For information on Hunt Christmas Tree Farm, please click here.
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Here we go, Christmas tree 2009.
Thursday was the day. We didn’t know if the weather was going to cooperate any more than it has and there is nothing worse than trying to find and cut down a Christmas tree in the snow. Actually, I have never done that and now that I think about it, it might be fun. Either way, I truly enjoy walking around Christmas tree farms hunting for the “one.”
As usual, I didn’t have much of a choice. When she gets going, she gets going. It’s like I walk around talking to myself. Have you ever seen “Napoleon Dynamite?” Do you know who Deb is? That’s who she is like. She walks around with her hand on her chin, completely focused. She usually gets the third or fourth tree she wants. I have to snap her back to reality regarding dimensions. “No dear, I am not pulling that thing back to the car. No dear, I am not dragging that through the front door. No dear, the bottom won’t even fit in the stand.”
This year, we visited Hunt Christmas Tree Farm in Coventry, CT to cut down our 2009 Christmas tree. We were pretty much the only ones on the lot. We planned it that way because I didn’t want to be bothered by anyone. I like peace and quiet when I have to make important decisions.
I decided to bring my trailer instead of lugging the tree back to the house on the roof of my car. Last year, a big burly type of a fellow decided to give a hand throwing the tree on the car roof. He stepped on my running boards and nearly collapsed them. Then, he almost shattered the sunroof with his toss. I am grateful that nothing broke, but I still have nightmares of vacuuming up little pieces of tempered glass from the interior. The trailer worked out perfectly.
The tree farm is pretty large. There were plenty of trees to choose from and the really neat thing is that there is a dirt road around the entire thing. This means that you get to drive around and park where ever you feel like your tree might be. There was even a dude who drove around to help out people who were ready to make the cut. He gave you the “good” saw and then brought the tree back and wrapped it up. The trees cost $35 each and that includes the wrapping and a tree bag for when you are all finished. The tree bag goes underneath the stand and when it’s time for the tree to be removed from the house, you just slide the bag right up and around the entire thing. Of course, we have woods outside, so you won’t find me trying to put anything out near the road. I’ll clip it up into small pieces.
The rumor on the street is that you want to see some pictures. Okay, they are below, but let me tell you something amusing. When I was trimming the bottom branches to get a better fit into the tree stand, I cut one that mattered. I know this has probably happened to a lot of you, but there was nothing I could do about it. I only took off three little twigs. One of them was not as little as the other two. Oh well…what’s a tree without some character? We actually just stuffed that branch into the stand and made the best of it. Gee, that reminds me of the good ol’ days.
Hunt Christmas Tree Farm in Coventry, CT
Our 2009 Christmas tree
Me cutting down the Christmas tree
The Christmas stump
The Christmas tree in the trailer
2009 Christmas tree all decorated
The decorated fireplace mantel
My lady’s hand made Christmas orament
We even picked up a few pine cones from our walk today
On Thursday of last week, we decided to head up to the Berkshires for some apple picking. Every year, we end up going too late and are rushed by the end of the season. Of course there are still apples to pick, but many of the varieties are already gone. This year, we thought it would be a good idea to go apple picking not too early, but not too late.
I think we’ll stick with going at the end of the season. There is one reason for this…the Honeycrisps are ripe. I guess the Honeycrisp is a late season apple, because there were “Not Ripe” signs all over the place where these particular trees were. It’s funny because I tasted a few and they seemed fine to me. I grabbed about 15 of them. I have a feeling they will ripen up just fine. Just so you know, the Honeycrisp is the biggest and best apple there is. They are huge.
We go apple picking at a place called “Windy Hill Farm Nursery Orchards & Garden Center.” I think that’s the official name. We just call it Windy Hill. It’s located on 686 Stockbridge Rd in Great Barrington, MA and really is a great orchard. They have hot cider inside and plenty of apples and pumpkins to choose from. I’m guessing when I say there are about 15 different types of apples to pick. We have been visiting this orchard during Autumn for about five years now.
