Canucks for Kids Fund

I've always thought in the back of my head that the burl has potential to raise money for charity. The organization that I like is Canucks Place. The reason my attention has been brought to CFKF is because I'm a die hard VancouverCanucks hockey fan. It's incredible what this organization does for terminally ill children and their families. It nearly always brings tears to my eyes and gives me a lump in my throat when I see the joy in the kids eyes when the team visits the hospice.

I will definitely need help to come up with a plan to show the burl at a location and in a setting where people would donate a few dollars to have their photo taken with the burl. It's not quite finished yet but I'm trying to be proactive and come up with a plan. I'm sure it will all come together eventually and until then I'll continue to sand and polish the inside until the day when I just say "That's good, I'm happy with that now."

2011 photos by Warren Lange

Warren Lange came around a few weeks ago with his cameras and took over 100 photos. He gave me a couple dvds and some beautiful blown up photos that we now have framed and hanging on the wall. Thanks again Warren, you're a good guy.

Lifting the burl

I have almost completed the outside of the burl except around the hard places to work, down around the bottom. My Buddy Allan freely offered his help to raise it, so I took him up on it. On July 6th he came over with 4 heavy duty barrel jacks and we lifted it to about three feet. This has made it so much nicer to work on the bottom as well as the inside. I'want to thank Allan for his unconditional help. Awesome!

Giving back to nature

The little maple tree in front of my shovel is a seedling from the original. On August 10th/2010 I planted it in the exact location where its parent (the burl) grew. I found it struggling to grow under a thick juniper. As a result of its struggles, the bottom of the stem is twisted and swollen making me think it may develop the same type of character as its parent.

The inside is coming along nicely now, the color and character is amazing.

It's time to get back at er.

Since the spring when the weather changed I really haven't done much to the burl other than clean it up occasionally. Most of my spare time has been spent in the yard, which is another thing I love to do. An American Kestrel family kept me entertained all summer. They are a very aggressive falcon (pigeon hawk) that will attack anything that could become a threat to their young.
   I witnessed one intercepting a raven that was flying into the area, the kestrel was kli kli kli ing violently as it flew above it. Then it would tuck its wings in and dive at a very high speed and repeat several times. At one point it appeared to actually have contact because the raven flipped right upside down. It looked shaken, and did not take long to get out of the area.
 The squirrels weren't nearly as cocky as they usually are, and there didn't even seem to be as many small song birds around as usual.
  We put a bird feeder up and a hummingbird feeder as well that helped attract the little fellas. I moved plants around in my yard all summer and added several new perenials, most of which attract hummingbirds. It will be interesting to see how it works out starting next spring.

  But, for now it's time to change my focus back to the burl  and that's what will be done. This picture is the area where I'm starting this season, working counter clockwise until the outside is finished, Then, the inside.

A few summer visitors

Family, friends, and a burlshack. What more can a guy want?

Maybe just a bigger barbeque.

Character shot

Now is that character? or what. Barry and Ken never walk past the burl shack without bringing our little Jack Russel terrier a treat.

Quadra Island

We found this beautiful maple tree at Quadra Island. It's much younger and still very healthy. But wow, what a beauty.

Visitor, canvassing for the blind

George was walking past my place when he spotted the burl, and called out to have a look. He's 91 years old and says he's never seen anything like it.

Around the burl shack

Love bowl

I made this bowl for my daughter, Becky

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Aug. 08

The burl is in very nice shape and is coming along just fine. I'll lift it up about 3 feet soon and work the inside this winter. Hopefully in a year it will be ready to display......somewhere.

More of Warrens photos

Photos by Warren Lange

Warren Lange was kind enough to give me three cds full of photos as well as several prints of various sizes. The camera is Warrens labour of love. I'm pleased to have met another good friend at the side of the burlshack.

Thoughts I've never really expressed

Lately I've been thinking about how beautiful that tree was when it was living in our front yard. The children loved to play around the awesome mystical monster, most of our family photos were always taken around it. The birds loved it, we often would see a family of racoons climbing around it at night. It must of had thousands of spiders and bugs living in it. Sometimes I start to feel guilty that I removed Gods beautiful creation.

The tree was dying a rapid death, ten years ago it was still a healthy looking tree. You'd never guess it was completely hollow right to the top. It wasn't until the leaves started falling before they were to full size that I realized something had to be done. So I had it topped for the second time, I thought I might give it another chance to survive for a few more years.

Where the big old tree was topped the thickness of the wood in some areas of the ring was less than an inch. The thought that there was at one time ten inch branches coming off that thickness of wood is what really scared me. The splalted wood inside the green wood certainly wasn't offering any mechanical support. It got to a point where you could see the house across the street right through the base of the tree. It would only ever get worse.

So, there was two options to chose from. 1. Leave it there, let it rot the rest of the way through. or 2. Remove it.

The first option would feed birds and bugs for many years to come. If it wasn't for the fact that I have another Maple tree in my back yard that is twice the size of this one, I may have made this choice. Not to mention the two Dogwood trees that were being choked out by the big maple in the middle. Combined with the fact that I would be fighting the mess for the rest of my life, it was evident that the other choice was the best.

If a tree like that has to be removed, there are options on how to go about that.
It never occured to me to do anything else, I was saving this beautful creation.

Where it will end up is beyond me at this point. Any ideas?

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