Daily 5: Ice Skating; Farewell, Fair Trees; Bringing Up Baby and More

An idea from eHow on how to reuse your Christmas tree: "Build a scratching-play post for your feline friends. Strip the tree of pine needles, remove small branches and cut the larger branches to about six inches long from the trunk. You may have to add some heavier boards nailed to the bottom of the tree trunk if it doesn't have secure supports. Then leave the trunk natural or spray paint it a playful color that will blend in well with the surrounding room or area. Hang colored ribbons and strings off of the shortened branches to make it look decorative, while offering dangling temptations to entice play. You can tie small toys to the ends of the strings and ribbons or catnip-filled pouches to make play even more attractive. The bark should attract claw-scratching — even if your cat is declawed." Check out the other ideas. Thank you, eHow.

What's Happening Tuesday, Dec. 28 

On the Cutting Edge — When I was growing up in a far and wintry clime, someone would plow the snow off our swimming hole, and everyone would gather to skate, even at night, when we'd light a bonfire. Unfortunately, Bay Area swimming pools don't freeze over, but you can still enjoy skating. The Oakland Ice Center (268-9000) is open through Jan. 2 with a holiday schedule from 10:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.

A Day Late — All  will occur on its regular day this week. There will be no pickup New Year's Day. For information about further scheduling, call East Bay Sanitary Co. at 237-4321.

Farewell, Fair Tree, You Served Us Well — You can recycle your Christmas tree in January by placing it next to your green waste cart on the day your green waste is collected. Be sure to remove the stand from the bottom of the tree and cut off large branches. Call East Bay Sanitary Co. at 237-4321 if you don't know your green waste collection day and to find out what do to with a flocked or tinseled trees. The  poor dears can't be recycled. 

Bringing Up Baby — Leave it to the Cerrito Theater to come up with such a sensible and sensitive idea! On the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, parents are encouraged to bring their babies younger than one year to this designated evening. Tonight, you can sit back and watch the psychological thriller The Black Swan, fully confident that that you will be able to hear and see vôtre bebes. That's because the Cerrito does not darken the auditorium as much as usual and turns down the sound somewhat. Voilá! If your child wakes up, you can stroll at the back of the theater. This is a great opportunity to get out of the house and have, well almost, a date! The show starts at 6:30 p.m. Enjoy! 

Hands On Nature  — In that the Friends of Five Creeks has scheduled its first work party Jan. 9 on lower Cordonices Creek, I'm going to give this worthy organization a bit of a boost before it's time for you to volunteer and get down and dirty. Friends of Five Creeks is an all-volunteer group working for clean water and healthy watersheds. It protects and restores natural areas for both wildlife and people in the East Bay. The organization has put much time and energy into reclaiming Cerrito Creek. One branch of Cerrito Creek, which starts in two large canyons in the Kensington Hills, runs along the south side of Sunset View Cemetery; another branch flows along the south side of the El Cerrito Plaza. So mark Jan. 9 on your calendar.

Correction: The original version of the article incorrectly reported that all curbsite collection would occur one day later during the week. The article has been corrected to say collection occurred on its regularly scheduled weekdays.