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Our neighbors across the street go every year and chop down their own Christmas tree. We have never been organized enough to do that, but doesn't it sound fun? We decided that this was the year. Nicholas is 6 and so, old enough to enjoy the experience. Megan is 10 and so, young enough to enjoy the experience. :) Even the weather was going to cooperate, cool, but not freezing, and no rain.
But.
Nicholas started vomiting about 9 PM Friday night. And was up every 2 hours until somewhere after 4 AM. (David commented later that the 4 AM episode was the most painful. I reminded him that that was the only one he got up for.) He was only marginally better Saturday, so our plans were quickly going down the tube. We decided on Sunday to go with the traditional "lot" instead of the more romantic "farm" due to time constraints. The benefit of that was that I didn't have to go. I have trained them well to look for the biggest, fattest tree we can fit into our living room.
Megan perusing the merchandise.
My trusty hunters.
This photo is reminiscent of last year when no actual photos were taken of the selection process. They left the camera in the car, so all I got was a thru-the-window view of the tree lot as they drove away. This is where a Christmas tree farm would at least have provided a scenic view. This is also where not going can burn me.
Ready for travel!
Why do we all think self-portraits are a good idea?
Now here's where the story gets interesting. The family arrived home with the tree just as I was leaving for our neighborhood Christmas tea. David mentioned that he was feeling a bit queasy. When I returned more than two hours later, our tree was still in lateral recumbency in our front yard. Inside the house, I found David upstairs suffering from a variant of Nicholas's affliction. Megan informed me that she had also vomited. And I was starting to feel a little green around the edges. David dragged himself out of bed long enough to help me get the tree into the stand in the living room. I did a few other things before giving in to the bug myself. Needless to say, the lights never got put on the tree.
That was Sunday. Today is Tuesday and our tree is still naked. And notice, our couch is kind of in the middle of the room also. I think tonight we are going to watch the Survivor reunion show on DVR instead of putting up the lights (something else we missed in our throes of agony) so at this rate, it could be New Years before our tree is lit.
Yin Yang.
Tonight we took the dogs to Borders to help collect donations for GPA-TN. That is the rescue group from whom we adopted all three of our greyhounds. The mission of this organization is to take retired racers, give them the medical care they need to get them healthy, place them in foster homes to acclimate them to pet life, and then find them forever homes. Sometimes, they have to take dogs back who have been previously placed, because the dog's family is moving or can't keep the dog for some other reason. These guys can be expensive, as they are older, more likely to have health problems, and harder to find new homes for. Although the people who are involved in the rescue are all volunteers, the care and feeding of these dogs obviously adds up quickly.
Although it was very cold (33ºF), Megan, the dogs, and I stood outside for nearly 3 hours. I was surprised at how generous people were. Although some people gave only a dollar or two, the majority of the donations were in the $5-10 range. Of course, the dogs were cute AND pitiful in the cold, which helps a lot!
If anyone is interested in helping, it is a tax deductible donation, with pretty much the whole donation going to help the dogs. Or, maybe, you are interested in fostering or adopting a dog. You can contact Jo Ann or Tim Marshall for more information. Here is a list of the dogs they have available for adoption.
Anyway, my three pampered pooches survived their ordeal and are now home thawing out their frozen paws. I'm not sure they understood the impact of what they did tonight, and I know they wouldn't volunteer to do it again any time soon (luckily, they have me to volunteer for them!), but I was very happy to help this group which does so much good and has added such happiness to our lives.
I posted recently about my daughter not wanting to wear her coat, no matter the temperature. So when my son (he's 6) came down with FOUR layers on in an effort to avoid wearing his coat, I knew there must be more to it.
Count the layers--shirt, t-shirt, jacket, sweatshirt.
That's when it occurred to me that David doesn't like wearing a coat. In fact, 2 years ago when we went to Washington, D.C. in March he didn't even PACK a coat. It was pretty cold that week (go figure) so he bought a $5 FBI hat on the street to keep warm. 
Notice that in the picture, Nicholas isn't wearing his coat either (although he does have his gloves on).
On September 14, we planted a fall/winter garden in our yard. We have many mature trees and very little sun, so our usual plant-in-the-spring type gardens have produced mixed results, at best. When the trees lose their leaves in the fall, we have a bit more sun, so we decided to see if cool weather crops would do better.
I think for our first attempt, we did pretty well.
We have harvested some lettuce
(one batch failed to germinate --too cool?) and look forward to enjoying some broccoli raab in the near future. The broccoli raab is by far the biggest success. 
The spinach looks pretty good, although someone else is eating it for us :)
These are green onions that are coming along slowly, we also have chives. 
The chard suffered a bit from a hard frost we had. 
The pea plants succumbed to the frost completely. The calendula is the only flower that is thriving. The pansies didn't germinate at all. 
Over all, considering we planted everything a month too late and we have had an unseasonably cold November, not too bad.
Next year, I will definitely try again (along with, possibly, an early spring version) and get things planted earlier. I will plant a succession of lettuce crops and I will have much higher hopes for the peas. (They looked good until the frost.) I will use a cover for some of the more tender plants if the weather gets too cold, and I will try to figure some way to protect the plants from critters. Any suggestions?
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