Our winter weather has suddenly changed yet again. If there is one thing we have consistently around here, it's fog. People complain. On occasion, it even lowers our Bingo numbers. That's a shock. It usually shows up at night and hangs around until maybe noon.
As much as people complain, it is NOTHING like it used to be. In the old days when we drove to Bakersfield for Christmas in our 1949 something (I only remember it was gray) or later, in our 1959 green Buick, it was really bad. You've heard these stories before.
Today if I'm driving in fog and making a turn, I'll roll down my window, turn down the rocking cowboy radio and listen for cars. Oh ... and never walk under the foggy trees. You never know if it's the dew dripping or if the birds are hanging out above you.
The outside kids are still fighting over the fruits of their midnight scavenging. Most times they show up at 7:00 pm or so, then come back for a look see ... you know, just in case something magically appeared at 2 am, then once again at 6:30 in the morning.
Last night when I let Cooper out at 5:30, someone was checking in early. The early bird catches the worm and gets the last of the leftover turkey. I watched him jump up on the top of the six foot fence, knowing there is nothing on the other side to help him. I just can't believe these guys are like cats!
When he saw me, he froze. When I moved, he jumped down into the corral. These guys are something else.
Morning came way too early. Sometimes as I sit at my desk, I see a pink glow float across the room. I grabbed my camera and went outside. Obviously not quite as good as Arizona, but not bad for a morning sunrise.
After breakfast and a little snuggle time with Mr. Cooper, I headed on out for more bean counting. Isn't this beautiful? Not really our traditional RANCH tree, but it's pretty and what I always wanted as a kid.
THIS is what our tree always looked like. They didn't make fake trees back then, so we always got a $10 Charlie Brown tree from the only lot in town. Our lights were not like these ... they were the big ones that dried out the tree in about three days.
There were no homemade ornaments ... we didn't do that back in the day ... but there was LOTS of tinsel to cover up the bare spots. Anyone remember grabbing a handful of that stuff and placing it ONE AT A TIME on the tree? We didn't cheat like nowadays either ... the ENTIRE tree was covered, front and back.
You probably shouldn't sneak a peek at the back of my tree today. It's cheaper to decorate just the front!! When Christmas was over, we took the tinsel OFF one piece at a time, to be reused the next year. Oh the fun!!
And so I was off to counting debits and credits, deciding what was taxable and what wasn't. With all the new "things" nowadays, there are lots of new categories to program, and reprogram when one entire account went south. I got home just in time to gear up for egg nog on the Second Day of Christmas. I do like egg nog, but could leave out the alcohol. One drink was all I sipped since I had to drive home.
The good news is my fingers get a rest today .... well sort of anyway. Not only do I have other folks taxes in mind, but I have mine too. Whoever came up with this TAXES idea should be bonked on the head. Mine is always so convoluted I have to hire a CPA to do it for me.
Sadly, it will take me the entire day to get everything in order. Maybe one of those fancy drinks can be my reward for getting it done.
Yep, I remember my father putting tinsel on the tree one piece at a time. Each one hung so not to touch the branch below. Christmas was a big decorating deal when I was a kid, train platform, Plasticville village and all. Never to be played with only to look at! My father would put it all together on Christmas Eve…I don’t know how he did it.
ReplyDeleteOh I forgot about tinsel etiquette ... definitely it could not touch the branch below! Did he take it all down the day after Christmas?
DeleteNo about 2 weeks later, he saved every piece of tinsel for the following year. Put it back in the original box.
DeleteBoy do I ever remember the tinsel! One piece at a time.
ReplyDeleteDo you have family in Bakersfield?
Frances:)
Way back then I had one Aunt and Uncle who lived in Bakersfield. My grandmother would meet us there for Christmas. All no longer living.
DeleteLove that old car! I wish I had pictures of my and my mom and dad's old cars. I might have some in a family movie or two. I might just have to check!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely .... I think at the time that Buick was the craziest looking thing on the highways.
DeleteYes, we placed then retrieved tinsel one piece at a time but we didn't cover the whole tree just tried to keep it balanced looking.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember when milk bottles had fail caps over the paper ones? Somehow we got the foil from which those caps had been cut. We cut them apart, rolled them around a pencil, bent them in half and hung them from our tree. Those and the tinsel were the closest we got to having a metal tree.
Linda Sand
I definitely remember the foil caps, but we never used them on our tree. We used that tinsel for ten years before throwing it out. I think you must have been very creative to do that!!!
DeleteI didn't realize you have the same kind of fog as here. Good stuff, keeps it from getting too hot. And you sure brought back a lot of memories. The cars had charactor back in those days. We knew everyone's cars in town. Now a days, they all look pretty much the same and there are just too many of them to know anyone these days. We got our tree in the forest. Most of them were a bit lope sided, so we turned them to look the best from the front. Most of them were too big for the house, but we made the best of them. You did a good job on your tree too. Merry Christmas to you.
ReplyDeleteBobseyes
We never did cut a tree down ... just bought them off the lot, so they were pretty nice.
DeleteI too remember one piece of tinsel at a time. I don't know what happened but one time one of my sisters decided to add gobs of tinsel. Oh no no no. But we didn't save the tinsel. It just stayed on the tree and was thrown away with the tree.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh no ... DON'T WASTE THE TINSEL! LOL. We gathered it, laid it nice and straight on a piece of cardboard and put it back in the box! Pretty tedious!
DeleteI agree with the PINK GLOW = out the door I go with camera!
ReplyDeleteI was the tree trimmer growing up. In the 50's-60's had the tinsel and did save year to year! Forgot about that!
Thanks for the memories.
Funny how everyone had their "job". Mine was always the bottom of the tree! I was too short!!
DeleteYour tree is beautiful !
ReplyDeleteYou could make some bucks decorating for others.
My mom would get a flocked white tree and
only put blue balls on it from Woolworth. Then
she had one of those rotating color wheels
aimed at it. Oh my, we thought this was
real big time. Haha
Penney’s or Sears were the big shopping mecca’s .
Oh, the good ole days ! Lol
Linda a.
Color wheel? You were up town!!! We only saw those in Woolworths and Monkey Wards (Montgomery Wards).
DeleteYour sunrise is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWe always had a real tree but i don't remember doing to get it. I do remember the tinsel and the homemade ornaments though. Putting the lights on was Daddy's job and we all added the tinsel at the end, one string at a time. Yes we saved it.