Our annual Christmas Tree "Hunt"!

A beautiful drive

Well, with Thanksgiving behind us, today was the day for our annual Christmas tree "hunt". I say hunt, because it usually takes quite a bit of time to find "the right tree" for Kim! We have developed a tradition of sorts over the last several years of making the outing together with our dear friends Dave and "Calamity" Jane Roberti, and their sweet little daughter Kristen.


This year was unique in a couple of ways. First, Momma Kim is on crutches and certainly cannot slog through the snow in search of the perfect tree. Second, we had a new cutting area this year. It was on the Tahoe National Forest, my old district. And third, we have had a ton of early snow this year. In fact, I figured our old cutting area was snowed out anyway, so it was good that we could try a new one.

Jason (Hey-sone), Lucy, and Luise

Last Thursday, on the way back from Dad and Don's house in Oakdale, we decided to check out the new spot above the little town of Sierraville to see if it was still drivable after all the snow. It turned out to be plowed. It is a trail-head for snowmobile riders! Driving along the road looking over the snow covered forest was wonderful. The trees were still covered with snow from the last few storms. We found a few promising spots, and turned around to head home. On the way out we saw a coyote busting through the snow full out to try to get away from us. It was neat watching him run, if we had been hunting he would have been dead meat the snow was so deep. Thinking back on it, I should have noticed how deep and difficult the snow was. Instead, we just kept cruising along enjoying the winter scenery. We saw a small bobcat a few miles further on. It was a very nice drive.

Well, come Sunday it was blue and beautiful in the valley. I managed to  get the driveway and the road plowed from the last 8 to 10 inches of new snow before we headed out for Sierraville to meet up with the Roberti's. It was Kim and I, Lucy, Jason (Hey-sone), and Luise our exchange student from Austria.  Oh yes, and of course the Pointer Sisters, Delta and Remmi!

When we were still dry!

Things went well at first, Beautiful weather, the road was plowed, we made our way up until we got to our spot. I drove about 300 feet above the spot that seemed likely to have some nice trees to cut and turned around. My plan, a good one, was to park up the road so I would not have to climb the steep 15 foot cut-bank where the cutting looked good. Instead, we could easily stroll along the contour and cut our trees as we found them.

Things soon fell apart however. The snow was crotch deep on me, so that was considerably deeper on everyone else (remember that coyote?) We began to slog....even the dogs were making labored progress. After about 100 feet or so I turned to Dave Roberti and said "My wife wanted me to be sure and take some time and make this an "event", looks like it may be more of an ordeal." And so it was! After another 150 feet or so Roberti thought the trees were looking pretty darn good. Kristen picked out a good ol' Charlie Brown tree, and Lucy, Hey-sone, Luise and I struggled on.

I was breaking trail, but seriously I didn't know how long I could keep it up. Lucy fell and filled her boot with snow. Delta and Remmi seemed pretty confused as they were essentially wriggling through the snow on their bellies! They both looked at me like I was supposed to help them, but they were on their own!!

Finally, I decided we needed to make it down to the road and re-group. The four of us tripped and stumbled down the slope to the road. Wow, the solid road felt good beneath my boots. We trudged back to the trucks and found Kim sitting there idling the engine of the truck and reading her book in the warm cozy cab. After a brief celebration of our salvation, I had Lucy start the truck, then hopped on the tailgate as she slowly moved down the road. Dave, Jane, and Kristen were coming down the hill with two trees. I helped Dave get the trees down to the road, and Jane cut up some bread and cheese. Bummer! We forgot the hot chocolate.

Heading down the hill!

Kim was feeling isolated in the cab of the truck, so Lucy pulled a sneak snowball attack and made her feel more involved (not)! I took off down the road to look for the promising spot I had seen earlier. About 300 feet down I spotted a few likely candidates that were probably 2 feet beyond the 100 foot "no cut" zone along the road. So, with my trusty ax I crawled through the snow up the hill to check them out first hand. They looked good, so I called for the kids to bring up the truck, and check out the trees. It was amazing! I could hear them talking and laughing, but even screaming at the top of my lungs, they could not hear me!! I tried the dog whistle to get their attention, but that just got the dogs to come to me. So, I called Dave Roberti on his cell phone and asked  them to move down and check out the trees. The wonders of modern technology!

At the road finally!!

Here they came, finally, and up the hill Lucy, Hey-sone, and Luise struggled. We picked one out of the two candidates, and started chopping. Lucy and Luise each took a turn chopping with the ax. Finally, the tree came down. I stuffed the ax into my belt, and Hey-sone and I dragged the tree down the hill. At the top of the cut slope, with the truck in sight, we decided to go for it straight down the hill. We made it, but plunged into the plow berm at the bottom!

The ax man!

So, we wrestled the tree into the truck, loaded up the dogs, and headed home. Yes, Kim played Christmas carols all the way home. It was great getting back into dry clothes and a warm house. Kim had whipped up some home made turkey soup and It really hit the spot! Little Kristen really hit it off with the Pointer Sisters. They had a great time together while we were cutting, and after we got home.

Overall it was another great outing. a great way to kick off the Christmas season. The only thing missing was Mango and Opie. I am sure if we had had the "Adorable One" and the "Smart One" with us things would have gone even better!

Merry Christmas to All!!

That's All