Some people have a huge amount of Christmas decor in their yards.  There is a TV show on TLC called Crazy Christmas lights, and they show people in the U.S. and their Christmas lights and decorations in their yards.  It’s really pretty, I like watching shows like this.  There are some people who synchronize music with their Christmas lights.  You can watch many videos like this on Youtube.

Heavy Metal Christmas light show:

People who have this many Christmas lights have to have electric upgrades and spend thousands of dollars on lights, decor and hefty hydro bills.  People go to visit these houses.  I’m sure some neighbors must be annoyed to have this much distraction beside them!

People on the Crazy Christmas Lights show have up to half a million lights on their houses and yards!  They sometime start in April or May decorating their houses.

http://www.shelterpop.com/2009/12/14/all-is-calm-all-is-bright-crazy-christmas-lights/

Why do people do it?

They probably do it because they really enjoy it, as well as having other people enjoy it.  They like reliving their childhood memories of Christmas.

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I like this picture, with the Grinch in it:

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On the TLC show, they talk about rain and wind conditions which can affect the decorations, as well as thefts of 300 pound concrete deers and igloos!  The decor can’t be put up too early because the squirrels chew on the wires, and strands of lights have to be replaced.  They must not have too many dogs around either, because I could see a dog chewing wires and yanking stuff down too!

Yes I am sure some of you dear readers are upset that I am putting Jews on the same level as cattle; but it is quite the opposite in fact, I am putting cattle on the same level as humans.

Some claim the Bible gives us dominion over all the other animals, I say “Bullshit!”, the Bible is only an excuse for us to treat animals differently, and has been used as an excuse for too long. We have taken dominion over many species but if God had really “given us dominion” over all other animals, we probably would not have wolves, bears, sharks, or mosquitoes. It is time we took our head out of the Bible and started poking our noses into the slaughterhouse.

Is that how you would want to die? Being warehoused, fattened up, then pushed through a series of shoots until the end. No hope for escape, no hope for a “better life”. Is this dominion over animals, or is it abuse?

Let me go to an extreme, if aliens came down, showed us a book that said they had dominion over us, would we simply allow them to slaughter us in the same fashion?

The way we kill the animals is considered “humane” either they are stunned first, then their throat cut, or under kosher law they killed by slitting their throat. Sadly these humane slaughter laws do not apply to all animals, rabbits, fish, and poultry are not so lucky. It is the way we warehouse them that is also an issue. When dogs are raised in the same way we raise pigs it is called a puppy mill and the public demands it be shut down, yet pigs are as intelligent as dogs.

We do not have to give up meat, that is not what I am saying, but we can do amazing things if we just consume less. Remember the correct portion size of meat is only about the size of a deck of cards, not a 8 oz steak. Remember also that we do not need to eat meat at every meal, or every day. In some nations people consider themselves lucky if they get meat once a month.

Isn’t it about time that we saw ourselves as guardians of the planet rather than as Nazi leaders over other species, deciding which is useful to us, which is not?

My tips to you:

• Eat smaller portions of meat.
• Have some meatless meals.
• Have some meatless days.
• Buy organically raised meat.
• Select free range eggs rather than battery hen eggs.
• Respect that all animals want to live just as bad as you.
• Do not wear fur.
• Read: What do we owe nature.

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You can reuse lumber odds-and-ends of various sizes, so be sure to go through it all before dumping anything. While there are many more ideas for reusing these bits of lumber, this article will concentrate on only six.

Use smaller pieces scrap lumber to make building blocks for toddlers. They are big enough for small children to use without having to worry about them swallowing small pieces. Sand blocks of different shapes and sizes in order to round out sharp edges and corners, as well as to take off splinters. Leave the blocks as they are, or give them some color with no VOC paints.

Small shelves can be made to hang on walls. Sand the wood and stain it, then hang using brackets you purchase or ones that you make on your own. Depending on the size, you might place books, pictures or nick knacks on one of these.

Make a small table to put next to the sofa, or one for an empty corner of the room. A shelf can be attached mid way from the floor to the table top. Have a piece of glass cut to the size of the table top, and place the glass on it to prevent moisture from cups or plants from damaging the wood.

