O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Another year, another spectacular "Big Kahuna" tree courtesy of Charmaine.

There's 9 trees in all in the LipsYard house!
See more HERE
and HERE
and HERE


All I do is help bring it up from the basement, and get all three sections aligned, plugged in, and lights working.


The ornaments get layed out on cookie sheets, by size, character, and some other secret method that I'm not privey to.
Here it is, all done, ready for night, when we can turn on the lights.

Merry Christmas to all.

We're off for a long winter's nap and LipsYard will return in 2008.

Green Thursday: Recycled Feeder

The squirrels ( Sciurus carolinensis ) literally chewed the last suet feeder to bits, so we're striking back with a new one, made of recycled milk jugs and plastic bottles. We also switched to a plain suet, from one that had nuts in it. Charmaine discovered that birds don't have a sense of taste, so the nuts were just a crunchy surprise that attracted the rats with fuzzy tails (squirrels.) Barely able to contain himself is the nuthatch ( Sitta carolinensis ) eyeing up the new feeder.

That's the ticket! "The upside down bird of nature" is a quaint little bird that's a joy to watch as it clambers about in an untiring search for grubs, insect eggs and tiny spiders that hide deeply in bark crevices away from searching eyes of most other birds. It is just as much at home coming head first down a tree as going up and often climbs entirely around a horizontal limb. It is stub-tailed and long billed and has feet equipped with sharply curved claws that enable it to climb around in all positions. It is a friendly bird and comes readily to bird feeders if a small chunk of suet is provided. This one flew in while I was just a few feet from the feeder.

The name nuthatch is derived from the bird's habit of wedging a nut into the bark or crevice of a tree. Here it is hammered on with the sharp beak until the nut kernel is exposed and devoured. Something must have been hammering on President Bush's head, considering his comment at his press conference this morning where he predicted that the GOP would win the White House in 2008 and regain seats in the House and Senate. In your dreams, Iraq war starter! Bush went on to say he wouldn't be dragged into the presidential race when asked about the comments of fellow GOP candidate Mike Huckabee, who criticized the administration's foreign policy as "arrogant bunker mentality."

Every Green Thursday, we post articles that are vital to the survival of our planet.

A Nose for Dreams

Do you smell things in your dreams? No, not that! Last night I was dreaming and I caught a whiff of burning pasta sauce. The scent was so real that I got up and padded into the kitchen to check it out. Nothing. I really was dreaming in smell-o-vision.

Some research that I found says two-thirds of dreams are almost exclusively visual, a quarter feature sound and a smaller fraction smell and taste. Nine out of 10 contain emotion, most commonly mild anxiety or frustration. Our dreams tend not to be reproductions of past events but rather, reinterpretations of events that happened at two distinct time periods: yesterday and about a week ago. We also dream about upcoming events and conversations we'd like to have. Other times the content is so weird who knows where it comes from?

I don't have a clue where the burning pasta sauce came from, I'm more of an alfredo kind of guy.

Also dreaming, is President Bush, who claims that he "knew nothing" about the CIA videotapes of harsh interogation techniques (waterboarding) and their subsequent destruction. New information shows that Harriet Miers, John Bellinger, Alberto Gonzales and David Addington(chief of staff for Dick Cheney,) all were involved in discussion on the tapes.

Have you raked YOUR roof?

We've had a lot of snow already this winter. Kinda reminds me of 2000 when we were moving into our remodeled house with 21 inches of snow on the ground. That was the year we bought our aluminum roof rake at Ace Hardware.

It's very lightweight, and has a blade on one end, with rollers to protect shingles, and several sections of tubing that 'click' together to make a long handle. Conditions over the last couple of weeks have been ideal for ice damming.

Like this! A heavy buildup of snow and sunny days that hover around freezing lead to lots of melting and re-freezing. At their worse, ice dams creep up under the shingles, damaging the roof. Raking off the snow removes a major part of the problem.

Here's a website that offers some tips on roof raking if you can find one! All it took was one article in the paper to cause a run on the hardware stores. I'm considering renting mine out on an hourly basis in the LipsYard neighborhood.

Scraping away the extra snow to get to the problem of ice buildup is just like all the peeling back of secrecy in the Bush Administration, until the dark underbelly of what's impinging on our civil liberties and freedoms is exposed, and after November, will be flushed away with a fresh breath of democracy!

I'll be home for Christmas Cactus

Our Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera bridgesii) is in full bloom in the front window with a good Southern exposure. Charmaine accounts for it's general good health because it spent the summer outdoors on the patio.

It's a beautiful plant that makes a good alternative to the Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima.)They are originally forest cacti, growing at elevations between 3280 to 5575 feet above sea level in the Organ Mountains north of Rio de Janeiro in southeast Brazil. There they are called "Flor de maio." (May Flower)

Christmas cacti can be propagated quite easily by removing a single segment and planting it a quarter of its length deep in a pot filled with slightly sandy soil. Place the pot in a well lit area (but not direct sunlight) and keep the soil moist. The cutting should begin showing signs of growth after two or three weeks. If you're coming over this Holiday, feel free to bring a small pot of dirt with you and we'll break off a hunk.

