Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Almost Gone



You are only there to help.  Cricket and Gary are up from Texas and Gary is a woodworker -- makes furniture and such from mesquite and cedar wood.  You get the chainsaw to cut a tree in the north woods which has a burl about six feet from the ground , found by ginny previously, growing off of a black oak. Tree is near the size of that shown here but the burl is maybe three-quarters as big. Woodworkers go nuts over these since the woodgrain inside is beautifully swirled and colored.  And any type of tree can grow these  burls since they are the product of some sort of injury or assault to the trees' exterior.
You make a cut to the tree high so as to lessen the cutting necessary to release the burl.  Tree is going to fall to the East I predict, Gary says to the West.  You make the first cut on the West side, then go over to the other side where, after a cut into the tree, the saw is pinched in the cut..  You are too distracted trying to free the saw or turn it off to consider the next move; not realizing that the saw is pinched because the tree is falling the way you predicted!
You feel a strong push from the left (gary), reel to the right but remain standing.  A soundless mass of dark tree lightly brushes by your left shoulder on its way down as if a shadowy hand has brushed a fly from your arm.
You are one  arms-length away from being gone.
You later  try not to think of the bad outcome; or let it flow through once then forget it -- best not to dwell on a messy situation.  As it occurs during meditation, let it pass -- let it flow then let it go.
Just another thought to watch without reaction or tensity.

All you can say later  is:  I had better get a bowl out of this deal . . .



The burl can be cut into a thin veneer and made into a wood-surface upon any type of furniture.
This is called a "bachelors chest" and has the thin burl layer attached to the desktop and drawer fronts.

10 comments:

  1. I had to take a minute just to breathe again. Very, very well written, Goatman...I have been in your situation, although not quite as close. Close enough, though. Wow.

    I'm glad, so glad you're ok! And I hope you got one of those bowls...they are spectacular. The furniture, as well. Graham has some old growth clear cedar milled into planks. Unbelievable how beautiful the grain is.

    Ok, time for a calming cup of tea, lol!

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  2. Close call my friend. I've had quite a few myself in "life situations" so to speak. I've still not done well with the way you mentioned in "letting it pass by and letting go of it" that way...I understand that meditation meaning but have very rarely evolved with it...thought every once in a great while it does work!

    Wonderfully written story and what a close call...whew!...there is definitely some spiritual meaning to this story I feel. The "softly brushing right by you" but no danger...that is a wonderful thing when you think about it...your meant to stay around for a long while my friend.

    Tomorrow is my Birthday! It's been an interesting year for me and this Birthday I know will be so different than it has in years and years.

    Don't forget to "spring" forward your clocks on Saturday night.

    Rhi

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  3. what beautiful beautiful wood

    and lovely writing too.

    I had no idea these burls were so prized and special - but I'm somehow glad they are

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  4. Close call and you stayed so calm. The grain of the wood is amazing; had no idea that burls contained such beauty.

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  5. Down here in the south such situations usually call for the person most closely effected to buy bottles of Jack Daniels for his friends.

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  6. Burl sound as precious as truffel does and what some beautiful wood finish. Very, very nicely written story.

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  7. i'm so so sorry for what you are going through

    i have so many words but little to say really - but am thinking of you

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  8. Goatman, have you thought about Facebook? It would be nice to meet and some of my other favorite blog friends like Marion (saw her comment next to this box) there. You can always use a nom de blog.

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  9. Princess,
    Tried the Facebook and found it too speedy for my taste. With the blog I can return, alter, revise, and work out the same topic without fear of it disappearing into the linear flow of "friends" comments and endless pedestrian wording.
    Most of those claiming to be from my High School were not (I have a Yearbook) and I wonder what that was all about.

    Yup, I am afraid it is the random non-linear chaos of the blogs for me.

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  10. We have a beautiful tree is our back yard that is dying and we will have to cut it dowm.
    It will be a big loss as our tree has given us much comfort and shade in the summer time for a lot of years.
    Trees are friends to me and hard to say goodbye to a good old friend I've had for a long time.
    But, I shall let it go and accept it!

    Thanks for sharing your story!
    It meant a lot to me!

    Margie :)

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