Planter boxes are easily put together with wood scraps. These boxes have the four sides plus a bottom, and can be picked up and moved to wherever desired. There is no need to paint or stain them.

It is possible to make raised beds for the garden in many sizes and in different shapes. Rectangles, squares and triangles are common, but shapes such as octagons and hexagons are also possible. These will not have to be painted or stained, either.

A garden bench is another possibility. Two cement blocks can be used at either end for the legs, or you can use fat pieces of wood. Cut two pieces of lumber the length you want for the seat, and sand and stain them. Place them over the cement blocks, or attach to wood legs using nails or screws.

Whatever projects you choose to complete, remember that safety is important. Safety glass should be worn when working with a saw, and work gloves will help protect your hands from cuts and splinters.

Did you know that motorized awnings can be some of the most convenient ways to extend the living space of your home into the garden?

The thing that many people worry about when it comes to these yard ideas is the cost and the energy consumption. No extra addition to your yard is going to be an easy decision to make. Keep reading for my thoughts on this problem.

Saving Energy

The main thing you need to ask yourself, is what the potential long-term value of an addition like an awning, or landscaping, can give to your yard. In the first day of this eCourse I already mentioned how it can really help to increase the value of your home. But it can also help to save you money. How? By saving your energy consumption.

I’ve done a lot of research about the costs of awnings over time, and thankfully came across a number of studies to help make my decision a little easier.

One example is that, in Boston, having an awning can save a third of all your cooling bills! In Seattle, this number rises to as much as 80%! I never knew that something as simple as an awning could have such an effect.

The way it works is that the shade of the awning stops your home and windows from absorbing radiation from the sun. Having an awning shading an area of the home works a lot better than tinted windows or films, as the radiation never even enters your house, keeping it a lot cooler.

As long as you have retractable awnings, you can also let the sun shine into your home during the winter – making awnings a lot more flexible than tinted windows.

I don’t know about you, but my energy costs have really been getting bigger and bigger in the last few years. Getting an awning has really stopped me from using the air conditioning so often – as well as enjoying being outside!

Is It Worth the Cost?

It’s up to you to judge the initial cost of the awning against how much it will save you in the long run. But you also need to consider the value it will add to your life. For me, it’s almost like having an extra room to enjoy.

Other Ways of Saving Energy in Your Landscaping

There are many other ways that you can offset the cost of any items you use for your landscaping by saving energy. Try to save rainwater, use a reel lawn mower, and reduce the chemicals you use in your garden.

To your landscaping success,

Cemetery Scene

Create a spooky cemetery using cardboard, cotton balls, and a little cheesecloth. Cut large sheets of cardboard in the shape of tombstones, then sponge paint grey with a little brown and moss green to create a stone effect. Stencils will let you add spooky epitaphs before sticking your creations in your lawn using lawn stakes. Pull apart cotton balls to create spider webs and craft ghosts out of raggedy cheesecloth fabric suspended with string. Shiny black bats cut from plastic tarp are also a perfect touch.

Night of the Living Dead

Haunt your garden this Halloween with the Living Dead … or at least a good imitation. Use wire and old clothes to create “limbs” protruding from a little fresh earth in your lawn as these ghoulish visitors crawl from the earth. Stuff the sleeves and legs with batting and use shoes and gloves to create hands and feet. Pose them in lifelike positions and add a little “grunge” using pale grey paint, dirt, and other materials to make your emerging zombies more authentic.

Spider Tree

Bring Shelob’s lair to life in a front yard tree using paper-mache spiders and cotton cobwebs. Craft your spiders from balloons and paper-mache, adding pipe cleaner limbs and Styrofoam ball heads before painting. Dangle them from white yarn strands, with pulled-apart cotton balls for cobwebs. Construct your Spider Queen from a large round rubber balloon and paper mache, with black plastic streamers for legs and a large Styrofoam head. Paint a red hour glass on the back and add as many menacing details as you please.

