Christmas 2018 At Home

Taking a break from our summer time adventures in New England… Here’s a recap of our Christmas 2018 at home.

We had lots of visitors… At times around Christmas there were 30 + turkeys stopping by!

This doe peering over our deck in the back was apparently checking out our holiday decor...  I’ll have to keep the blinds closed for privacy!

Ah!  Yippee!  Our big Christmas present arrived!  The big truck with a hydraulic bucket and a shredder attached and the other truck in the driveway with stump grinder in tow… What a gift!  Some pricey tree trimming and removal just in time for Christmas.  Isn’t this special?!

The first large tree to go was this hickory tree next to our driveway between our house and the new home being built next door.  It was leaning our way and it was no longer protected by the woods that used to be our neighbor.  To be honest, we won’t miss the mess every year when it drops its nuts and nut fragments from the squirrels.  It can go on for 3 months or so!

At least for this tree the tree service could get to it with their hydraulic bucket.  It made for a relatively easy access and they used ropes to lower the sections as they were cut off.

This was the really expensive tree!  (In the first photo its the tree with the man in it) This very large and tall ash tree was dead or dying having been ravaged by the ash borer beetle.  Worse yet, it was just a couple of feet from the side of our house.  It had to go!

I can’t imagine climbing trees with a chain saw to make a living! (Look at the top of the tree) There was no way that the truck with the hydraulic bucket could access this tree.  It had to be climbed the old fashioned way.  Whenever a big section of the tree was sawed off, the top of the tree (and the worker, his name was Dave) waved back and forth!  He spent 2 – 3 hours in this tree, slowing taking it down piece by piece.   

The lot on this side of the house is still forested and that blocked easy access for the crew when it came to removal of the tree as the branches came down.  The tree service brought a small front loader as far back as they could to pick up the larger sections of the tree that had to be removed. 

HO!  HO!  HO!  We both really ‘enjoyed’ our special Christmas present!

This is our flat…always decorated Christmas tree with bears and presents underneath.  It just slides into the closet right behind it after the Holidays.  At this stage of my life, I’m not into getting down on my knees on the floor to set up and string lights on a standard tree…

Dawn Marie usually comes up from Miami to celebrate Christmas with us.  However, the second day after she arrived, she came down with the creeping crud…and stayed under that quilt most of the day.  Poor baby!

Dawn did perk up a little on Christmas Day.  She had just opened one of her presents from us.  Later that evening, it was back under the quilt…

Laurie opened several presents from Dawn. (Laurie and I had already received our $$$ wood related present...an exception to the norm as we don't normally exchange Christmas presents)

This was one of my gifts from Dawn.  She was afraid of ordering the wrong item via the internet so she gifted me with the wherewithal to search and make sure that I found exactly what I needed.

Here are a couple other Christmas photos of Dawn Marie with Laurie and yours truly.  It was great having her here for Christmas, even if she was sick.  From her point of view, it was much better suffering over the holiday with people that cared than suffering alone at home in Miami...

Dawn didn’t have much of an appetite for Christmas dinner partly because her taste buds were fried… However I happily overate, downing quantities of prime rib roast, roasted potatoes and gravy.  Even better, we had lots of leftovers for other meals! 

So…that pretty much recaps our 2018 Christmas celebration.  Not too exciting that’s for sure.  As of January 5, 2019, when I wrote this post, Dawn was still recovering from a bad sinus infection down in Miami.  Bummer for sure!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave