We offered to cut firewood from our property for the campground where we are staying. With fire bans on open land disposing of cut wood can be a problem. This arrangement solved two problems: the campground gets firewood and we get a place to dispose of wood we cut.
While making these arrangements, the manager of the part, a long time South Dakota resident, asked if we had any "vanilla" pines on the property. He said that the trees smelled like vanilla. I thought that surely he was trying to pull one over on a newcomer.
Well, cusious as I am, I asked another South Dakotian about this "vanilla" pine and was told that the Ponderosa pines can have a vanilla smell. Now the count is two against one and I am still dubious of this story.
Having been told that there are Ponderosa pines on our property, I think of the "vanilla" tale as we cut wood yesterday. No realize that the teachings of Bill Woodyard left me many years ago and I would not know one pine tree from another; however, I did recognize that I was picking up different pine cones...ergo, different pine tree varieties. So, I began sniffing pine trees.
Let me tell you, this ranks right in there with the hair on the back on the fingers joke from childhood...you're an idiot if you do and more of an idiot if you look...you can imagine how I felt as I sniffed trees.
Was I ever amazed when the second tree smelled of vanilla...really it did...I even checked repeatedly and Rod smelled it. I can;t wait to find out what it smells like when it burns.
If any of you would like to experience the wonder of a "vanilla" pine tree, I now know where you can find them. I'll leave some standing for you when you come to visit.