Make your haunted yard the talk of the neighborhood with a few imaginative touches and enjoy your guests’ astonishment as they cross your haunted landscape this Halloween!

Image via Wikipedia

Trees are tall plants.  They are usually green in colour. Trees make food by themselves.  Some trees are planted by man while some spring up in nature by themselves.  There are four kinds of trees; the common trees, for example, the paw-paw tree, the exotic trees, that is, trees imported from other countries, the indigenous trees, those which exist only in one country as in Mauritius, the Ebony tree is unique and the endangered trees which are species in danger of extinction.  Trees are beautiful, useful but they are also threatened.

Trees are very pretty.  With their green leaves and larger extended branches and their brownish trunks, they beautify not only gardens but also parks, school yards, playgrounds, beaches and the whole country.  The environment needs trees every second throughout its existence.  These tall plants can be seen everywhere in the world in pictures, paintings….  Their beauty is captured by artists and photographers.  In spring, the trees look gay, dressed in bright array.  In summer, trees like the “flamboyant” blooms especially when the New Year approaches and covers itself with green and flaming red clothing.  But in winter, when it grows colder, these tall plants fling off their clothes and they appear quite naked.  The planet without trees would be nothing except bleak.  Indeed, beautiful are trees.

 Trees are also very useful.  When they spread long and full of leaves branches, they offer us shade.  In tropical countries, people like to plant them just for their shade and they can have a nice nap under it.  Trees manufacture their own food by using carbon dioxide, water in the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll to get as a by-product oxygen which they release as they do not need it.  So we are provided with oxygen needed for the survival from trees.  The latter absorbs carbon dioxide and release oxygen which purifies the environment.  Another usefulness of trees is that they bear fruits which people love to eat.  The trees give us food which is also required for our existence.  The fourth use is that trees give shelter to a variety of wild animals such as birds, monkeys, squirrels…etc.  These animals also obtain their food from trees.  These trees are the habitat and food for these animals.  Lastly, tall plants act as a water catchment area.  When there is rain, they accumulate this water by their roots and thus help small animals and plants under the earth to get water.  If there were no trees in the world, there would be no herbivorous animals, just carnivorous ones and they would for the sake of food, eat up one another until they vanish.  Not a living organism would exist.  There would be no life on Earth.  The latter would be just a barren, desert, lifeless place.  Therefore, trees are very essential and really useful to mankind. 

However, trees are nowadays seriously threatened.  With industrialisation throughout the world, the trees are greatly affected by the smoke, dust and toxic gases from factory chimneys and also from the exhaust pipes of motor vehicles which have infested the whole world.  The smoke and dust block the leaves of trees and the tree cannot produce food and usually results in the death of leaves, then the tree itself.  By the introduction of factories using chemical gases, these toxic gases are released in the air and become acid rain.  This acid rain, when falls, attacks the leaves of trees.  The trees consequently lose their leaves and die.  Another problem which threatens trees is the pest.  Pests are plants or bushes, for example, the “Goyaves de Chine” which are mostly important from foreign countries which are obstacles in the growth of trees.  Before the trees are at middle height, the pests creep over and strangle the tree.  But finally, the trees’ most awful enemy is man.  To build buildings, houses, roads…, man has out down large areas of dense forests which were the habitats of several wild animals.  They have cut off the trees without realising their importance just to get mood for furniture just to get mood for furniture, papers….  In the end, people are punished for their mistakes as they are washed away by soil erosions, they suffer from droughts….

Image via Wikipedia

Man must realise in bad and good times the great importance of trees in this world.

I have been having a little bit of fun with them this year and my most creative answer to the question of “where did you hide the presents?” has been   “up on the roof”.   They inevitably want to put their coats on and go look.   I tell them “sure, go ahead.”   As our house is a two story with a full attic there is no way they can see if anything is up there.   But, they’ll try.   They will walk around the house more than a few times, moving closer, stepping back, and stretching their necks to see if they can get a better angle.   Eventually, they will come in to see if they can come up with a better strategy.

They’re smart kids, not as smart as I am this year.   Unless they find this article and that happens, I guess it will be time for me to come up with a new plan.