Cutting a Christmas Tree

When you buy a Christmas tree cutting permit from the Forest Service, it comes with instructions on what you can cut.  Around here, the Dixie National Forest issues the permit, and they only allow cutting of pinyon pine, juniper, and the true firs (white and subalpine).  You may not cut any other pines (pondo, limber, bristlecone); you may not cut any spruces (blue, Engelmann); you may not cut Douglas fir; etc.  It always makes me laugh.  Do they really expect the average schmo from Vegas to know the difference?  Heck, I'm a professional and I sometimes can't tell the difference without a good look at the leaves and cones.  (To give the Dixie credit, this year's permit came with a page of photographs of each different species.)

Sure enough, when we went out to cut a tree for Grandma and Grandpa, the first likely patch of conifer saplings we encountered had been heavily cut for Christmas trees.  They were, of course, very nice looking blue spruces.  Being mostly law abiding at Rural Ways, and not having ignorance for an excuse, we pressed on up the canyon in pursuit of a pinyon or a white fir.  We examined a couple of nice round pinyons, but discovered that their roundness was due to multiple stems.  Finally, along the banks of Center Creek, under a heavy canopy, we found a small, reasonably well-shaped white fir.  Let the Christmas season commence.