Travis Johnson
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It was just one of those days...
I got a lot done around the house today as we are moving in to our new addition starting tonight, but one of the many things on my list to do was get a Christmas Tree. This is a stealth gloat I suppose but one of the joys of land ownership is being able to go out into your own woodlot and cutting down your Christmas tree. Now granted they are the Charlie Brown trees as this is the land of Firs and Spruces and they are grown by nature and not pruned by man, but in the overall scheme of things, a nature made, Christmas tree grown on your own land has its own beauty really.
Anyway I found a tree, that as always, looks good from a distance but you never can really tell how good they look shape wise until they are in your living room. Anyway I cut it down with my small hand saw and started to drag it out to my snowmobile. It was a bit big, and this year the snow is deep so I got winded quick, so anyway I sat down on a stump to catch my breath. And you know what, this is what I saw.
I saw the most beautiful sight. There was 2 feet of snow in a patch of woods that has just been lightly harvested. Just enough big trees and small trees to know that this was no park, but a real forest. A forest with two feet of sparkling snow, with snow blistering the north sides of the firs and spruces, and the west sides of them all lit up from the orange sunset starting to happen in the western sky. I also saw a porcupine wallowing along in the snow; harmless creatures, it did not scare me. But I also saw human tracks in the snow, and somewhere between the cold temperature, the smell of freshly cut white fir and the sound of the wind blowing through the treetops I came to a conclussion.
I aint leaving!
This land has been in my family since 1752 when the King of England granted it to my Great Grandfather for his heroics in the French and Indian War. Through the ages my Grandfathers have cut this very acre of forest with axe and crosscut saw. Granted their saws were bigger, the trees were huge and they were not cutting a Christmas tree, and their two horspower rig was exactly that, two horspower called Luke and Duke and not some 120 horspower snowmobile made in Japan. But still they two were here, right where I am now.
Not the land or the woods mind you, but in a hard spot. I know they did not have the internet or the social circles we have in this modern day, but I bet they were tempted by some fair looking women and had the same marriage problems and womenly temptations that I am facing.
They did not leave and neither am I. Patty and I will face this, work with each other and stay married so that someday Alyson can send her husband out to this very are and cut down their christmas tree. Maybe they will be using nuclear powered snow scoots to pull the tree out instead of a snowmobile, and they may be using amonium nitrate glycol to heat their home, but this woodlot, this farm, this beautiful patch of woods will be here for them just the same.
Nope I ain't leaving guys. I am home.
Seems kind of simple really, and maybe I owe you all an apology for saying how glum I have been feeling lately. But no matter how pretty Gabby is, no matter how smart and tempting she is, I'm going to have to pass. I'll work things out with Patty, somehow, someway, someday. Still you find out who your friends are when you are down in the dumps. I'll say this, I am pleased to be a member of the familywoodworking, and really pleased people like Bill are on here. I have been emailing him over the past few weeks privately and must say, he is truly a great guy and great friend. (Thanks Bill)
Anyway, if you have read this thread thus far, you are probably wondering where the pictures are. To be truthful, i took a bunch of pictures, but I'm not going to post them. Nope, I'll leave it up to your imaginations. A picture would not do it justice anyway. I was a wonderful moment, a beautiful moment, that no picyture or words could ever do it justice. Just trust me on this, you had to be there!
Who knows, maybe if more married couples took the time to sit down on a stump and got a chance to see things really clearly, the divorce rate would not be so high.
I got a lot done around the house today as we are moving in to our new addition starting tonight, but one of the many things on my list to do was get a Christmas Tree. This is a stealth gloat I suppose but one of the joys of land ownership is being able to go out into your own woodlot and cutting down your Christmas tree. Now granted they are the Charlie Brown trees as this is the land of Firs and Spruces and they are grown by nature and not pruned by man, but in the overall scheme of things, a nature made, Christmas tree grown on your own land has its own beauty really.
Anyway I found a tree, that as always, looks good from a distance but you never can really tell how good they look shape wise until they are in your living room. Anyway I cut it down with my small hand saw and started to drag it out to my snowmobile. It was a bit big, and this year the snow is deep so I got winded quick, so anyway I sat down on a stump to catch my breath. And you know what, this is what I saw.
I saw the most beautiful sight. There was 2 feet of snow in a patch of woods that has just been lightly harvested. Just enough big trees and small trees to know that this was no park, but a real forest. A forest with two feet of sparkling snow, with snow blistering the north sides of the firs and spruces, and the west sides of them all lit up from the orange sunset starting to happen in the western sky. I also saw a porcupine wallowing along in the snow; harmless creatures, it did not scare me. But I also saw human tracks in the snow, and somewhere between the cold temperature, the smell of freshly cut white fir and the sound of the wind blowing through the treetops I came to a conclussion.
I aint leaving!
This land has been in my family since 1752 when the King of England granted it to my Great Grandfather for his heroics in the French and Indian War. Through the ages my Grandfathers have cut this very acre of forest with axe and crosscut saw. Granted their saws were bigger, the trees were huge and they were not cutting a Christmas tree, and their two horspower rig was exactly that, two horspower called Luke and Duke and not some 120 horspower snowmobile made in Japan. But still they two were here, right where I am now.
Not the land or the woods mind you, but in a hard spot. I know they did not have the internet or the social circles we have in this modern day, but I bet they were tempted by some fair looking women and had the same marriage problems and womenly temptations that I am facing.
They did not leave and neither am I. Patty and I will face this, work with each other and stay married so that someday Alyson can send her husband out to this very are and cut down their christmas tree. Maybe they will be using nuclear powered snow scoots to pull the tree out instead of a snowmobile, and they may be using amonium nitrate glycol to heat their home, but this woodlot, this farm, this beautiful patch of woods will be here for them just the same.
Nope I ain't leaving guys. I am home.
Seems kind of simple really, and maybe I owe you all an apology for saying how glum I have been feeling lately. But no matter how pretty Gabby is, no matter how smart and tempting she is, I'm going to have to pass. I'll work things out with Patty, somehow, someway, someday. Still you find out who your friends are when you are down in the dumps. I'll say this, I am pleased to be a member of the familywoodworking, and really pleased people like Bill are on here. I have been emailing him over the past few weeks privately and must say, he is truly a great guy and great friend. (Thanks Bill)
Anyway, if you have read this thread thus far, you are probably wondering where the pictures are. To be truthful, i took a bunch of pictures, but I'm not going to post them. Nope, I'll leave it up to your imaginations. A picture would not do it justice anyway. I was a wonderful moment, a beautiful moment, that no picyture or words could ever do it justice. Just trust me on this, you had to be there!
Who knows, maybe if more married couples took the time to sit down on a stump and got a chance to see things really clearly, the divorce rate would not be so high.