Finding Branches

Building the “trunk” for the Eco Xmas Tree is easy and I have continued to use that same trunk every year since 1994.

We cut pine branches off the trees on our property to build our “real” Eco Xmas Tree.  By gathering Nicole’s and Jaclyn’s friends, in just a few hours we cut down plenty of branches. 

We sort the branches by size and then the building begins.  Starting at the bottom, we put the large branches in the trunk. 

When branches are too big, we whittle them down with a knife. 

If you don’t have a pine tree in your yard, go to Christmas tree farms or ask neighbors if you could trim their trees! You really don’t need many branches and thinning trees makes them healthier.

Okay, Kellogg’s should really take notice of my holiday Rice Krispies Treat sculptures!

Seriously! My husband thinks I’m crazy because I can’t eat any of the ingredients and it is almost impossible not to taste the sweet and gooey Rice Krispies and marshmallows as I scoop them out of the hot pot. 

This season I experimented with melting marshmallows to create Santa’s beard.  So much fun! 

I’m already thinking about my next holiday sculpture…

Good news!  If you’re a transfer student and you missed the UC deadline of Nov 30^th, you’re in luck!  The UCs have extended their deadline for transfer students to Jan 4^th.  The UC system is planning to increase transfer enrollment by 5,000 students this year.  Their goal is to admit one transfer student for every two freshmen. 

If you’ve already submitted your applications, you can add more campuses but you can’t make changes to your essays or any other part of your application except contact information. If you started but didn’t complete the application, you can continue to work on the same application.

Don’t forget to submit any changes to your winter or spring courses on the Transfer Academic Update (TAU) by January 31^st.  If you have fall grades to report by then, this would be the perfect time to let them know how you’re doing.

I am terribly guilty of “overdoing” Christmas. 

When Nicole and Jaclyn were young, I bought, wrapped, and piled so many gifts under the tree that it would take the girls 3 days to unwrap them.  It’s true!  

Back then I justified it by purchasing “educational games” that stimulated their brains or art kits that would open the world of tie dying, sand sculpture, or whatever was the latest craze at the time.

Knowing that I was overdoing Christmas, I insisted that we play the games and open the art kits after they opened them so they would fully appreciate them.  And then, they wrote their thank you cards to all of the family and friends who also contributed to the piles of presents under the tree BEFORE opening the next gift. 

Don’t get me wrong – I appreciated that we had so many family and friends who wanted to give during the holidays.  But it all got way out of control.

When my girls asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year, I wrote out a list of things that I would really treasure and enjoy.  I asked for a bike-riding trip with the family or to have everyone help build an herb garden in my kitchen with me.  I also asked them to make earrings with me so we could create the perfect jewelry using the crystals and sterling silver that I love to wear. And if this list didn’t work for them, I asked to have the CD player repaired in my car and a playlist of my favorite oldies hits.  I wanted Christmas to be about sharing time together and making new memories.

What happened next was really inspiring. 

Jaclyn wanted spectacular beach photos for her living room walls. She had picked out a few photos from local photographers’ galleries and sent us links to their websites.  But with my new philosophy on Christmas this year, I thought I would shoot all of her favorite beach hangouts in Santa Cruz and enlarge them for her walls.  I shot dramatic stormy sunsets in Capitola and Pleasure Point, and then just yesterday I captured some of the 15-foot waves at Steamer’s Lane.

Winters in Santa Cruz bring huge waves – it’s a surfer’s paradise. I enjoyed going to her old stomping grounds at Black’s Beach and the Cove, where she hung out with friends in high school.  There’s something more personal when one spends a little time doing something special for you. When I sent her photos to choose from, she called me to tell me how really touched she was that I went out to shoot these photos just for her. 

Since then, I’ve been all over Santa Cruz with my camera and monopod really loving the beautiful place we call home, and I’m looking forward to a Christmas where our gifts come from our hearts, and not so much from our wallets.  

Today’s guest post on Pearl Harbor Day was written by Mas Hashimoto of the Watsonville-Santa Cruz Japanese American Citizen’s League (JACL).  Looking at such a shocking and emotional event from a historical perspective helps younger generations of Americans understand the context of Japan’s plans, and the errors that allowed Pearl Harbor to happen.   

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy struck our Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii without warning or a declaration of war.

Why?  What was to be gained? 

Imperialist Japan’s plan was: (1) to destroy the American Pacific fleet which had been transferred from San Diego to Honolulu; (2) then, without opposition, have a free rein in the Pacific theater of the war, conquering the Philippines and Southeast Asia; (3) fight defensively against the United States; and (4) when Americans tired of the war, Japan would negotiate for a truce, a cease-fire.

The Japanese vastly underestimated the will of the American people.  They believed articles which belittled the average American as lazy, selfish, unprincipled, and undisciplined.

At Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sank aging, obsolete battleships and other ships but no aircraft carriers.  They –the Lexington, Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet– now the heart of the fleet, were elsewhere.  The failure to destroy the fuel depots and dry docks (for repairing ships) was also a huge mistake on the part of the Japanese.  Pearl Harbor was back in action the next day.  The Japanese had no plans to invade and occupy the Hawaiian Islands.  The Japanese had no plans to invade the mainland of the United States.

In April of 1942, the Doolittle Raid from the Hornet bombed cities in Japan.  It boosted the moral of the American people.  In the Battle of the Coral Sea in May of 1942, the Lexington was sunk and the Japanese believed it had sunk the Yorktown, too.  Most important, the Japanese advance in the South Pacific was curtailed. 