The only problem is…it’s a little far away. I was thinking out loud on the way back from our exciting day when I said, “I think this is the last year for Windy Hill.” I got a funny look. I continued, “It’s just too far away. I can’t see driving for almost two hours to head up to the Berkshires when there has to be plenty of good orchards around where we live.” It’s true, there are tons of orchards around here, but we really like to make a day out of it. We don’t want to just run over to Glastonbury real quick, grab some apples and leave. That seems more like a chore. 45 minutes away is a good distance for an apple orchard. That way, we get to visit some town that we hardly ever go to and it makes the whole thing more fun. I like that. So, next year, I think we’ll head up to the “Quiet Corner” somewhere. I am sure Pomfret has an apple orchard. After all, Pomfret is an area full of beautiful rolling hills, a perfect place for apples to grow.
Thursday was fun. Not only did we visit Windy Hill, we also visited Yankee Candle in Stockbridge to gather a nice assortment of Autumn smelling candles and tarts. It wasn’t my idea to go there, but being the accommodating companion that I am, I agreed that it was a good idea. Now, every time I go downstairs, I think there is an apple pie or pumpkin bread in the oven. It’s really not fair.
Besides apple picking, another goal that I had for Thursday’s trip was to head up to Lenox to check out a really nice country house/hotel called Blantyre. I have heard great things about this place and wanted to see it first hand. I am always on the hunt for the next marvelous Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. The visit was supposed to be a surprise. I wanted to drive to Lenox in stealth mode and quickly turn into the Blantyre driveway. My plan was foiled when I got lost…again. For some reason, Lenox is in something like a spiderweb vortex. It seems like every road going into the town is identical and has the same left turn. Each time I go there, I find myself making the same mistakes, over and over and over. This time, it took a confession and use of the GPS to find our destination. It really wasn’t any big deal because I am used to my surprises being ruined due to lack of preparation.
When we finally made it to Blantyre, we were very pleased by what we found. There is a really long driveway that leads to a large English house type structure. It is secluded and absolutely feels like another land. I can’t compare it to Europe because I have never been there, but if I had been there I am sure the Blantyre would feel just like it. It was kind of like Robin Hood was going to walk out of the woods.
We walked through the front door and found a really upscale and formal cluster of rooms. We visited the main room, the music room and the dining room. I also peeked out to the terrace and the front lawn and gardens. It was better than I had imagined. (Don’t worry, I have pictures)
A woman came out to greet us and answered all the questions about holiday dining that we threw at here. We gave the desk gentleman my name for a return call after they had the menu and arrangements set up. We walked out and strolled around for a while and took some photos.
After we left Blantyre, we decided to head down to the Prime Outlets in Lee, MA. I had this strange desire to get slippers. I know, I know…I am a big burly man. What in the world do I need slippers for? Well, this Winter, I am not fighting cold feet. I do it every year and it’s just not going to happen this time.
We arrived at Prime Outlets and were disappointed by the lack of selection of slippers. The slippers that were there were all made from leather and cost close to $50. They also had no thick hoodies or sweatpants to be found. This isn’t the first time we have walked away empty handed from this joint. I guess it was a good idea while it lasted. By the way, I picked up a nice pair of slippers in Walmart yesterday for $11. I also got a pair of sweatpants for $10. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout. This is simple house gear, mind you.
Lastly, we headed back to the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge for some lunch. This is quite the tradition each year to settle us down after some good apple picking. We even got the clover leaf on top of our Guinness.
Here are some pictures of our exciting day up in the Berkshires. The weather was good when we arrived, sprinkled a little bit while we were picking apples and then cleared up again. All in all, it was a good day – minus the slipper thing.
I believe these are Empire apples at Windy Hill Orchard in Great Barrington, MA
Looking up between two rows of apples trees at Windy Hill Orchard in Great Barrington, MA
Simon the house cat at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, MA
Entrance to Blantyre in Lenox, MA
The Music Room at Blantyre in Lenox, MA
The main entrance room at Blantyre in Lenox, MA
The patio area at Blantyre in Lenox, MA
Half of the building at Blantyre in Lenox, MA
The other half of the building at Blantyre in Lenox, MA
I keep thinking…if people mow their lawns, bag the clippings and rake up all the leaves, where does the lawn soil get any organic material from? It’s an interesting question and one that I haven’t found the answer to yet.
