Went out to the tree farm and cut down the tree we picked out last week. Got out there, they handed us a saw and a long pole to measure the tree with, and off we went to our tree.
Here’s the tree temporarily lashed to the roof of the car so we can get it back up to the front of the tree farm. Up front, they shake all the loose needles and other crap off the tree, and then bundle it up in some netting.
The guys at the tree farm were very helpful and tied the tree to the top of the car for us so it wouldn’t blow away as we drove home. We made it home with the tree intact.
Getting the tree home was the easy part. Getting it all set up was another matter entirely. After a little bit of effort, we managed to get it propped up and reasonably stable in the tree stand we got from the wife’s parents. Half-way into cutting away the netting to unwrap the tree, the wife noticed the floor was starting to get wet. Uh oh. Water definitely wasn’t something we wanted to see on our new hardwood floor. So down came the tree to figure out what was going on. Discovered a big long crack in the side of the tree stand. So much for that. Off we went to Lowe’s, where they were out of tree stands. With company coming for the wife’s party, we decided to drop me off back home so I could finish off the cooking, while she went to Target in search of another tree stand. An hour and a half and much traffic later, she came back with one from Home Depot. Up went the tree again in a nice new tree stand.
And here’s the tree all unwrapped. Looks pretty doesn’t it.
With much help from the wife’s friends who came by, the tree got all nice and decorated.
It’s not done yet. The wife took pictures of all the people who came and had them make and decorate their own ornaments with their picture on it. Those will probably go up later. Should be a nice personal touch. More full size pictures to come in the gallery once I get around to uploading them.
Good bye 2005 storm season, at last
With TS Epsilon(2005) finally dissipated away, the 2005 storm season is over and done with. NOAA has a recap of the 2005 storm season with the final tally.
(image from NOAA)
Time to rest a little bit before getting ready for next year. I may have to rethink this coastal living thing.
TS Epsilon(2005)
After spending a day or two as hurricane #14, TS Epsilon(2005) is back down to a tropical storm, and is forecast to turn back to the south and southwest, back into the tropical Atlantic area. Although the 5 day track has it weakening and becoming a depression by next Friday, I see the tantalizing possibility that if it continues west towards the Carribean, Epsilon may even ressurect itself. But, I’m no hurricane forecaster, so I’ll just watch and see what it does.
A year of big firsts
It’s been a busy and exciting year, full of ‘firsts’ for us. First dog, first house, and yesterday we went shopping for our first live Christmas tree! Nala even got to see her first horse too. She seemed a little bit nervous at seeing such a large animal, and barked a few times at it. We didn’t let her get too close to the horse though.
Rather than going to the commercial tree sellers that pop up on every parking lot this time of year, we found this tree farm over on Johns Island where you can pick and cut your own tree. Most of them were plain old pine trees, so not as full looking as the fir trees most people get, but they were nicely shaped and manicured. Some of the trees were cypress-y looking things, that looked pretty nice, but didn’t seem as fragrant as the pines. We picked out a reasonably nice looking pine tree that was about 3m (~10′) or so. They let you tag a tree and come back later to cut it, so you can get it home really really fresh.
So in about 10 days, we’ll head back, go find our tree again and get it cut down and strapped to the car so we can haul it back to the house and set it up in the living room. I think decorating it should be fun and interesting.
Today, if the weather holds out and cooperates, we’ll be decorating the outside of the house.
Will the season never end??!!
Yep, there it is. TS Epsilon(2005), making it the 26th named storm of the year. Looks like this one will just spin around in the middle of the Atlantic and not bother anyone except shipping.
From this morning’s 10 AM NHC discussion:
CONVENTIONAL SATELLITE IMAGERY…NEARBY SHIP AND BUOY OBSERVATIONS…AND 29/0938Z QUIKSCAT SATELLITE WIND DATA INDICATE THE LARGE NON-TROPICAL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM LOCATED ABOUT 730 NMI EAST OF BERMUDA HAS ACQUIRED ENOUGH CONVECTION NEAR THE CENTER TO BE CLASSIFIED AS TROPICAL STORM EPSILON…THE 26TH NAMED STORM OF THE APPARENTLY NEVER ENDING 2005 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON. THE INITIAL INTENSITY OF 45 KT IS BASED ON BLEND OF 40-KT QUIKSCAT WINDS IN THE NORTHWEST QUADRANT AND A 29/0800Z 996.0 MB…EQUAL TO APPROXIMATELY 55 KT… PRESSURE REPORT FROM BUOY 41543 THAT WAS LOCATED ABOUT 90 NMI SOUTH OF THE CENTER.
THE INITIAL MOTION ESTIMATE IS 270/07 KT. EPSILON IS EXPECTED TO MOVE GENERALLY WESTWARD FOR THE NEXT 24-36 HOURS AROUND THE SOUTHERN PERIPHERY OF A HIGH-LATITUDE RIDGE. AFTER THAT…THE CYCLONE IS FORECAST TO SLOW DOWN AND TURN AND NORTHEASTWARD AS A DEEP-LAYER TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED FRONTAL SYSTEM CURRENTLY OVER THE EASTERN UNITED STATES MOVES EASTWARD AND BEGINS TO TURN EPSILON BACK TOWARD THE EAST. BY 96 HOURS… EPSILON IS EXPECTED TO ACCELERATE RAPIDLY NORTHEASTWARD AND BECOME EXTRATROPICAL OR POSSIBLY EVEN BECOME ABSORBED BY THE MUCH LARGER EXTRATROPICAL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM. THE FORECAST TRACK IS SIMILAR TO THE NHC MODEL CONSENSUS.
