Like They Didn't See This Coming?

[Big Wallaby]

Nursing: A job I could never do. I became friends with a lady in Portland who is nursing assistant (I don't remember her certifications). Her favorite story to tell is that of helping one lady with her prolapsed rectum.

[Goofyernmost]

My Grandparents had an Aluminum Tree....and the rotating lighted color disc that went under it to change it to different colors.....It looked cool with their Aqua-Green Vinyl Couch. :p:

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Picture it! The year is 1963. Our family was in quite an emotional turmoil. Both my grandmothers died that year. One in February and one in August. My father lost his job and we were uprooted to another state. New house, new school, new everything. That was the beginning of September. November 22nd arrives and a President is assassinated followed a few days later by the murder of his "suspected" killer. Christmas comes and goes and the day after we head on down to Sears and buy a new Aluminum Tree complete with color wheel, go home and put it up (remember this is AFTER Christmas).

Fortunately, a few days later was 1964 and things started to return to calm. Strange time though, and the Aluminum Tree flooded back all those memories.[/font]

[DisneyMom]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Picture it! The year is 1963. Our family was in quite an emotional turmoil. Both my grandmothers died that year. One in February and one in August. My father lost his job and we were uprooted to another state. New house, new school, new everything. That was the beginning of September. November 22nd arrives and a President is assassinated followed a few days later by the murder of his "suspected" killer. Christmas comes and goes and the day after we head on down to Sears and buy a new Aluminum Tree complete with color wheel, go home and put it up (remember this is AFTER Christmas).

Fortunately, a few days later was 1964 and things started to return to calm. Strange time though, and the Aluminum Tree flooded back all those memories.[/font]

The 60's had to be a tough time for the kids who were old enough to understand. I was a baby in 1963, not old enough, but I remember watching the moonwalk on TV,the bracelets with soldier's names, and the hostage situation at the Munich Olympics later. Also, my uncle teaching my brother and me the "Peace Sign".

[Whazzup]

I love real trees. My grandmother always has a real tree that we pick shortly after Thanksgiving and cut down ourselves closer to Christmas.



If you like real trees there's a nice tree farm north of Milton where we've gotten my grandmother's tree since I was little.

We've done that, too. Gone to a local tree farm and cut our own. The varieties that they grow locally just don't have that wonderful fragrance of the firs.

[Big Wallaby]

Ah, the smell of a fresh-cut Christmas tree in Oregon or Washington. I'm not picky! Get some good apple cider and we're in business! I always loved going to Sleighbells in Sherwood.

Oh, and in other news, I found my Tillamook cheese! People at the store thought I was crazy, but I held it up in two hands, staring at it like a long lost friend I hadn't seen in months. Just put the first of it on some Triscuits, and it's as good as I remember.

[Randy B]

I am allergic to the real things. Plus I would probably wind up with a brown tree by Xmas since I have a habit of forgetting to water plants. :D:

My dad would have had that problem too. And with a bad back he had trouble crawling under the tree to give the tree a drink. So he took the tree stand and attached a plastic tube to the bottom of the bowl of the stand. Then out beyond the tree he put a small bucket with the tube attached at the bottom. Thus you could fill the stand from outside and the water level in the bucket matched the water in the stand. Later we put a large bucket above the small one and put a float valve in the small bucket. So as the water level dropped in the small bucket the water was released from the big bucket to bring it back up. The whole thing was camoflaged in a fake xmas gift package. The large bucket was big enough that it would last for about 3 weeks without filling. So if we went from Tgiving to first of Jan we only had to fill the bucket once about the 2nd week of Dec.

Randy (who came by his talent for coming up with an unusual solution to every problem, honestly)

[Big Wallaby]

Okay, now I am going to try to build one of those. That sounds great!

[Randy B]

Okay, now I am going to try to build one of those. That sounds great!

Just be sure to remember which "present" holds the bucket. Grabbing and moving the thing on xmas morning could be messy. If the feed tube comes loose the water will continue to spill until both buckets and the stand are empty.

One thought. If you can find a couple of shut off valves (one for each end of the feed tube) you could shut off all flow if removal or rerouting the feed tube is needed. Shutting both valves would only leave the little water in the tube to be bled off.

Randy

[Rob562]

I seem to recall seeing something like that in the "Wordless Workshop" cartoon in Family Handman year ago...

-Rob

[Randy B]

I seem to recall seeing something like that in the "Wordless Workshop" cartoon in Family Handman year ago...

-Rob

That may have been the genesis of the idea. I don't know. I know the second reservoir and float valve were added by necessity.

Those Worless Workshops used to be in Popular Mechanics and my father has taken that magazine since about the time I was born (50+years) as far as I can remember.

Randy