Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Looking For A Christmas Tree.
Greetings on this very cold Friday which also ends the first week of December which also means that Christmas is not far away and of course that means looking for the perfect Christmas tree! These days that is not so hard to do. It’s possible to buy them everywhere one goes. I’m talking about real trees. Not fake trees. Some fake trees do look nice. But they’re not real. And my parents never liked the idea of buying a tree. Real or fake. So, every year we went out and picked up our own real tree. We always put up our tree December 1st. Amazingly it did manage to survive a whole month. But we did keep it well watered. A very important part of using real trees. Now I would prefer a fake tree. I’m sure Muffin would agree with me. Which is why I don’t have a tree. Muffin likes to climb. Trees are made for climbing. Therefore I’m not sure it would work out so well. However, if I had all those old decorations that my parents had, I’m sure I would be wanting to give it a try. I prefer the old traditional type decorations. Where things didn’t all match. Different decorations, different sizes, colors, put on the tree in no special way, except to make sure the whole tree was well covered, add tinsel and lights, it was always perfect. Sigh. Okay, my place is kind of small anyway. But I would do it if I had those decorations. Or similar ones. So Dad says, let’s go get the tree today.
It’s too cold, I replied. Never too cold, said Dad. I’ll get the COFFEE ready, said I. Forget the COFFEE, he said. What??!! Forget the COFFEE??!! We’ll stop at our favorite COFFEE shop instead after we get the tree, said Dad. I’m half out the door! We found a good spot to look for the tree. We had to cross the ditch however. I volunteered to go first, I knew Dad would want me too anyway. NO, he said, I’ll go first this time. I don’t think he trusted me. Be careful, I said, the snow might be deep. It isn’t deep, he called back, just look. I did. From a safe distance. Suddenly Dad seemed to trip, his arms went out to the side, and he fell straight forward with a thud, face first into the snow. I walked over to him. Need some help? He lifted his head out of the snow. No, he said, I like laying in the snow. I can’t get up, he said, my arms keep sinking in the deep snow. Roll over, I suggested. He did. I helped him up. He had tripped on a rock buried under the snow and fell into an area that obviously was deeper than the rest of the ditch. Must be a hole there, I said, good thing you went first. Thanks, said Dad. You go first now, he said. Naturally. Walking through the trees I had to move a branch from a large spruce. I let go. AAAAAAAA!!!!!!! I turned around. Poor Dad. You shouldn’t walk so close behind me, I said. BONEHEAD, was all he said. Okay, he’s enjoying himself. Rather odd. Dad’s face was a bit red from that branch hitting him. What are you looking for?, I asked. My glasses fell off, he said. You’re always losing your glasses, I said. Only when you’re around, he replied. Not sure what he meant by that. We must have walked half an hour. Finally we spotted the perfect tree. Give me the saw, said Dad. Saw? I didn’t bring the saw, I said. Dad just looked at me. You left the saw in the car? I didn’t bring the saw, I thought you were going to bring it. There’s no saw at all? We walked back to the car. We did mark that tree though, so we could find it again easily. Strangely Dad didn’t want to go for COFFEE either. Mainly because he forgot his wallet. So I said I would pay for COFFEE. That made him feel a bit better. After COFFEE I spotted something in the back of the car, sticking out from under a blanket. The saw! Dad just looked. We went back and got the tree. We didn’t bother telling Mom about that part.
The joys of winter. I prefer summer. Or spring. Even fall. Sigh. But winter is here for another few months. Sigh. I hope you all have a great weekend and God bless!
Steve and Muffin (who is dreaming of a Christmas tree). PS; the featured image at the top is not mine.
One Day Began Like This…
Good morning everyone on this first Monday of December which is the last month of the year which is quite amazing when one considers how fast time flies even when it goes slowly which is actually quite interesting since a person can be very busy and time flies and a person can be doing basically nothing and time flies but when a person is completely bored and time seems to stand still then time still flies which is because time is always going at the same time so therefore it must fly by even when it doesn’t which is a very curious riddle which is easily explained by someone who knows what they are talking about so don’t expect me to easily explain it. That’s better. I haven’t had one of those long opening sentences for a long time. I like them. Some people don’t. That’s fine.
Which brings me to my title. One day began. Sometimes it would be nice to have a day start normally. But then I think, that might be dull. Sigh. I don’t have normal days. Sometimes that’s a good thing. Sometimes not. One Sunday began normally for a while. Then things changed. I was getting ready for church. That was normal. Then footsteps on the deck. And a knock at the door. Okay, not normal. It was my landlord. She had let her cat outside and the door closed behind her. And locked. She asked if I had a key. Not sure why I would. But I said I would try to help. Her sister lives with her, but she is a bit hard of hearing. Very much so actually. I tried phoning. Nothing. I used to be good at opening locks. Not now. Don’t have the right tools now. But I tried. Nothing. Decided to try the back door. Had to walk up snow covered stairs. Not good. I slipped. And fell. Not sure what hurt worse, my back or my knees. Sigh. Tried back door. Nothing. Tried banging on door. Tried doorbell. Nothing. Her sister was sleeping. Sigh. Decided to bang on her bedroom window. Went around to the side of the house. Didn’t realize the window was 10 feet off the ground. I wasn’t. Sigh. I got a long extension pole. The ground is not level along that side. And snow covered. I came back with the pole. Picked myself up off the ground and brushed the snow off myself. Sigh. Now my side hurts too. Pole was long enough. As I was banging on the window some people came walking along past the house. They looked at me. I could just imagine the police showing up soon to find out what I was doing. Anyway, I kept banging on the window. Thought for sure it would wake her up. And it did. After about 12 minutes. Now my shoulder was sore. Sigh. Moral of the story? Don’t answer your door on a Sunday morning. Sigh. But, my days have started worse than that. And at least I was able to help. I think. Apparently the banging on the window wasn’t even heard.
Went shopping. Needed to pick up a few things. Such as cat litter for Muffin who is curled up beside me sleeping so contentedly not knowing what I went through to get that cat litter. For some strange reason known only to the management of the store the cat litter I want is located on the top shelf. I am not tall. I can barely reach the top shelf. But after stretching as much as possible I managed to get hold of the handle on the pail of cat litter. Then I gave it a bit of a tug to get it closer to the edge of the shelf. Guess I gave it a bit more of a tug than just a bit of a tug because it not only came closer to the edge but came right over the edge of the shelf and fell right into the cart. Rather loudly. Fortunately no one was around. Though it would have been nice if one of the store employees was around so I wouldn’t have had to do what I did do that I didn’t want to do and didn’t try to do but what I ended up doing anyway. Sigh. They probably won’t even notice that the bottom of the cart isn’t flat anymore. It did push much more smoothly after that though so that’s a plus.
The little birds were busy all day again. They don’t stop. Just constant eating all day. Still trying to get a pic of that gray jay. And a better pic of the little downy woodpecker. But it was a bit cool standing out there today. Perhaps tomorrow. Or not. Oh, the snowy pic at the top is not mine. Not that snowy here yet. Enjoy your week everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin and birds and LB.
Steve`s Country 