Tuesday, December 22, 2009

YES, Virginia….there is!!!

 

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Today we got to participate in a time honoured Christmas tradition.  We listened to our good friend, Lauren, who heads up the local museum and followed her out to Schmid Family Ranch to get a tree.  She and her crew put on a fabulous event and I had a blast.  The place was crawling with dogs  which was a sure fire sign the day was going to go  well.   

I’m in the car and raring to go.  No coat, boots, hat, or  mittens for me.  Get a move on people. They made me wear my bear bell in case I got lost in the forest.  I’m glad I didn’t have to wear my Christmas bell collar…I feel silly in that thing and it is a bit uncomfortable. The things I do to keep humans happy can be ridiculous.

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Here we are.  Lauren (Telluride Historical Museum) and staff have helped us find our way here by hanging candy canes on the road signs. (A Christmas Hansel and Gretel thing I guess?)  Finally I’m on the farm and leashless….a day of memories begins.

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Coffee’s on, hot chocolate is available, popcorn, cookies….I loved the crumbs under the table and spent a lot of time nosing around.  Real cowboy coffee by the way….lots of grounds…not a mon gout! (did you know I speak French? it’s the Canadian in my family, sometimes I just get overwhelmed and have to drop a bon mot, oops, there I go again)  

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Owner wants to get down to business. There are two ways to go….old fashioned axe or modern chainsaw with a real live ranch hand to help us out.  We wander into the woods to check out the trees….which were planted years and years ago so they are really tall, sparse near the ground and hard to picture in your living room. (mainly because you are only going to take the top five or six feet home with you…and hopefully someone will use the trunk for firewood.) It pays to go into this venture with an active imagination and then everything works out well.

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While I was off in the forest running around being a dog, peeing on everything I  could find, sniffing my pals,and  just generally having a good time…..back at the ranch kids were visiting with Santa and the calmer canines who preferred not to  act wild and crazy.

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Pups get tired,  even the cuties with beautiful Christmas bows. This puppy just flopped down on the wreath making branches and could not be moved. I guess he was plum tuckered out.

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As for us it was time to drag the tree off into the distance, tie it to the car and head home.  I slept the entire way and had fantastic dreams of running free with friends. I finally wedged that last popcorn kernel out of a back tooth.    It was a great day and I’d do it and go straight to Wilson Mesa again tomorrow.   Farms, ranches, Santa Claus…I’m a big fan.  It is my biggest wish that Lauren organise another dog’s day out on the land……it was the best day of my whole life. Schmid Family Ranch was a pretty special place.

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And so we drove home. We thought about taking a slide down the hill on the flying saucer for old times sake but held ourselves back.  It would have been fun though.  Maybe we can sneak out there another day.  The horses bid us farewell as we left  with dreams of returning next year to get another tree.   Thanks Telluride Historical Museum….we had a wonderful day in the fresh air of the mountains.

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See ya later.

 

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1 comment:

A little one said...

It was one of my most memorable days as well! Casey, thanks for the memories!