I used to bag the lawn clippings. I was having fun doing it too. Then, I read that I could just mow the lawn and let the clipping stay. Of course the article was written by one of those freaky granola people with a dirt lawn. You know the type, the guy who tries to eat the lawn weeds. I always try to take advice from people I want to be like, not some weirdo who jumped on the “green” train. So, I kept on reading articles from a variety of authors. I came to the conclusion that leaving the grass clippings on the lawn is okay if you mow frequently. If you mow infrequently, you will get big grass clumps that will kill the grass underneath. I think I can handle mowing regularly. About half way through this last Summer, I stopped bagging and the lawn looked the same thereafter.
The whole reason I did that research is because every time I bagged the clippings, I felt like I was taking a little bit of love away from the soil. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how that soil was going to get the organic material back. I mean, was it from the leaves I pick up every Autumn? No, because they obviously aren’t there anymore (I picked them up, duh).
I had a vision in my head…I visualized the lawn in five years. It was horrible. Everything was in black and white and looked barren like the moon’s surface. You can even use Mars as an example. I didn’t like having a lawn with no nutrients and dark soil. I decided to keep reading and to research what would happen if I just mulched up the leaves that fall from the trees every year and kept them right there on the grass. Well, wouldn’t you just know it, other people were having the same thoughts and a group up at Michigan State University did a study on this exact topic.
I am going to jump right to the conclusion of their study. They said that it is okay to mulch your leaves into the grass and it’s actually better for the soil. It helps out all those microbes and the worms as well. I know about the worms because my compost pile is FULL of them. Worms like organic material. If the lawn had more organic material, I could imagine that the worms would find their way there.
I’m going to do it. This year, I am going to mulch the leaves and leave them on the lawn. I am going to have to do a really thorough job though because there are a lot of leaves. That’s good because there are some areas of this lawn where the soil is just stripped of any nutrients. I wouldn’t even call it soil anymore. It’s like dust when it gets dry.
I suppose I could always just spread peat moss or compost over the grass every Autumn. That wouldn’t really be fun. Besides, where would I get my compost? From the big pile of leaves and grass clippings I raked up and bagged the year before?
This year will be the experiment. I will let you know how it goes. If things look good in the Spring, I will tell you. Actually, I will tell you either way. It can’t get any worse than it is now. Although, I am looking at the grass after a three week spell of no rain and a thorough dethatching job. Things ain’t looking so great.
This is terrible, just terrible. I think I have found myself walking down a very bad path.
Okay, so I already told you that I am taking some trees down in the woods next to the house. This is a good thing and it’s really starting to look nice over there. I actually took two more trees down today. I don’t like to do too many at a time because I would rather get used to the small changes I make and think about what I am doing before I go ahead and take down some more. Either way, I am building up next year’s supply of firewood.
This is where the problem starts. I still have about a cord of wood from the trees I cut down last summer. It’s is seasoning quite nicely and will make for some splendid firewood come this winter.
Now, I am almost positive that I have complained about the miserable (in)efficiency of a regular fireplace. We have one here and it does a really great job of sucking up what ever heat you already have in the house, out the chimney. Sure, the living room is warm, but you have to wear a snow suit in all the other rooms. Really, I don’t even use it much…just on those chilly spring or autumn evening when the pellet stove isn’t running.
So here I am, sitting on a cord of seasoned firewood and building up next year’s supply. What to do?
I am very happy with the pellet stove we got last year. It kicks butt when it comes to heating up about 3/4 of the house. To get that much heat, I need to keep it humming all winter. Last winter, I used four tons of pellets. I wouldn’t mind having a heat supplement helping out the pellet stove.
I am going to make a long whiny story short here. I really want a Hampton HI300 Wood Insert for the fireplace in the living room. Take a look at it:
I called the fellas down at the fireplace store today and told them what I wanted. He wrote up a quote and faxed it over to me. The thing is, it’s pricey. I know I’m not going to save any money by getting this little toy, so I’m iffy about the whole thing. To make matters worse, there is a tax credit that’s available called the “The U.S. Biomass Tax Credit.” It gives you back 30% of your purchase and installation price, up to $1500. That is just driving me crazy. You can learn about the tax credit here.
I know I am going to find myself in the car tomorrow or the next day driving down to the fireplace store. It’s bad, but I just want to feel that heat cranking out of that stove this winter. It even has a blower.
This is becoming a little tradition for me. Every year, I take some nice photos of the first Bearded Iris to bloom.
This purple and white beauty bloomed yesterday. A few more came to life today and I expect the rest will start showing their colors tomorrow. When the entire row is bloomed, I’ll take some pictures for you.