In May of 1942, the most important early battle—the Battle of Midway—took place. The US military intelligence had broken the Japanese secret code and knew of the Japanese naval battle plans. We lost the Yorktown, but it with the Enterprise and Hornet sank four Japanese aircraft carriers with their best naval pilots.  The Japanese were never to recover from their losses.  We didn’t know it then, but this battle was the turning point of the War in the Pacific (1941-1945).

Everyone is encouraged to visit the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor to pay one’s respect to those who lost their lives on that fateful day.  Next to it is the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial, upon whose deck the Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945.

Now, nearly 75 years later, the commander of the U. S. Pacific Command is Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr.  His father served as a US Navy Chief Petty Officer, and his mother is Japanese.  He was born in Japan.  Today, Japan is our closest and most dependable ally in the Pacific if not the world.

Back in 1994, I built my first Eco-Xmas tree.  Check out my previous post to see why I decided that I couldn’t buy another cut tree or living tree, and buying an artificial tree was just too fake for me. 

I built it using scrap 2” by 4” and a ¾” plywood base.  Then I drilled holes in the 2” by 4” for the live pine branches. 

At the base, I drilled large holes for thicker branches and gradually made the holes smaller as I progressed upwards.

Here are some photos of the process:

What a cast! This was one of our best theater productions at Merit Academy!

Featuring Nicole D’Arcy, Jaclyn D’Arcy, Adrienne Bateson, Brian Hostetter, Jordan Bateson, Ryan Graumann & Sarah Kajitani.

For all of you seniors – and yes, parents, too! – congratulations on getting your early applications submitted!

You deserve a big sigh of relief now that you’ve submitted the first round of college applications.

Me too!  I was up ‘til midnight on Nov. 30^th (UC and CSU deadlines) and Dec. 1^st (early action for private colleges) supporting kids as they edited their personal statements and completed their applications.  Phew!

Most of you are now re-organizing your plans as you start working on the private college applications that are due on Jan. 1^st (what cruel person chose New Years Day for the deadline?) and thereafter. You may be able to use some of the essays you’ve written for the UCs but get started on the next batch of applications now!  Don’t wait until the last minute, which will also ruin your holiday plans. 

For those of you lucky ones who are actually done with all college applications, here are a few tips and bits of info about what happens next:

CSU Campuses

You should receive an email giving you your new Student ID number and a WebPortal address for each college.  Your first password will be your 6-digit birthdate.  Once you log on, you’ll get your permanent password.  Put these important numbers in the back of your planner; you’ll be using them a lot over the next 4-5 months.  Each CSU campus will email you to request your SAT/ACT scores and your official transcripts from your high school and your college.  You’ll only need to submit your scores and transcripts to one CSU because once they’re in the system, call CSUs can access them.  Check your email often to stay informed about what you need to send to the colleges. 

UC Campuses

You’ll receive your Student ID number and password via email.  Like the CSU colleges, check your email often to see what each college is requesting from you.  They will ask you to send your official SAT/ACT scores and transcripts.  You’ll only need to send them to one UC; once they receive them, all UCs will be able to access them.   The UCs will be sending their acceptance letters through email this year. 

All Campuses

1. Start filling out the FAFSA now.  Even though you don’t yet have your W2s, you can estimate your earnings for this year.  The first date that you can send the FAFSA is on January 1st.  By sending your FAFSA in on January 1^st, you’ll position yourself to get the best financial aid packages.  The sooner they calculate your parents’ ability to pay for college, the sooner they’ll send their recommendations (SARs) to the colleges so that the colleges can determine your financial aid packages. The deadline to submit your FAFSA is March 2^nd.

2. Check with your teachers and high school counselors to make sure that they’ve sent your transcripts and Secondary School Reports to those colleges that require them.  Then double check your portal or call the admissions offices to ensure that they’ve received everything required.  Then, thank your teachers and counselors for writing your letters of recommendation!
    
3. As soon as you have completed your Fall semester, request that your high school counselor send your GPA Verification information to all of the colleges that require it.  The deadline is March 2^nd.

 Enter these dates in your planner so you don’t forget to do them!  Good luck!

Oil and natural gas companies are secretly drilling oil and gas wells using a technique called hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Each well requires approximately one million gallons of water that is mixed with chemicals that are toxic and carcinogenic.  There are thousands of these wells in the United States and the oil companies keep drilling more and more. 

Fracking threatens our water supply, increases health risks, threatens air quality and exacerbates climate change.  Don’t believe their blatant lies about how their well casings prevent these toxic chemicals from leaking into our water supply.  They must think we’re idiots to believe that their well casing will never crack or leak. 

It infuriates me to think that a few people with the financial resources that the oil companies have can deliberately mislead the entire world population to believe that oil and natural gas are not culprits behind climate change, air and water pollution, cancer, and war. Wake up! It’s time that we as a civilization stand up to the few who control our economy, politics, and more.

What can you do to stop this train wreck?

Get Educated:

Watch Gasland and Gasland 2 to see what is really going on with fracking and how the oil companies are trying to keep us in the dark.  Smells a bit like “Erin Brockovich” or “Silkwood” to me… Seriously, spend a few hours and get educated about what’s really happening right here under our noses.

Read Clean Water Action’s website to get real information about fracking: http://www.cleanwateraction.org/fracking-california

I love holidays because they bring people together. 

We have made big to-dos about every holiday and Christmas is a big one because it is so festive.  The pine scent that permeates our home with a Christmas tree is the centerpiece of our holiday. 

However, as an avid environmentalist, cutting a Christmas tree each year just didn’t seem right.  I had purchased many “live” Christmas trees over the years only to watch them shrivel up and die after the holidays.  Sad!

Frustrated, one night a solution to cutting down Christmas trees came to me in a dream. 

I’m serious!

The Santa Cruz Sentinel covered this story in this article: