Maybe this is something I've missed but it seems like Christmas tree lots are everywhere this year in Portland. Big ones and small ones, some tucked into apartment parking lots and every nook and cranny. Typically, they're operated by Boy Scout troops or long-timers but while driving down Hawthrone the other night I spotted a guy selling trees on his front lawn. That's a first.

Maybe it's the pitiful local economy that's forcing locals to turn their yards into tree lots or could this year's surplus be to blame?