And So It Begins

 What begins you ask?

I'll get to that in a moment, but first, you will be happy to know that we had our first snowfall! 

This means that the woodland creatures have the much-needed moisture they need to survive. We received about 5" which also means something else. It means we can burn some of our slash piles! We need a minimum of 2" to burn anything here, and we have a dozen or so slash piles scattered across the property as a result of cutting down trees and just basically cleaning up the forest. I was able to burn two before the winds picked up and just made it too sketchy to burn any more. 

With Thanksgiving behind us it is time to turn our eyes and focus on Christmas, and so it begins. It's Hallmark movie time! It's Christmas music time! It is Christmas decoration time! And it is Christmas tree time! 

That last one is one I personally look forward and dread all at the same time. The last few years we have been going out to the National Forest and cutting down our own tree. All you have to do is get a $10 permit from the Forest Service, follow a few simple rules and you get a tree at a fraction of the price of one bought at a store or nursery. 

Why dread it then? Barb has to have the "perfect" tree (much like she had to find the perfect husband!) and as such we have to search the woods high and low looking for the perfect tree. I do not care if you find it in the first 5 minutes, you need to spend the next hour looking at every other tree in the area to make sure that first one is "The One". I am just glad she did not follow this same philosophy when selecting me!

Years ago, when the kids were young, mom would say "Let's go pick out a tree". They would groan knowing that it was a multi-mile death march up and down every row of trees at the local tree farm. 

Last year was no different when Forrest, Somer and Lily were here and the girls got to experience it for the first time. Lily tapped out after 30 minutes saying she was cold, Somer 15 minutes later when she said she was going to check on Lily. 

Would this year be any different? 39 years of history tell me no, but off we went on our search. She would approach a tree, study it on all sides and give it a thumbs up or thumbs down. 

15 minutes into our search, she said, "This one looks good". Be still my heart, could she have found one in the first 15 minutes?!?!? But off she went into the forest looking at other trees just to make sure. She returned 5 minutes later to that same tree and said, "This one". You did not have to tell me twice; I had that puppy cut down in 30 seconds afraid she would change her mind. 

Barb drug it down the hill to the base, we loaded it into the truck, and we were back on the road in 30 minutes! This is by far the biggest tree we have gotten so far, coming in at 15' or so. We did not measure it, but Barb is on a 12' ladder, and it extends well above that. That tree would have been well over $200 at a nursery. 

Barb then set about decorating the rest of the house. Her philosophy is "less is more", not going overboard, just enough to bring a touch of Christmas to the house. 

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! The snow brought a different element to deer hunting as well. Cold and bright. I love it!

The rut is still on with bucks looking for the does that have not been bred yet. This picture show one of those bucks (far left) keeping his eye on a doe laying down (far right) that apparently wants nothing to do with him. 

Be warned that this post does contain a picture of a dead deer. It is a pretty tame one though. No, I did not get one, but our daughter did! As many of you know, Jessica and her daughter Kendall hit the Pennsylvania woods each fall in search of meat to fill the freezer. This year was no different. Even though Kendall (Baby K to us) is a year older, she still falls asleep in the deer woods. 

But Jessica woke her up when this meaty doe walked by and Jessica made a perfect shot! So proud of our baby girl that she is out there enjoying the woods, passing on the hunting culture and providing meat for the family. With the prices of beef recently it helps cut down on the grocery bill too! Although, truth be told, pound for pound deer hunting probably costs a lot more than beef in the store. 

That's it for this week, hope all of you have a great week and a joyous holiday season!