Just like the blooms on our Christmas cactus, President Bush sprouted a thumbs-up on his way to a Rotary meeting in Fredricksburg, Virginia. W spoke at the Yak-A-Doo's restaurant inside a Holiday Inn. The White House wanted to keep the flavor of the local Rotary meeting, so there was no banner or backdrop. Bush was not even introduced; he just showed up. The president watched silently as club members offered a shortened version of their normal business routine, offering the Pledge of Allegiance and a prayer. The Christmas muzac wasn't cut off until someone pointed it out. The Administration thought Rotary would be a good friendly audience to prop up the economy, plus take some shots at the Democratic Congress.

"We've had a pretty good economic run," the president said in a speech intended to show he is aware of the public's edgy mood these days. Consumer confidence has eroded as turmoil in the housing and credit market have battered the economy. Bush tried to position himself as an advocate for working families by taking aim at his favorite target: the Democratic Congress.
"The Congress cannot take economic vitality for granted," Bush said. "The most negative thing Congress can do in the face of economic uncertainty is to raise taxes on the American people."

It appears that the bloom is definately off his rose. The audience of roughly 80 people listened with respectful SILENCE. A line that normally gets him applause — "I'll veto any tax increase" — drew no reaction at all.

Tree-peat

During the Christmas season, Fridays have become Tree-Day. Today we feature three more from the LipsYard Holiday House. This ornament tree in the dining room is adorned with fruit. Dee-licious!

See the other trees
See even more trees!

Our kitchen corner is adorned with this little cutie, full of veggie ornamanets.

And this little Victorian number is in the spare bedroom.

Next Friday we'll wrap up the tree series with the Big Kahoona 9 footer!

Green Thursday: Green Paper (not the Greensheet)

Last week on Green Thursday, I told you about our Seventh Generation dishwashing liquid. This week, it's time to extol the virtues of their paper products, which are made from 100% recycled paper, with a minimum of 80% post-consumer materials. Their paper is whitened with an environmentally safe process, not chlorine bleach. Bleaching paper with chlorine creates dangerous toxins such as dioxins, furans and other organochlorines. Once loose in the environment, these chemicals accumulate in both people and animals. Hundreds of studies have shown a direct link between dioxin exposure and cancer, birth defects and developmental and reproductive disorders.

Recycling paper prevents unnecessary landfilling of natural resources. In addition to saving trees, producing recycled paper uses less water and energy than paper made from trees.

I would like to claim responsibility for being all green in our house, but I have to give that honor to Charmaine. You really have to look for these kind of products in the store, usually on the lower shelves away from the ends of the aisle where all the major brands are.

Does it make a difference? Of course it does. Indivually, none of us can protect the environment, but if everyone does their part here and there, the effect can be tremendous. The conservatives pontificate how man is the master of his environment, but when it's all spoiled, don't come crying to me.

Every Green Thursday we post about issues critical to the planet.

A code in my hed

A cold has reared it's ugly head, so I thought some information might be of help.

The cold is the most common infectious disease in the United States. The cold accounts for more absences from work and school than any other illness. It is the #1 cause of patient visits to doctors. It is not easy to catch a cold. Your body's immune defenses usually fight off these viruses. There is a direct correlation between the amount of time spent in contact with an infected person and your risk of catching a cold. This is why family members tend to get colds together.

In most cases , something called a "rhinovirus" (our little friend pictured above) is the cause of the common cold, while a variety of other viruses are responsible for the remaining cases of the cold. However, bacterial infections are rarely the cause of upper respiratory symptoms so antibiotics won't help most colds. Almost all cases of the common cold are caused by VIRUSES, and antibiotics do not work against viral infections. In spite of this fact, an amazing 60% of colds are treated with antibiotics.

Colds are more easily transmitted through contact with the nose and eyes more frequently than through the mouth. People seem very concerned with kissing someone or sharing drinks with someone who has a cold, but they don't really think shaking hands with someone who has a cold is important, and in fact that is very important.

The most common means of infection is not from sneezing or coughing, but from hand-to-hand contact. That is why washing your hands frequently when you have a cold is so important. If you are physically exhausted or overtired, also, the chances of you becoming a victim of the cold virus increase.

I'm treating the symptoms of my cold with Sudafed and Ibuprofen. They don't make the cold go away sooner, just make it more manageable. Until I'm over it, i'm treating you like the Iranian government; no handshakes for you.

Hot Chocolate on a Cold Day

What could be better to lift your spirits on a cold day than a hot chocolate fountain! I had a close encounter with this one over the weekend at Grand Geneva Resort on their Sunday Brunch. We were celebrating Mom and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary and found the fountain lots of fun.

Just grab a wooden skewer, poke it into a strawberry, marshmallow, Rice Crispy square or Twinkie! and stick it in the molten goodness.

Here's some other options for dipping.

This is what the fountain looks like naked without the chocolate.

Perhaps all of our State Department negotiations should include a chocolate fountain. Sure would beat all the sabre rattling that we're doing now.

Cardinals Rule

With the leaves long gone, and a snowy white background, the Cardinal (cardinalis cardinalis) is easy to spot, and a a beautiful sight. We have several in the LipsYard.

