Closing out 2007 II

The final post of 2007 (post mortem actually) is Christmas.


My wife put together what I think is the prettiest tree we've had yet. For several years she has been making these Christmas balls. She buys these clear glass balls and puts a little of different colors inside them and swirl them around until she gets what she is looking for. She has accumulated a pretty good collection of them, enough to use ONLY them and some crystal ornaments that we have been collecting, including some I brought back from the Germany trip.

This is a cool gift from my Son Kris that he sent from Germany.

He says this guy did this pretty much while he was standing there watching. It's a little bit wood burning and a little bit air-brush and a little conventional painting. Kris said he was FAST. The guy says he tries to not think when he's painting because it slows him up and doesn't look as good. Check him out at The Magic Flame. I also received on of those wooden artists posing figures that he has on his opening page. I've always used various action figures in the past and they do great but I have just always wanted one.

Closing out 2007

Several things have gone on since I last posted. I could not get ANY of the tree companies that buy lumber to even call me back. I know who NOT to call whenever I need several acres of timber cut. I did get Allen Tree Service to come out and they guy gave me a good day rate since I had so many trees. The short story is that I was VERY satisfied and would recommend them to anyone needing trees cut. I had them cut as many trees as they could plus some trimming of the ones I didn't want completly removed in two days time. Even after that I still have more trees than any of my neighbors. I had a LOT of trees. I think the lot looks a little better and I feel a little safer when the wind whips up.

This is the cool Cherry Picker they used. It could reach about 75 feet out and get to the high limbs and top out the trees before they brought it down.

This is SOME of the logs that they took away from the house. I wish I could have had them milled and dried because I could have built a HUGE addition with that much lumber. They filled that truck completely up.

You might think that I destroyed my yard but believe me; I still have a ton of trees.

This is a recent morning shot of the back yard.