Night of the Grizzly

Yesterday my father forwarded me this email from his good friend and colleague Nolan Olsen. Nolan lives about 5 minutes outside of Waterton Lakes National Park. The incident occurred a few nights ago at his neighbor's home. The email better describes what actually happened:

This happened very close to home. Probably within 15 miles of our house. Linda
Tim Hamilton is my neighbour in Waterton. Last Monday morning he came out to find the inside of his 18 month old Toyota Sequoia trashed. A grizzly bear had somehow got a door open (easy considering the way the handles are) and once inside got trapped when the door shut behind him. Probably the wind. The Toyota was a platinum edition, all the door panels were ripped off, the headliner torn to pieces, all headrests, the leather seats, the dash shredded. The steering column was twisted sideways. Two of the six airbags went off, the other four the bear ripped to pieces. You can imagine a trapped grizzly being hit with an airbag in an enclosed space must have figured he was in for the fight of his life. When the bear ripped off the door panels he clawed all the wiring harnesses out. Toyota figures every wire he pulled or clawed at resulted in bells, voices or sparks. The head mechanic at Calgary Toyota doubted if they had the expertise to put it back together. To add insult to injury the bear took a big dump in the back of the SUV and then broke out the rear window. Fish and wildlife officers have inspected the damage and figure it was a 3 year old griz. From blood left behind the are doing DNA. The vehicle has been written off, cost new over 70,000 they stopped counting repair costs at 60,000

If I were king of the world I would be a grizzly bear.

Summer

This past summer was great. It is sad to be moving into the cold weather time of the year. 

If I were King, it would be summer year round 

Cool.

I frequent the National Geographic website, and these are some of the radical gems that I have stumbled across.

If I were King of the World, I would take equally cool pictures.

What if a Woodchuck Could Chuck...?

I am not one that claims to be an artist or even to be that creative, but lately I keep catching myself wanting to design and build things out of wood. I have always enjoyed woodwork and I absolutely love and respect good workmanship when I see it. For some reason wooden works of art catch my attention. Whether it be a rustic and rough or polished and smooth, wood can be beautiful. I have begun to look at every piece of furniture and cabinetry that crosses my path with a highly analytical curiosity. Each piece is broken down in my mind to decide what works and what does not. I have been contemplating why or what has triggered this vivid curiosity for some time now, and have narrowed my keen intrest in woodwork to few poignant truths (this has brought out the hippy in me, so do not be surprised at my kooky outlook on wood):

• There is life in wood.  Think about the steps that are taken to have a piece or wooden furniture. A tree must first be grown, sometimes this process takes hundreds of years! A chair takes on a whole new meaning if you think about it growing from a tiny seed to face season upon season of wear and tear from the elements on the slope of some hill far far away. You may be resting on something that has stood for over a century! 

• The process that encompasses the life of this tree from seed to chair is also really quite amazing. It is cut down, shipped, milled, kilned, treated, and more all before it reaches the hands of a carpenter. It is then in the carpenter's hands that beauty of the wood is molded into something that takes on another meaning for those who use or admire it. The fact that a chunk of wood can be transformed into a useful and aesthetically pleasing object is magical. 

• True workmanship can harness the strength and longevity of a piece of wood in such a way that it might last a couple more centuries or so. Think about the handcrafted antiques that become cherished heirlooms and contrast them to the processed garbage that you might find in the put it together yourself section of your nearest hardware store. I have nothing against pre-made furniture, but, from what I have experienced, such items usually don't last. My disappointment with such furniture might be another reason that I have begun to formulate and design my own heavy duty furniture that can last the test of time. 

I love wood. If I were King of the world, I would have a gigantic wood shop with an endless supply of the finest wood that this earth has to offer. I think I want to build this soon:

King

If I were King of the world I would update my blog.