For the past few years our daughter Felicity has sent us a table-top Christmas tree from Oregon. This year we decided to locate a full-size tree in Colorado.
Pam found a tree farm near Montrose that looked like a good candidate, the Covered Bridge Tree Farm:
Covered Bridge Tree Farm, Montrose, Colorado
We drove about an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the farm, then hopped on their tractor-pulled wagon, and headed out to find a tree. (Well, some of us hopped, some of us climbed slowly and carefully into the wagon…)
On wagon. (Photo by another passenger.)
I located a suitable tree — the first one we looked at and near the road — but Pam needed to look around a bit before I cut it.
Jerry with cut tree
So far the tree has lights but no other decorations. Pam will take care of finishing the task this coming week.
Beginning – lights on, more to follow
You may have noticed Maxwell Moose (in his Christmas hat) looking in from the top-left corner of the above photo:
Maxwell Moose in holiday garb
We are very pleased with this Scotch Pine tree; the size, shape, and scent are all excellent. It’s been a while since we had a taller tree and it will be interesting to see some of our less-used ornaments on display again. The tree is, of course, fastened to the wall to prevent the cats from toppling it. (We hope.)
There is an update on a topic mentioned last time; my dental appointment came and went. The tooth that was bothering me – with a “leaking” crown – was too far gone to salvage and had to be extracted. My jaw is very sore and I am popping Tylenol every 6 hours or so. This kind of sucks but things should improve by the end of next week.
Another update – the defective furnace relay has been replaced and the furnace is now working without having to be whacked to shut down the boost fan. Sometimes it’s the small things that matter!
Our Solstice cards have all been mailed to those of you lucky enough to be on our card list this year. The tree is up. Less than two weeks until Winter Solstice!
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
When we first moved to Colorado in the 1970s, we often purchased a national forest tree cutting permit and ventured into the wilds for our Christmas tree. (Once we topped a tree that was physically longer than the car we were driving.) Later on, in Wisconsin, tree farm day was a family event when the kiddos were young; we used to cut our tree every year.
This year — the first year of my retirement — I found myself thinking about the tree farm experience again. The Covered Bridge Tree Farm did not disappoint. The operation functioned like a well-oiled machine. Trees available to be cut on the acreage were marked with information as to name of conifer, height, and price. I must admit I enjoyed visiting the various animal pens (and saying “hi” to the goats) while Fields supervised the shaking/netting/stashing the tree in the RAV. (I must observe, though, Christmas trees were much less expensive back in the day.)
What a gift to have time for decorating the tree at leisure. When I was working, it was all I could do to find time to throw a few ornaments on a tree each December. This year, I have started going through all the containers of decorations and ornaments; I do believe we will be seeing some items on the tree that have not seen the light of day for decades. Assuming, of course, these items are pet proof.
ChristmasCat (Shutterstock image)
Happy Trails.