The Saga of the Table

Over 20 years ago, when we bought our house in Onion Creek, we found a large burl log in our ancient barn. We dragged it with us when we moved, years later. Years passed. One year, someone was slicing wood for demonstrations at the county fair, and Michael asked them to slice it for us. They did, no charge. Sometime later, Michael knew someone that was interested in making us a table, of our own design. The pieces were moved to their house. They languished there for 2 years, unworked. This woman apparently was quite the flake. It nearly took a lawsuit to get them back, but we did, $100 gone, wasted. Now we dragged slices with us when we moved again. I thought our idea for the burl would never materialize. Last summer, Brother-in-law Bob was working on our new house and he saw them, sadly neglected in the garage. He said he had a neighbor that worked with wood and who needed the work/money. I sent them to Deer Park with him. Michael never noticed them missing. Lee, the artisan, met the pieces and wanted the project. I went to meet with him and laid out my idea for a table with him. He had big plans, but again we were trying to succeed with someone with few resources. Was he up to the task? Waited several months, hoping the burl would finally be finished into a table.

It became a Christmas present for Michael. I blew my secret twice! First, I secretly went to Deer Park to meet Lee and slipped later about something Vicki said to me. Curious, how had I seen her? Michael asked. I suck at lying to him. Fortunately, he wisely knows when to drop a line of questioning.

Then the dragon. When I met with Lee, he showed med a dragon he is creating from a log. I was quite impressed. Couldn’t figure out who would want such a thing. Some weeks later, driving to work, it hit me. Dani has a house we call the castle. They even have a dragon weather vane! I told her and she was excited to look at it with an eye toward buying it for Shawn’s Christmas present. He’s hard to buy for. Second security breach: I finished talking to Dani on the phone and said outloud, Dani is excited about the dragon! What dragon, my ENTIRE family says. I suck again! Genny is relentless, I want to see the dragon, what dragon, why, when….

Dani goes with me to get the finished table right before Christmas. She and Kylee like the dragon and think Shawn will too. She strikes a deal with Lee for the still unfinished dragon. Hopefully, this will work out for them also!

Michael had to find a series of letters for clues then assemble them to find out when his present (the table) is hidden. I made it hard, since he always makes hard puzzles for me to solve. It says: "I'm only a doctor, Jim". Look in the van. He solved it after working hard on it!