Oh, Christmas Tree!
Dohnele hasn't let me live down the fact that I didn't get a Christmas Tree last year. I just didn't want to deal with the conflict between ornaments and infant. In any case, she talked me into it this year, so we now have one in our living room and it really does look great! But I'm getting ahead of myself...
Last week at work was a good one - aside from thinking about the classes I have to take starting next month. I spent a few days planning stream restoration projects for a contract that is getting put together for this coming summer. The fieldwork involved a lot of hiking in seriously incised streams choked with blackberry and rose bushes (lots and lots of thorns) and a lot of poison oak. I've never been in contact with more poison oak, but interestingly no rash. I also got out with my middle school class that I "advise" once a week. The same eighth grade class has been doing water quality sampling work as part of their science curriculum for over ten years and I picked the project up when I got the job here in Roseburg.
Yesterday, we went up to Eugene for the day. We needed to get the oil changed in our car and have it given its regular checkup. We also finished the last of our Christmas shopping - mostly at World Market - which was fun and we also stopped off at Trader Joe's which is such a fun place. We bought some delicious cookies and the best apple cider we've ever tasted when we were there. I think we finished off the day at good 'ol Costco - they really need to build one of those in Roseburg - we'd be their #1 customers!
Today we got up early. OK, not really, but still early for us (10:30am). The fog had just burnt off and the sun was shining brightly. I had looked over maps the day before and found a place that I wanted to go looking for a tree. We headed out Highway 138 towards Elkton, but went up the Yellow Creek [logging] Road before we got there. I figured we needed to find an old BLM clearcut where we could cut down some young second-growth. We found a couple possibilites lower down in the valley, but found the perfect tree way up on Dead Horse Ridge. I say it was perfect, because in addition to be perfectly shaped, it was right on the side of the road which at the time was in full, warm sunshine! So we cut it down, tied it to the car and then continued over the ridge and down the other side into Andrew's Creek and eventually into the small community of Yoncalla. It was so much fun, because everything went off without a hitch.
Dohnele was too excited to wait to set the tree up tomorrow so she did that as soon as we got home and it looks beautiful. We're really in the Christmas Spirit now; we've got the tree set up, we've been listening to festive music and have been drinking apple cider all evening. Tomorrow we're boxing up presents so that we can actually use our dining room table for eating.
The only thing that isn't in the Christmas Spirit is the weather... Which is FINE with us! It's been sunny, clear and in the 50s for a long time now and the 10-day forecast is calling for more of the same! It's so nice not to have a deluge of rain and/or snow. ICK! Today for example, we spent the day outside in our t-shirts! However, last night was the first night of the season to drop below freezing (31.7 degrees).
We also found out today that we'll be going up to Portland this coming weekend to meet up with Dohnele's brother, Josh. He'll be passing through Portland on his way to San Francisco for work so we're going to drive up there and take him to Multnomah Falls or out to lunch or dinner or something.
Oh! Before I forget, let's get December birthdays posted!!!
- Aunt Kim and cousin Jeremiah, both on December 8th
- Cousin Meta on December 18th
- cousin Mitchell on December 19th
- Aunt Lindy on December 22nd
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