It's a Douglas fir, as Dh grew up with them as his family's Christmas tree. They aren't as full as other trees, but they smell great, and once decorated are as cheery as the other types that we got when in L.A.
Generally, we choose a tree that's going to be cut in the spring by PG&E anyway, and probably doesn't get enough light.
But, this year the guys went down into the pastures, and into the treeline just above the year round creek. Trees there are 'walking' into the pasture, and will eventually have to be removed.
So, while this is a Douglas fir, it is not anything like a Charlie Brown tree. And, it smells amazing. I'm pretty much addicted to the scent of real Douglas fir sap (men here claim that it attracts women better than any cologne!) all the time, but this Douglas fir takes the cake for smelling great. More than any tree that I've had a whiff of, of any variety.
It may have been it's overall health, or the amount of rain that we got prior to cutting it, I don't know.
In any case, they hand cut it, wrestled it out of the fields and up the access road where they put it in the back of Cricket, and drove it up.
Then, today, they wrestled it again, this time into the house, and stood it up to measure it to the ceiling height. The tallest point to the roof at the place that it will go is between 8' & 9', depending how you count it, because it's the lowest roof/ceiling point.
Well, the tree was still a tad tall for that corner, so they got the hand saw and the snips, plus the bucket tree stand (filled with rocks.), and trimmed the top, then lopped off branches at the very bottom where the base would be in the stand.
This is where Krypto comes in.
All along, he was thrilled that a tree had come in. All he's ever wanted was for the great outdoors to come in to him, rather than him having to go to the great outdoors.
He danced, and sniffed, and yes, tasted. We kept taking boughs from him because it was easy to spot them in his mouth and between his front paws, as he kept taking them up on a recliner for a comfortable chew.
Eventually, the boughs were all in a pile, and he was told to cut it out. Not to be deterred, and probably focusing on the word 'cut', he walked over to the tree, currently in a vulnerable position on it's side, looked at it for a moment, as if assessing his options, then leaned in and *snip!* bit off a bough. After all, why should his human brother have all of the cutting fun?
The bough cutting went alright after that, though we had to take tiny bits of them from him, at regular intervals. He was still taking them onto the chair, but now we had to pay closer attention because they were smaller, and less obvious.
Finally, the tree was standing, in all of it's glory. Happy day! But, that left making a nice sized wreath from the boughs. That involved layering, bending, tying with wire, and yes, a bit more manhandling. We may have gotten a little carried away with it's size, even if it does look a little something like something from the Kentucky Derby's winning circle! But, that's okay, it fits beautifully hanging just below my gallery, which is just a fancy word for metal posts and such that go between the hall and part of the living room, and the roof. It really does look like a place for paintings to hang up there but, I digress.
Luckily, the wreath is mostly out of Krypto's reach, as he looked mighty interested in it.
Finally, water was adding to the tree stand, and we were left alone with our overgrown puppy who had never seen a tree in the house before.
We said 'no' a lot while he tried to nip, tug, and chew on this displaced piece of forest...until he didn't. All at once it was as if he lost interest in his fun new toy.
I don't know if he'll get a second tree-destructing wind, or not, but as for now he's doing other fun things. He can be quite single minded about certain things, though, so I'm sure that I should sleep with one eye on him tonight.
Tomorrow is another day. One in which we are going to attempt to decorate the tree. That should prove interesting. I think that the ornaments may have to hang a little on the high side this year!
Saga to most likely continue.
Responses
Love All Life, Thank You For Posting! :)