Overcast but about 72 degrees
Lat/Lon 32.87N 111.69W
Charley and I arrived in Casa Grande, AZ on November 20th to manage a Christmas Tree lot for Valley View Trees out of Eugene, OR. Mel the owner of Valley View has 18 tree lots between Phoenix and Tucson.
When we arrived, the tent had been set up, as well as temporary fencing. But that was it. From there, it was up to us to make a tree lot out of it.
We began receiving supplies and equipment .
We got a pretty heavy rain storm one night. We awoke to a swimming pool on one corner of the tent.
It was probably about 100 gallons of water! I thought we were going to have to cut a hole in the tent to drain it.
A few days later, the trees began to arrive.
LOTS of trees! As in, a semi-truck full!
Each tree comes bundled up, and needs drilled and then a stand attached. The tent began to fill up!
Every day, we'd see these planes fly over in various formations. It was weeks before we learned this is the Commemorative Air Force. A group of volunteer pilots that fly vintage planes from various eras. They practice regularly and do shows a couple of times a year. We loved watching them fly over, and stopped what ever we were doing to watch.
We opened for business the day after Thanksgiving.
And more trees arrived!
This is the machine for drilling the trees.
Then a stand and bowl (with a spike in the center) hand to be pounded onto the tree trunk with a sledge hammer.
Then the tree was taken into the tent, the bowl was filled with water, then the strings were cut and the tree was fluffed.
Waa laaa! Fluffy trees!
Then the stories began,…
The Well Dressed bag lady
Tree-vertibles
And the never ending stream of sirens.
I've never heard so many sirens in my life as that month on the tree lot. Firetrucks, ambulances, and cops… oh my!
Each tree we sold, we put a fresh cut on the bottom, so that the tree would drink in water better, and there by stay fresher longer.
From our first day open, we collected those 'fresh-cuts' from every tree.
We hung them up so that we could see at a glance our daily totals.
As the days went by, Charley got more creative with stringing and displaying our 'fresh-cuts'. They attracted a lot of attention and got some great comments. (Even from Mel, who owns Valley View Trees and all 18 tree lots!)
There were 2 articles in the local paper, the Casa Grande Dispatch, about our tree lot.
Charley walking Emmy and Elby behind the tree lot.
Puddles and ruts after a rain. Every time it rained, at least one semi had to be towed out of this field. (They park here overnight a lot, but not a good idea when it has rained recently.)
The Christmas season is winding down. The trees are thinning out.
Then,... it was time to remove tree stands and toss left over trees into a pile,...
...and empty the tent.
Even though we were exhausted from 12 hour days, 7 days a week, Charley and I were both a little melancholy about leaving our little tree lot.
So far, it's the longest we've stayed in one place.
And it was a fun job.
Good bye to Casa Grande, and off to the next adventure.
Heading to Yuma, AZ.
Well done , Ol' Chap. I didn't know you made a new cut on the trees sold, but that is a perfect idea. And saving the cuts-----you both are so creative. You could have shellacked them and sold them as coasters. Or red circles-----targets. Anyway, the cuts helped the buyers.
ReplyDeleteI like this chronicle of your "Lot Stay". thanks.
Plus, you left the tent and area spic and span. Good job ! No doubt much appreciated by the new tenants.
ReplyDelete