The bearded Iris is, by far, my favorite flower. The flower stems are like small trees. They are tall and strong. Although the flower itself has a short life, it’s really good looking. The best part of all is that the Bearded Iris multiplies, so you can pretty much expand your garden as far as you would like throughout the years. I have these flowers growing all over the place here.
I took a few pictures of this bearded Iris today. I tried to get a regular shot, one from the top and another close up so you can see the pollen. Lastly, I got a photo of another plant’s bud.
Purple and white Bearded Iris
Purple and white Bearded Iris viewed from above
Up close picture of a Bearded Iris yellow pistil and pollen
This is a sweet, sweet present I have been looking forward to for many years.
About a month ago, there was a day that offered perfect weather. I would say it was about 55 degrees and sunny. Coming off a cold winter, this was just what we were looking for. I was outside just walking around, when Laura decided to join me. We talked for a little while and decided to have a seat on an area of mulch. It was warm and dry. We continued talking and after a while, we ended up laying there looking up at the sky. That’s when she said, “Wouldn’t having a hammock be really cool?” It was like a light bulb went off in my head.
Yesterday, I wrote about getting some stuff at Home Depot. What I didn’t write was about the hammock I bought. I wanted that to be a surprise. I also needed to set it up and take a picture of it before I wrote about it. Well, today was the day for that.
Pawleys 13 foot cotton rope hammock with pillow
The hammock I got was the Pawleys 13 foot cotton rope hammock with pillow. It was just the one I was looking for. There were a few more expensive hammocks, but they weren’t as large. This one is 60″x84″. That’s pretty big. I also like the rope because it’s really comfortable.
When I took this hammock out of the box, it looked kind of short. I really thought it was too small. I went out to the “hammock spot” and hooked everything up. The middle of the hammock was about 2 1/2 feet off the ground. I was very excited to try it out, so I got into position and kind of jumped on it. Well, I think I should have gone more slowly, because I landed on the ground. The hammock stretched out a good amount. I had to get up and adjust the chains; actually, I had to remove the chains. I just hooked the hammock directly to the hooks on the trees. After that, everything was cool. After the initial stretch out, it hasn’t stretched any further, even with both of us laying on it.
Is it tough to get off a hammock once you are on one? Well, not physically, but mentally it is. Once I had it all set up properly, I lay down on it, just to see how it felt. A half hour later I had to pull myself up before I fell asleep. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s a sweet feeling just laying there listening to the birds chirp.
Many of you don’t know this, but part of why I keep writing in the blog is to document many of the things that I am interested in. Just in the past month alone, I have probably looked back to see what I was thinking last March and April about ten times. I wanted to see what the weather was like, what the trees looked like and my general attitude on things. Strangely enough, it seems as though I have a fairly cyclical attitude, meaning, if I get bummed out during a cold March, I probably felt that way last year too. That’s why I try to put a little of myself into what I write here.
Today’s weather report said it was supposed to be cold and rainy. Besides a freak (light) snowfall this morning, it has shaped up to be a rather nice day. It’s not too cold and the sun has been popping in and out all day long.
This morning, I started doing a bit of walking around with the camera. Many things have buds and I would guess that if we had a few nice warm days, a fair amount of plants would spring to life. You just wait, because I have a lot going on.
One thing I did grab a photo of this morning was a Weihenstephaner Gold (Bailey’s Gold) plant. I really like these little flowers. They slowly spread, are easily splittable and are hard to kill. That’s my type of plant.
Now, I know that I already posted a photo of Bailey’s Gold last year, but that was in June. If I am going to document what it looks like in early April, I am going to need to post another photo. Enjoy.
Internet Population Passes One Billion; Top 15 Countries
The number of people on the Internet surpassed one billion in December, according to comScore. The actual number is probably higher than that (Internet World Stats counted nearly 1.5 billion Web surfers worldwide as of June 30, 2008). In any case, only between 15 and 22 percent of the world’s population is on the Internet. We have a long way to go.
Climate Change Killing America’s Trees at Ever Faster Rates
Trees in western North America are dying at faster and faster rates, and climate change is likely to blame. The mounting deaths could fundamentally transform Western forests because tree reproduction hasn’t increased to offset losses, according to a new study published Thursday in Science.
