Blog
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Our Christmas Tree 2013
Harvey, Lindsey and I traveled to Williams Christmas Tree Farm on the outskirts of Traverse City in search of our tree. After bundling up in our warmest winter jackets, mittens and hats, we trekked nearly 200 yards up and around the snow-covered hill between the parking lot and field of Fraser fir trees. I brought two saws, looking to send a signal to the tree gods that I wasn’t messing around. That we needed a tree before our son’s feet turned purple. And quickly did we find the perfect tree with a wide base, full stature, soft needles, and slender top. It was there. The second tree we saw. I shook it free from snow. We circled it, and, with the untrained eye of cold people with a young underdressed child missing a sock, we made our decision. I lay saw tooth to trunk. Forty-seven mighty cuts later, I had felled the eight footer and we stood above it proud of our selection. I dragged it to the car and with my gloved hands heaved it atop my Explorer. Forgoing all but the thinnest of ropes, I grasped it in place while whisking away to The Double Dogleg. The rest is history, and the final result is depicted below. May the merry month of December begin, remain, and invade each of our hearts with the long-anticipated season’s joy.
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Bushwacking – An Update
I posted earlier about my bushwacking efforts in clearing out the area of The Double Dogleg located to the south of the beginning of the driveway. Here’s a link to the earlier post for comparison. I have since, with the help of Lindsey, finished cutting the small and medium sized trees in that area. Then, we had Leonardo’s tree service remove my massive brush pile along with four full grown ash trees, a poplar that was broken and hanging over our neighbor’s property, and a dead maple. A picture of the current state of that area is below. I’m hoping to clear out some of the little stumps left behind, and keep the brush from taking over again in the future. Not sure yet what we’re going to do with this area, but it opens up the visuals for driving up and down the driveway and improves our view of the lake.
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Some Harvey Observations
In reverse chronological order, but without date references, here are some observations of Harvey over the past few months:
- Harvey can have a dozen of his toys, books, and bottles surrounding him, and he will still identify the TV clicker, my iPhone, my coffee cup, or any piece of paper in the room and do all that he can to crawl over to the non-toy item.
- He’s very happy, recognizes smiles and laughter and smiles in return
- He has an intense focus on the things he’s playing with. Although it was short, his attention span seems to be increasing so that he plays with toys for longer periods of time. Or, he will have out the window at the treetops for several minutes.
- Expressive eyebrows, likes the strings on my hoodie sweatshirt, and likes the tags on his toys.