Where Were You?

As we remember the 10 year anniversary of the attacks on 9-11-2001 today. I can not help but remember where I was.


Where were you?

I was at home with a 1month old and a 1 1/2 year old. My mom called me and asked if I had been watching the TV? My answer was of course. I mean after all who doesn't have a little veggie tales to keep the lil ones occupied? When she told me to turn on the news. I knew something was terribly wrong. I remember looking at my kids and thinking what next. Was this going to start a war on our soil? How many people would die? After the fear and shock I just wanted to be with family.
I am proud of how Americans came together after 9-11.

I know I have been MIA from my blog lately. Life has been a blur. On today I just wanted to make sure everyone remembers the victims and the survivors & America who shall forever be affected. Pray for peace in their hearts and homes. God bless you all today and everyday.

Never stop telling people where you were! Keep the memories of 9-11 alive. This is something that makes America stronger.

Where were you?

New Tricks of the Christmas Tree-Growing Trade

New Hampshire Christmas Tree Promotion Board Chairman Nigel Manley attended his 15^th National Christmas Tree Association conference last month, gleaning information on the latest tricks of the Christmas tree growing trade. Nigel, who manages The Rocks Estate in Bethlehem, was one of more than 400 Christmas tree growers from around the United States, Canada, Mexico, and England to attend the convention in Ohio.

Among the tidbits Nigel picked up from this year’s convention – which he shares with his New Hampshire Christmas tree-growing colleagues – were ways to use social media and other new technology to boost marketing efforts, the latest news on the national Trees for Troops program, and information on growing the increasingly popular West Virginia Balsam (also known as the Canaan Fir).

“Only a few growers from our region are able to attend the national convention, so my role is to bring home the latest techniques for everything from pest control to marketing to share with our members,” said Manley. “The information shared at the convention is important to our local Christmas tree growers. The impact for our local growers learning about these things is huge.”

Summer Shearing

For most folks, thoughts of Christmas and Christmas trees melt away with the snow of winter. But summer is a busy time for New Hampshire Christmas tree farmers.

During July, many of our farmers are spending long days hand pruning and shearing thousands of trees. Farm grown trees are pruned (selectively removing whole branches and twigs) and sheared (trimming the tips of branches) to fill in gaps and shape the trees into the classic Christmas tree form.

This work is labor intensive, as it must be done each year, by hand, and within a limited time frame. So while you won’t be ready to trim your tree for another four or five months, our Christmas tree farmers are hard at work trimming THEIR trees this summer!

'Tis the Season - Of Planting and Pruning

Christmas tree farmers throughout New Hampshire have been busy the past few weeks planting fir tree seedlings and fertilizing endless rows of growing Christmas trees.

It takes several years – and hours of hands-on care – for a tiny seedling, like the one shown in this photo, to grow into someone's perfect Christmas tree. While most folks don’t consider a tree until it’s time to select one for holiday trimming, New Hampshire Christmas tree farmers spend much of the spring and summer tending to their crops – from planting the seedlings to top pruning and side pruning each tree by hand later in the summer.

With many thousands of acres throughout the state dedicated to growing Christmas trees, and about 1,000 trees planted per acre – well, that’s a lot of tender loving Christmas tree care!

Christmas Tree Collection

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My New Pantry & Labels

With all the beautiful pantries out there in blog land I decided to jazz my cupboards up too.

This is a little cabinet my Hubby painted and fixed up for me for Christmes I filled it with my Kitchen ware and some food.

This cabinet is cute but it was a little small for some of my items. 

 I moved another pantry cabinet from my garage into the dining area for more storage.

I filled jars with my bulk foods and pantry must haves.

They looked a bit plain so I used some of the silhouette vinyl in black and made pretties for the jars.

My Bosch

(Thanks Aunt Judy!)

It fits so much nicer in this cabinet.  Before I had to separate all the parts but now they all fit on one shelf.

I love the new space and now I am off to make more labels!  I think they turned out so pretty!

Linking to Marni over at Sassy Sites


 

Get your moneys worth at the gas pump

I received and email today with these ideas on how to save a little cash at the pumps.  I thought it made sense so I am passing it on to you all.

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here in California we are paying up to $3.75 to $4.10 per gallon. My line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every gallon: 

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.


A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low mode, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up; most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

What do you think?? 

Do you have any ways to save some extra cash?