Again the Perfect Tree? An Annual Quest!

No snow down south in Port Stanley, but was I getting snowed at $40? I was born in the night, but not last night!
This year we decided to hitch up our little trailer and go down to Port Stanley in search of the perfect tree. In other years we had good luck there. The fairly heavy snow here in town dwindled away to green fields as we headed the twenty miles or so south to the Lake Erie shore. Snow in our region usually comes in ‘streamers’ off Lake Huron so when you go farther south the depth of the snow diminishes. We were disappointed with the trees at stop one. Not only were they quite rugged looking and un-manicured, they were over priced at $40 for a straggly ‘cut your own’ tree. As I mentioned in last year’s blog entry, my extended reach is 8 feet so I'm a walking measuring stick. We had trouble finding a tree that was short enough and everything looked a little yellow. The lady said they didn’t get enough rain this summer. Not my problem!

Back towards home, we remembered passing some trees at a greenhouse operation south of Glanworth. I figured they would be pricey since they had to buy them at wholesale. I was right - $60 is too much even with inflation. Wendy said it might be the time in our life to get a phoney tree. “Where would we store it?” she mused. So off we go to our next stop.

Stop three looks promising. Any tree $30. But alas, a huge field of trees and nary a one that was any taller than me. They also had a yellowish tinge from our extremely hot and dry summer past. We didn’t linger very long here. The owner said “Come back next year. They’ll be another foot higher by then” I wondered if they would still be alive by next year. They looked so dried out.

Stop four and over 80 kilometers, we decided to try the ‘big box’ Rona home builder’s store just down the street from our home. They were having their Grand Opening this week. A prominent sign exclaimed $19.95 any tree. Hmm! There didn’t appear to be anyone around to help, so after perusing a few trees, we ventured into the store. Just pay at the register and go and get your tree. We bought one tree and two poinsettia plants. Wendy said the tree looked so good she wanted a second one for the family room. No one around, no one to talk to, no attendant, I tied on two trees and sent Wendy in to pay for the other one. Talk about self serve! I think this store is so new, they haven’t got their act together yet. I suppose they will lose a few trees before realize they can’t trust everybody to take only what they pay for.

Two for the price of one ($19.95 x 2 + tax) and 80 km plus fuel. But it was a nice excursion and the two trees do look very nice. They were probably cut ages ago and shipped from USA (or God forbid - China!) but they look really green and the smell in the house is not possible with a phoney tree. Besides, we can recycle them and they were only grown for this purpose so I don’t feel bad about it. Just doin’ my part to perpetuate the Christmas frenzy!