A catch in the ol' getalong....

Before we left for Franklin/Nashville my left hip and leg seemed to be in trouble. It hurt to walk with pain from my left hip with an occasional spike down my left leg. I was coming down the stairs from my office and three steps from the bottom my left leg gave out....sort of disappeared so to speak. I became a temporary "Flying Wallenda" and landed on my right hip holding my Nikon safely away from the floor. I gave it the expected ooooh's and OH *****s but eventually hobbled into the bedroom and got in the sack.

The next day everything seemed to be good as the leg/hip weren't really bothering me so we took the road trip. While in Tennessee both parts of my body decided that they needed to be heard and they were. I had to use the cane we brought and a wagon to transport my cameras, mirrors, tripod etc. to the shooting site.

After getting back I went to see my doctor and he prescribed some pills that take the pain away but that's about it. After watching a million doctor shows on TV and an occasional Soap opera, I have decided that I need an MRI. And will look into that next week. In the mean time I remembered
the Grapefruit tree I planted while at Southwest Mo State while in my second year in college.

I ate a grapefruit in the cafeteria and found a seed and wondered if it would grow. I took it back to my room in Freudenberger and planted it in a paper cup. The damn thing grew. I took it to Grad school with me and it continued to grow. I started my business and it was with me. I took it to Louisiana in 81 and it still prospered. Then to Dallas....grow baby grow. It was really starting to get out of had so I started to trim it back. Back to Carthage and in the studio window it was graced with Christmas ornaments and lights and was trimmed back every now and then. When Karen and I moved to Tulsa it came with us. We got here in "02" so the tree at that time was over 30 years old. I had it in a large pot that was somewhat sizable. We had no place to put it in the winter with the exception of an upstairs office. SOOOOOO I took it up. For the next few years it would come down in the summer and up in the winter. It also got a trim every now and then. I guess it was 2 years ago in 2014......I just sort of forgot about it. The tree was 45 years old. The trimming kept the height under control but the trunk continued to gain in width.  The tree died from my inadvertent mismanagement of watering it, so it just sat as a constant reminder of my stupidity. A month or two ago I dislodged it from the pot it was in and took it outside and hosed off the rootball. I didn't know what to do with it. Turn it into a sculpture.....wall hanging reminder to pay attention........I was stuck. Last night it woke me up !
I had a vision !!!

I just delivered it to a master craftsman, Jim Vanderlind, whom I have talked to here in the blog before, and he is going to turn it into a cane for me. It took the first spin on the lathe this morning
and we got a look at what was under the bark. It will be a very light wood with a different colored handle of an exotic hardwood. One more reason to keep some stuff that has history...