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Thursday, January 04, 2007

Let us pray!

Does anyone else still use a real tree for Christmas? Typically, soon after Thanksgiving, B and one or more of the kids will go out to one of the pastures, or along a fence row, and find a cedar tree that is just right for our Christmas tree. That's how it was again this year. The tree they brought in and set up even got more green as the days went by, drinking up a steady supply of fresh water. (Except the two cats drank a large bit of it. They loved the idea of a big bowl of drinking water being available "just for them" in the living room!)

As with all good things, it had to come to an end. This morning we took off the ornaments and lights, boxing them up until next season, and clipped off branches to make it easier to get the tree out without too much shedding.

Do you know what's cute? Finding a baby praying mantis on one of the ornaments as you're putting it away!



Do you know what's Not cute? Finding dozens of brothers and sisters of said "cute" baby praying mantis suddenly deciding to abandon the tree on which they hatched out and crawling onto the surrounding walls, windows and carpet! Yikes!!! Fortunately, we do own and know how to use a Kirby vacuum cleaner with hose attachment! But you can be sure I'll be scanning the area for days to come!
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous1/05/2007 2:55 PM

    OH MY!

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  2. jnachtrab1/06/2007 8:55 AM

    And THAT is why we don't have a live Christmas tree.

    Ok, ok...it's mostly because of allergies...but dozens of praying mantises crawling around the house was right up there on the list! : )

    Yick!

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  3. joeks1/06/2007 2:14 PM

    No excuse, Jill! (Well, I guess the allergies are a valid excuse.) This is the first time this has happened in the 23 years we've been using a real tree. And they didn't abandon the tree until we disturbed them by chopping off the branches of their home. Wait.... am I defending the things?!? : )

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  4. Anonymous1/06/2007 7:19 PM

    SURE,,,,YOU SHOULD DEFEND THEM...YOU DISTURBED THE BALANCE OF NATURE..THEY THOUGHT IT WAS SPRING AND TIME TO HATCH IN YOUR NICE WARM ROOM..TOO BAD YOU COULDN'T HAVE KEPT THEM UNTIL NEXT SPRING AND THEY'D HAVE HELPED YOU CONTROL SOME MORE DAMAGING INSECTS. BUT I AGREE THEY DIDN'T BELONG IN YOUR HOUSE...ONE NEVER KNOWS WHAT WE'LL DO NEXT ...WOULDN'T YOU HATE TO BE MOTHER NATURE?? SUCH INTERESTING THINGS HAPPEN ON YOUR FARM!!!! DON'T GIVE UP!!!!
    GRANNY FRAN

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  5. Anonymous1/08/2007 9:20 PM

    I think we should've let them eat the other insects. Cats would've eaten the mantis's that got too big. Circle of life and all that.

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  6. Anonymous1/31/2007 10:03 PM

    i thought you didn't want to keep them matthew, you objected to me keeping one, i wanted to keep them all as pets, but mom let the ones she caught outside while i was gone at work, them i found one to keep, i named it Bob :)

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  7. Anonymous2/03/2007 6:12 PM

    LOL! Trina...you would keep one and name it Bob!! How's Bob??

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  8. Anonymous2/04/2007 8:51 PM

    I do believe that the gist of I said was that I didn't want to watch one be stuck in a jar to watch die. All he wanted was to get out and find a nice, tasty bug to eat. Why else would he spend all his time sitting by the escape hatch? He wanted to live FREE!

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