Free-Range Trees

In the foothills of Alberta, there are no Christmas tree farms. We found this out last year. You basically go out to the woods and cut down a tree. I mark trees that I think might make good Christmas trees in my GPS while I geocache, and sometimes this pans out. Other times, we drive up Hwy 40 and take some of the side roads and peer out the windows at ones we think might make a good Christmas tree.

So with a little $5.25 to the Sustainable Resource Development folks, they give you a map of where NOT to cut. Personally, I thought this might give away some "secret" spots where the Christmas trees would be extremely good, but not so much. So off, we went.

With views like this, on frosty days, it's nice to be outside.

We spotted a contender from the car, and D went up to check it out. This was no small task as the hill  mountain he climbed up was about 45 degrees steep. A good workout. Milton was looking a wee bit eager so I sent him up after D. Then called him and made him come back. Rinse and repeat a few times.

Luckily, he's a good sport.

Meanwhile, J-baby had a nap in the car snuggled in his warm furry blanket. I supervised.

D used the tried and true method of rolling the tree down the mountain, and it seemed to work well. I helped him put it into the back of the truck, and away we rolled for home.

We got Mr. Tree into it's stand today and plan to decorate it tomorrow. So far, he seems to be liking his new home and guzzling up the water. D gave it a little trim today and I have been breathing in the pine-y smell every since. Sniff sniff hooray!