{"id":30485,"date":"2017-12-01T08:04:35","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T16:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=30485"},"modified":"2017-12-01T08:04:35","modified_gmt":"2017-12-01T16:04:35","slug":"friday-fun-critter-proofing-your-christmas-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/01\/friday-fun-critter-proofing-your-christmas-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Fun: Critter-Proofing Your Christmas Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to the old Andy Williams\u2019<\/strong> song, \u201cIt\u2019s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year\u201d<\/em>.\u00a0 Since the calendar tells we now need to \u201cDeck the Halls\u201d<\/em>, it\u2019s time to head to our attics, basements, closets or storage units and drag out our Christmas decorations.\u00a0 And for many of us, this will be done under the vigilant supervision and \u201cassistance\u201d of our Critters<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

So I thought it would be helpful to see how some folks go about \u201cCritter-Proofing Christmas Trees\u201d<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Let\u2019s start with some of the easier ways of accomplishing this.\u00a0 (And click on the photo to view it full-size)<\/em><\/p>\n

Apparently this guy has combined minimalism with his \u201cBah Humbug\u201d<\/em> and cheapskate spirit into one.\u00a0 He simply finds an entirely empty corner of his home, puts up a cardboard wall so high no one can see over it, and then just TELLS<\/em> people it\u2019s there to protect the \u201cChristmas tree\u201d behind it from his cats.<\/p>\n

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Keeping with that same minimalism and cheapskate spirit, you could get a tree so teeny, tiny that you can carry it around in a glass test tube with a cork stopper.<\/p>\n

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But why not simply put it outside?<\/p>\n

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Well, some owners are willing to compromise with their critters and meet them halfway<\/p>\n

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Or even more foolproof \u2026<\/p>\n

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Or just surrender \u2026<\/p>\n

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Others are willing to work out alternatives \u2013 like decorating a wall \u2026<\/p>\n

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Or staying with wall-decorating if you happened to be \u201cblessed\u201d<\/em> with large chunks of Astro-Turf \u2026<\/p>\n

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Or maybe more artfully, a fancy picture frame, which I thought was quite lovely \u2026<\/p>\n

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But if you desire something more three-dimensional, one of your tomato cages from summer gardening turned upside-down, and covered in an old piece of macram\u00e9 and a green bath towel will do in a pinch.\u00a0 And if you want to be extravagant, a single strand of lights adds a nice touch without going overboard \u2026<\/p>\n

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Then there are those who have a mean streak and substitute a cactus for the Christmas \u201ctree\u201d.\u00a0 It confronts the critters with that \u201cI-Dare-You\u201d<\/em> feel to it \u2026<\/p>\n

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But for those who really want an actual decorated Christmas tree, there are some options, too.\u00a0 Like putting it \u2013 rather than your critter \u2013 in a cage \u2026<\/p>\n

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Or if you want to be fancier, place it in a handsome vitrine<\/p>\n

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And if you\u2019re not lucky enough to have a handsome vitrine, Saran wrap will do nicely, thank you very much \u2026<\/p>\n

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But for those who want a more open, genuine exposure, try enlisting a couple of vacuum cleaners to serve as sentries.\u00a0 (Not sure how it works with dogs, but I know my cat wouldn\u2019t even THINK<\/em> of entering the room!)<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re artistically inclined, you can create quite a handsome ceiling art work mimicking a Christmas tree out of ornaments \u2026<\/p>\n

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But if you\u2019re not artistically endowed \u2013 but are handy with tools in a \u201cDIY\u201d way \u2013 you can hang the tree upside down from the ceiling \u2026<\/p>\n

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AND if you\u2019re a truly accomplished Do-It-Yourselfer who\u2019s exceptionally handy with tools \u2026 AND happen to have a very<\/em> tall tree \u2026 AND it\u2019s very flexible \u2026 AND you refuse to shorten it … AND you want to protect it from your pet FOX!!!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, there\u2019s a solution for that one, too \u2026<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s hoping all your ornaments stay in one piece, and you along with your critters enjoy Christmas in peace.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the old Andy Williams\u2019 song, \u201cIt\u2019s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year\u201d.\u00a0 Since the calendar tells we now need to \u201cDeck the Halls\u201d, it\u2019s time to head to our attics, basements, closets or storage units and drag out our Christmas decorations.\u00a0 And for many of us, this will be done under the […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}