it even includes the use of power tools.

the weatherman lied

c'mon it cannot be due to inaccuracy. at 10:20 last night, the weather dude on ch 4 said "nothing major" and "only a dusting" in regard to the overnight snow. not that i'm complaining about the snow. it's winter, we might as well have it. i just can't believe that the weather guy could've been soooo wrong by accident.

tree huntin'

we went out to the tree farm and found this beaut just standin' there waitin' fer us. here we are with our trophy field dressed and ready to haul to the cashier (and the professional net and tie guys).

late season trail ride

hoo-yeah, had the day off of work and the house to myself, so what did i do? i went for a ride. i overdressed a little as the midday sun actually warmed things up a few degrees. anyway, i had a pretty good time tromping around in the woods. i stopped the bike to listen to the wind at this spot. it wasn't an extremely strong wind, but it had quite a voice where i was. it was blowing across the lake and into the pines around me, but it had a percussive quality to it. i wondered, "what's that clanking?" heh... it was ice. see it in the background?

just when you think there's nothing green left in the world...

i stumbled across this bright green moss in the woods on my trail ride today. it was so cool to find something GREEN.

skyviews to the east

a couple of snaps from different times looking at the eastern sky from our house.

when i see the moon in the sky wile it's light out

i always think it looks so lonely without any stars to accompany it.

'sploded deere

had to pull the tracto apart this much to get it fixed today. not a big deal if i'd kept all the skin on my knuckles.

toolmaster o-o-o-of...

roseville? well, my mad skillz aren't being applied at the buckeye creamery and i don't play guitar "like a master,but faster," but I will say i'm doin' ok in the garage. i had to improvise severely on a tool to hold the back of this pulley still (the rest of it is free floating on the shaft) so I could loosen the bolt that held it to the shaft. tada, vise-grips to the rescue! i squeezed a bolt in the pliers and wedged that into one of notches on the fixed plate on the pulley and it held things in place. i just hope it'll work the same for putting it back on.