Sepia Saturday for this holiday season.
That is my truck in the photo.
Taken in the mid to late 80's,1980's.
You can see, barely to the left in the photo part of a log cabin. This is a log cabin I built on my log cabin mentors property, which really doesn't not pertain to this story but adds some context.
My mentor had a nephew who was a very good chef and had a very highly regarded catering business.
This nephew asked my mentor if he could provide a Christmas tree for one of his clients. My mentor being in his 80's and me being in my 20's asked/volunteered me to find and retrieve this tree.
That is where the log cabin comes in. I found this tree on my mentors property where I had built him a small log cabin (which I could use any time).
So shortly before Christmas I drove out to this property, just me and my dogs, and found this tree.
Luckily it was not to far from the drive past the cabin and I was able to drag it out, rapped in a large canvas drop cloth, to the drive.
But how was one person suppose to get this large tree on to ones truck?
Has you can see in the photo the tree is longer, front and back, than the truck, a full sized Ford pick-up.
Well, being a Boy Scout, and use to working alone, after several cups of tea I came up with a solution.
I throw two ropes over a very large limb of a very large tree.
One rope would be to haul the tree up, while the other would be used to hold the tree in place while I did this maneuver a couple of time; driving the truck forward, rising the tree, tying it off, backing the truck up and repeating again.
Once I had the tree high enough to back the truck under I did the final securing to the big tree then back under the tree.
I was then able to slowly lower the tree onto my truck and secure it.
I then had to drive the tree about 30 miles to the clients house.
This house was owned by a very important lawyer in St Louis.
His house was in one of those gated communities. Separated entrances for the 'staff' if you know what I mean.
There that day was the house boy to help me with the tree.
Eventually we wrestled the tree into the mansion, not to go near the fireplace or family room, but in the entrance foyer of the place. With two staircases, one going up each side of the fireplace. My whole house at the time was not twenty feet high, yet this twenty foot plus tree fit inside the entrance way!
Once done, always being a little bold I asked the boy, since the lord and master wasn't home, if he could show me around a little. He did, a little. No private rooms.
I remember thinking when I saw the dining room that you could either A; play tennis in this room or B; fit four mobile homes in there, two on top of two.
This visit gave the goal of trying to be wealthy which after 45 years I have still not obtained.