Listen to Call

The Cardinal can live up to 15 years in the wild. They forages on ground and in trees and bushes, feeding on seeds, grains, fruits, insects and snails. The male behaves territorially, marking out his territory with song. During courtship, he feeds seed to the female beak-to-beak. Males that have a brighter red color appear to feed at higher rates and have greater reproductive success than males that are duller in color.

Females don't get the pretty red coat.

Members of the Bush Administration continue to break the Cardinal Rule of Honesty. This time it's the CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency videotaped their extreme measures interrogation (torture) of 9/11 suspects in 2002, then "decided" to delete them in 2005. They claim it was to protect the identity of the interogators. This was the same time that their rendition of suspects to secret foreign prisons came to light, along with the Abu Ghraib incident. Where the lying part comes in is that the 9/11 commission had requested all materials in connection with interrogations of suspects, and were assured by the CIA that they had everything.

Perhaps they should change their anagram to CYA.

Deck the Halls

Each Friday we're featuring some of the many Christmas Trees in the LipsYard home for the Holidays. This one is in the four-season room and is decorated in all clear glass ornaments. It's also the one the neighbors in the backyard see all the time. The tree skirt is a handmade gift from my Mom and Dad.

This clear "Snow" man is from the hometown of my alma mater, Luther College, in Decorah, IA.

I see this tree every morning as I write the blog and prepare the show. It's on my computer desk (you can see the wireless router in the background.) Several years ago, Charmaine gave me an Advent calendar, and behind each day was a small wooden ornament. This is one of my favorite trees.

There's lots more to come in the next 2 weeks!

Green Thursday: I'm soaking in it!

I know Madge at the salon uses Palmolive, but in the LipsYard kitchen, we're all about seventh generation dishwashing liquid. Seventh Generation is tough on dirty dishes, but gentle on your hands and the environment. Their products don't contain chlorine or phosphates, are safe for septic and greywater systems, and are never tested on animals.

It's also made in the USA, not some Lead-tainted warehouse in China.

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 25 oz. bottle of petroleum-based dishwashing liquid with their vegetable-based product, we could save 86,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 4,900 U.S. homes for a year!

So what's in it? The label says: A unique combination of naturally derived cleaning agents (corn and/or coconut-based surfactants), Preservative (less than 0.05%), Water.

Every Thursday, we bring you information about making your life better, and saving the planet at the same time.

8 Horses of Snow-Blowin' Fun

5 inches of new snow in the LipsYard driveway. You can see the tracks of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel carrier's car.


Is 6:25am too early to fire up the 8 horse Snapper 2-stage blower? No way! Out of bed neighbors, we've got snow to clear.

The 6 speeds forward, 2 reverse, 24" wide "White Death Eater" makes short work of the driveway.

It takes a slower speed and a little finesse to clean out the walk to the front door, too.

Unfortunately, the sidewalk to the rear of the house is only 18" wide, and needs to be done by hand to avoid turf damage.

The area under the feeders gets done by hand, too.

Meanwhile, a snowjob of a different kind is happening in the Bush Administration. Despite it's own new security estimate that Iran had given up it's nuclear (or is that nuke-you-ler?) weapons ambitions 3 years ago, the President says nothing has changed in our attitude towards the Middle East nation. He chooses to believe the reports from our top intel people when it meets his neo-con needs for invasion He didn't listen when the intelligence agencies told him he was wrong in claiming that Iraq had purchased yellow cake from Niger and he doesn't listen now when they tell him his alarms about Iran are without factual foundation.

"Business as usual."

The election can't get here soon enough.

We're Caught In A Trap

As the Elvis song goes "We're caught in a trap.." this poor little meadow vole (microtus pennsylvanicus) came in from the cold for a peanut buttery snack, his last meal. Often confused with house mice (mus musculus,) voles don't have the long hairless tail, theirs is short and furry. They also don't usually live indoors.

The meadow vole is found in moist open areas, making runways through the surface growth in warm weather and tunnels through the snow in winter. It feeds on grasses and seeds, sometimes eating snails and insects. Predators include owls, snakes and various carnivorous mammals (myself not included!)

Voles usually live less than a year, but make hay while the sun shines, having up to 6 litters of 4 - 7 pups every year.

We have also caught mice in the past, and continue to keep traps set in the basement, and attic.

The Elvis song I quoted is "Suspicious Minds," which is what we should have had about the Bush invasion of Iraq, and now, more than ever, the plan to move into Iran. Despite the latest Intelligence Assessment that Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions stopped several years ago, the neo-cons are just champing at the bit to expand our invasion in the Middle East.

Our Downy Backyard Friend

The LipsYard suet feeder is getting quite a workout these days from the Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens.) The red spot on the back of the head often causes birders to call it a Red Headed Woodpecker, but their entire head is red.

This one is a male because of the spot on the head. Females don't get the mark at all. When they're not feasting on suet, they're banging their beaks into trees for bugs. They have long, barbed tongues and sticky, glue-like saliva, which help them catch insects.

Congress returns to session today to continue their pecking away at the Bush administration's war in Iraq.