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J and I went out this morning to acquire our Solstice Tree. Luckily the Winter Solstice comes just before Christmas, so we're able to piggyback on the larger Christmas celebration. Because this is Sacramento, most people either have plastic trees or obtain their live tree the day after Thanksgiving. By the time we're ready to shop for our tree, the live trees have been sitting around the lot for a loooong time. We went to three purveyors before we--finally--found an acceptable tree at, of all places, Home Depot. Home Depot, I can't believe it. They speak the truth, though, when they say that new trees arrive weekly. We didn't lose half the needles the first time we shook the tree.
J installed the tree in its stand and then put on the lights. We now use the very energy-efficient LEDs, and wonder why anyone ever put 25-watt bulbs on a dead tree. It's amazing the whole country didn't go up in smoke between December 20 and the end of the year. J has become very good at light installation and we only used one strand for our little tree.
We used to use a living tree. But the majority of living trees are either Monterey or Aleppo pines. They're great trees, but nurseries choose them because they grow rapidly. The Monterey pine we had in Oakland grew a couple of feet the first year. We realized then that we weren't going to be able to wrestle it up the stairs for its 
third year. So we planted it in a corner of the back yard. It grew and grew--and grew. I read up on them, and discovered that Monterey pines grow 50 feet in twelve years. That tree is on its way to taking over our old neighborhood.
I then set about installing the ornaments--using only only about a quarter or our collection. I don't know how I acquired so many ornaments. I didn't use all of our little wood snowmen and Santas, and none of the large balls. I could probably do a tree twice the size of this one and still have ornaments left over.
On the Solstice, the tree topper will be turned from the Moon side to the Sun side. Spring is coming!
J and I spent a couple of hours this afternoon cleaning up the front yard after the "winter blast" on Friday. The beloved Claw came yesterday and took away the chopped up pine tree, so that left plenty of room on the street for more garden debris. I cut back almost all of the plants--the agastache, penstemon, incarvillea, coreopsis. Our eucalyptus shed all over the place too, and leaves and branches from all over the neighborhood seemed to have congregated in my front yard. So now there's a new mound of stuff waiting for a visit from the Claw. I told J that we might receive a personal visit from the Claw driver, informing us that he would not be able to come every day to pick up my latest leavings.
But it's not often that I have this much debris. I usually do a big clean-up in early spring, when I toss the plants I decided to reprieve in the fall. Then I do another clean-up at the end of the summer, tossing the plants that failed to perform during the spring and summer. I rarely do a lot of work in the winter, even though I should, and the summer is spent watering, watering, watering. Having cleaned up much of the front yard, I am, however, notifying some plants that a good performance this year will be required or the refrain "dead plant walking" will be heard as the poor subject is transported to the garden waste pile.
Ah, Sacramento! Last night Obama and Huckabee won their respective caucuses in Iowa. In most of the country this was big news. But not in Sacramento. We had a winter storm and the day's news was "All Rain, All the Time." Channel 3 even named their coverage "Winter Blast." And the reporting went on almost all day. (We missed part of it, as our cable was down for several hours.) It went on so long that the reporters were repeating themselves. They must have showed every downed tree in five counties. Except for the one in my front yard. And they'll repeat the whole thing again at 10 and 11.
It was, however, a pretty nasty storm by California standards. Some of my plant pots are knee-deep in fallen leaves and needles. Tomorrow J and I will spend the day cleaning up the mess and trying to rescue the plants the tree fell on.
I did discover that, while Dash hates storms and hid under various pieces of furniture all day, Emma loves storms and spent the day looking out the windows. She didn't like the wind, but the stuff blowing around was really fascinating to her.
J and I went out this morning to acquire our Solstice Tree. Luckily the Winter Solstice comes just before Christmas, so we're able to piggyback on the larger Christmas celebration. Because this is Sacramento, most people either have plastic trees or obtain their live tree the day after Thanksgiving. By the time we're ready to shop for our tree, the live trees have been sitting around the lot for a loooong time. We went to three purveyors before we--finally--found an acceptable tree at, of all places, Home Depot. Home Depot, I can't believe it. They speak the truth, though, when they say that new trees arrive weekly. We didn't lose half the needles the first time we shook the tree.
J installed the tree in its stand and then put on the lights. We now use the very energy-efficient LEDs, and wonder why anyone ever put 25-watt bulbs on a dead tree. It's amazing the whole country didn't go up in smoke between December 20 and the end of the year. J has become very good at light installation and we only used one strand for our little tree.
third year. So we planted it in a corner of the back yard. It grew and grew--and grew. I read up on them, and discovered that Monterey pines grow 50 feet in twelve years. That tree is on its way to taking over our old neighborhood.
