The Christmas Tree Hunt
With the thoughts and smells of Thankgiving still lingering in our house; I knew when I awakened this morning that today was meant for the Christmas tree hunt. After a good breakfast presented by the head chef of our B&B, I headed out to prepare the SUV for tree hunting. Back seats folded flat-check; personal junk removed for the hunters-check; a pair of gloves, hat and warm coat-check. Oh yeah...do we have any gas in the tank?-check!
We headed south to our traditional hunting grounds...Chesapeake's Bounty. It's a family-owned nursery, farm and well...tree hunting place. We were immediately greeted by the smiling faces and helping hands of the hunting guides. I quickly lost my tree-hunting partner into a tall forest of Fraser Firs. For me, I decided to start hunting the little critters that were no taller than me and I could easily wrestle them the ground. Suddenly I stopped cold in my tracks. I heard my hunting partner call out my name. Oh no, she must have found the big-one in the tall forest.
If you haven't guessed by now, our house is not Christmas ready for guests unless there are two trees...a tall one and a short one. This tradition started when we moved into the "cedar house in the tall woods" many years ago. The central living space is over two-stories tall. Our first Christmas tree was 16 feet tall and was eventually anchored to the walls with steel cables; after toppling to the floor one night. Since that night, I convinced my hunting partner that shorter critters are better.
Back to the hunt...yes, she had found the big-one. It was a mighty...12 feet tall with expansive green arms. It's single leg was over 8 inches in diameter. I exclaimed...NO! We cannot handle a critter of this size. With sadness, my hunting partner moved on through the forest continuing her search. Again my name echoed through the trees and off the forest floor. With the help of our smiling hunting guides, we found a critter that we could call our own. I returned to my original hunting spot to see if my trap had snagged a little critter. Sure enough...so our guides went about tieing the tall and small critters to the SUV while we paid our hunting fees to the rangers. Free refreshments were available to tired hunters, but we bravely waived them off. We headed north in our SUV with our tall critter tied to the roof; knowing that coffee, sweets and maybe a nap were waiting after a successful day's hunt.
(c) 2010 eid
We headed south to our traditional hunting grounds...Chesapeake's Bounty. It's a family-owned nursery, farm and well...tree hunting place. We were immediately greeted by the smiling faces and helping hands of the hunting guides. I quickly lost my tree-hunting partner into a tall forest of Fraser Firs. For me, I decided to start hunting the little critters that were no taller than me and I could easily wrestle them the ground. Suddenly I stopped cold in my tracks. I heard my hunting partner call out my name. Oh no, she must have found the big-one in the tall forest.
If you haven't guessed by now, our house is not Christmas ready for guests unless there are two trees...a tall one and a short one. This tradition started when we moved into the "cedar house in the tall woods" many years ago. The central living space is over two-stories tall. Our first Christmas tree was 16 feet tall and was eventually anchored to the walls with steel cables; after toppling to the floor one night. Since that night, I convinced my hunting partner that shorter critters are better.
Back to the hunt...yes, she had found the big-one. It was a mighty...12 feet tall with expansive green arms. It's single leg was over 8 inches in diameter. I exclaimed...NO! We cannot handle a critter of this size. With sadness, my hunting partner moved on through the forest continuing her search. Again my name echoed through the trees and off the forest floor. With the help of our smiling hunting guides, we found a critter that we could call our own. I returned to my original hunting spot to see if my trap had snagged a little critter. Sure enough...so our guides went about tieing the tall and small critters to the SUV while we paid our hunting fees to the rangers. Free refreshments were available to tired hunters, but we bravely waived them off. We headed north in our SUV with our tall critter tied to the roof; knowing that coffee, sweets and maybe a nap were waiting after a successful day's hunt.
(c) 2010 eid