Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family.

Well, we did have snow.

So far, so good. The lights still work and nobody's been electrocuted.

Mr. Bunny says: help get me outta here!

What does a gardener do in December?

He rakes the snow off the front yard, that's what. Or at least a small part of it.
As usual, the birch and plum trees didn't lose their leaves until the first snow. When Pat and I started to put up lights on Saturday, I noticed that most of the snow had melted right where we were going to put up Christmas decorations. What a great idea, why not get a head start on spring and rack the leaves first. After all, leaves are the mortal enemy of turf grass and doggy suprises are no fun either. We'll talk more about enemies later. I didn't go over board on the raking. The big part of the front yard still kept it's snow. Besides, there is always the possibility that Pat will call the garden or Christmas police on me.

This year we decided to concentrate our light fixtures near the house. Light fixtures is the correct term isn't it? Or should I be calling Mr. Penguin just that, Mr. Penguin? We brought the boys out with us. Bob likes the cold and snow, Fred, not so much. While the boys are cute to look at, they are next to worthless in helping us. They don't have thumbs and the deer with the movable head scares the snot out of them. They aren't so fond of Mr. Penquin or Mr. Snowman either.

Three years ago when we strung lights around our Charlie Brown tree, we were the only people in the neighborhood that did anything in the back yard. Now both our neighbors have stuff in their back yards, and the little tree isn't so little any more. Next year I'll have to use a ladder.

While we were plugging all the lights in, I had a revelation. We all have run into friends, aquaintances, and relatives who think the PRC (chicoms to those who wish) seek world hegemeny. Some think it will happen by military domination. Some think they will buy us out by buying our debt. I know the answer and I got the pictures to prove it. The answer is Christmas light connections. All those Peoples Liberation Army factories making Christmas lights for us. Someday, and it may be sooner then you think, tens of thousands of middle age men and women are going to go outside, plug the lights in and cause a nation wide meltdown of the electric grid. You wait and see.

Man, I can't wait for the next garden show to keep my mind off such things.