We cruised 522 looking for a tree set at the edge of the woods, right shape, full, not too big, knowing that we'd likely be cutting something and leaving the bottom. This time I was prepared with the cordless reciprocating saw (but with a dud battery) and pulling a trailer. The trailer in question was my Dad's little garden trailer, only a few feet long but then we were planning on a shorter tree ... which didn't happen.
We finally found something after much scouting, didn't want to go too far from Osprey Road. That trailer isn't road legal and every time I had to reverse, it was a matter of unhooking the trailer and moving it by hand (which isn't hard). I didn't even attempt to reverse with a trailer behind me that's only about four feet long.
We were out on 522 for over an hour and didn't see one car ...
I started cutting and quickly realized that I'd brought a battery too old to have much charge. I made it through the trunk, which was about 5-6 inches and then again as I cut off the part of the tree that we'd be bringing back with us. That was lucky !
We got the tree up the bank of the road -- we're getting too old for this !! -- and onto the trailer but it was way too long and dragging on the ground. Up with the hatch and down with the tailgate, the base of the tree now in the car all the way to the backs of the rear seats -- couldn't go further because Cassie was with us in her cage -- now the tree doesn't drag on the ground even though it's hanging off the back of the trailer by about 10-12 or more feet.
Sandy rode in the back seat holding the trunk of the tree down and stopping from pivoting wildly as I made any turns; it was slow going back to the cottage. It was then a bear to get it down the slope and up onto the deck. Once there I cut a couple of feet off the bottom but really should have cut off another couple of feet or perhaps six or eight feet ... and it still would have been a nice tree !
Getting it into the house was also a problem, as it was so tall. Then propping it up we were both inside the tree, laughing at one point and hoisting it a few inches at a time back towards the front. While Sandy kept it propped up, I painstakingly attached the four legs one at a time as she leaned it just a little away from each leg (oh yes, I'd drilled the 5/8" hole for the Stand Strait Christmas Tree holder while it was outside). With the ladder, I then installed a cut piece of wood that I'd notched as a stand-out from the beam and tied it to eyes screwed into the beam.
What we didn't realize as we were moving the tree into place was how close the tip of the tree was coming to the ceiling fan. The very peak is at 26'; the fan hangs down from that, perhaps 3-4'.
Below is a shot looking up at the ceiling. I can't get a good shot of the entire tree with the iPhone; will do so with the "real" camera once we start to decorate. I will probably end up cutting a little off the top to install the star.
We certainly out-did ourselves. A lot of vacuuming later and I'd cleaned up most of the evergreen needle mess but I was picking needles out of my hair and down my shirt. When I went for a shower later after Sandy had already had one, I saw needles on the bathroom floor - came out of her clothes !
The good news is that with only an inch of snow on the deck, it wasn't coated in snow and dripping as in prior years, not much wet-vac work required. This morning I'll do some more with the shop vac but undoubtedly there will be a lot more as loose needles come down while we decorate.
That was enough for yesterday ! I did go into Britt for Mass; did give Cassie some running time with the Chuck-It on the deck; did have breakfast, lunch and dinner ... but the tree was the event of the day, for sure.
Onward !
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