There is fierce debate over the direction humanity should take when exploring the solar system. Plans for human exploration of the solar system and beyond often polarize opinions among the public and scientific communities.
Nobody pretends that polluted air isn’t terrible for your health. Clean up the skies over any dirty city and the people who live there will all but certainly become healthier. That, at least, has been popular wisdom, but until now, no one had ever put it to the statistical test. Now someone has and the results are striking.
Mars and Mercury were formed from the scraps of Earth and Venus, according to a radical new theory of rocky planet formation. The model could explain some characteristics of Mars and Mercury that have long puzzled scientists, said Brad Hansen, an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In my last post, I said that people need to start writing more. I said that our readers don’t care what we write about, just that we write. I even threatened to take my camera out with me this morning.
Well, guess what. I did just that. Since I had to go to the mailbox this morning to put some outgoing mail in it, I decided to enjoy a little walking tour with the good ol’ camera in hand. I know this feels like a Seinfeld episode (about nothing) but this is what I do.
After I put the mail in the mailbox, I headed back down the driveway. I looked at the ground and noticed all sorts of acorns laying there all spread out. Every day this happens. There is a big Red Oak at the end of the driveway that makes a huge mess. I think the squirrels are $%^& with me. I need to call a tree service to come prune a few trees, this being one of them. I hate having this messy tree for everyone to see. Maybe when it’s getting pruned, I’ll take some before and after shots.
Anyway, when I looked down at the driveway, I noticed some ants running around. I took a bunch of pictures of them, but they were too fast and the pictures came out blurry. They would’ve been really cool because they were close up. While I was down on the driveway, I decided to take a picture of an acorn so you know what I am talking about.
Red Oak acorn
There are hundreds of these things. Every time I mow the lawn, I take out the blower to blow off the driveway. Within a few days, they are back. After taking the picture, I had to get up and run because a car was coming. That’s all they need to see…G laying down on the driveway taking more pictures.
Last night, I also mentioned that I was taking down some small trees in the woods along the driveway. My goal is to make it a bit lighter in there with some breaks of sun. I have to be careful not to take down too much, because I really like the trees. The last thing I want is full sun. I have already made a dent. I would say I am taking down anything smaller than 6″. Here are some photos of that.
Woods along driveway
Woods along driveway
Woods along driveway
As you can see, there is some filtered sunlight coming through. I probably have about 10-15 more trees to remove.
A few days ago, I discovered a faster and quieter way of doing this. Well, one way is quieter, but not faster. I am using a hand saw for some of them. Basically, I take the tree down and then cut the top leafy part off of it. I drag the stalk up and place it in the pile you see in the last photo. I drag the top of the tree down into the brush pile in the woods. I always need a good brush pile. You would be amazed at how fast a big brush pile collapses over time.
The faster way is to do what I described above, but with a chainsaw. I used to cut the wood into firewood right there, but that was noisy. I will do that all in one shot when I am done taking down the trees.
Here is a beautiful picture of one of the stumps.
Birch tree stump
At the bottom of the driveway, I noticed a new flower growing in the spot I just mulched. It was mixed in with all the others. It just bloomed so I thought that deserved some recognition.
New white flower
After I took a picture of that flower, I walked across the front lawn to get some shots of a nice pink flower up there. I did that and then I took a shot of the Highbush Cranberry that we have growing. There are a few of these bushes and the berries are getting very red.
Pink flower
Highbush Cranberry
You see how nice that was? It was a big blog post about nothing and I think I got away with it. Well, we’ll see what people write about it to see if I really got away with it.
I went outside yesterday to take a few photos of some buds on some trees. I grabbed a few good ones of our Thundercloud Purple Leaf Plum and the Bradford Pear.
I have to say, this blog has been very handy for me to look at when I start wondering when things are going to bloom. Every Spring I think the same thing…when is this going to grow, when is that going to bud? I asked those questions last year, so I thought ahead. Last year, I began documenting (with photos), right here on this blog, when things start changing. Now, all I have to do is look at the archives on my blog to find out. Pretty cool…
Anyway, here are the photos I took yesterday:
This photo is our Thundercloud Purple Leaf Plum. That’s a pretty cool tree, but the Japanese Beetles LOVE it. Beware. I hope to get some nice growth on it this year.
This is the Bradford Pear that we have in the front yard. It grows kind of slow, from what I have seen.
I will be taking more photos as the season goes on.
