The beautiful wood that will never get turned

[Brian Brown]

So the wife and I are on vacation in Tucson AZ. :) We stopped at a couple of specialty wood stores, and she spent a great deal of time picking out some Desert Iron wood burl for some jewelry she wants to make. I got some nice figured walnut turning squares that I had plans for. Friday night we parked outside our hotel, Less than 50 feet from the room (I could see the car from the window. A couple of hours later the front desk called our room to inform us that our vehicle had been broken into. :mad: The thieves smashed out the rear windows (what happened to the alarm). What did they take? A tripod, and the bag of wood we bought. About $3000 dollars in loss and damage, and what did they get? An old tripod that tries to bite my fingers off every time I use it, and a bag of wood chunks. The bag must have torn, because i I found two of the turning squares in the parking lot under other cars.

I can visualize it now. When they got to their car to inspect their haul... "What is this crap", as they tossed it in the bushes. The cop thought I was a human oddity when I told her they got a bag of wood. Her comment, what do you use that for. Too bad all that beautiful wood had to go to waste. I just wish I could find where they tossed it. Next time I go on vacation, I am going to take bags from expensive electronics stores, and camera shops, fill them with trash and if they get stolen, visualize the expression on their faces when they realize they risked jail for garbage. :p

We had planned on visiting a turning club meeting Saturday morning, where
Wally Dickerman was demonstrating, but instead spent the morning getting glass replaced it the truck. So, if you are in Tucson, near the airport, and you find some walnut turning squares and DI Burl pieces, there is a reward offered for their safe return. SWMBO says the reward is doubled if you use the walnut to bash on the heads of the jerks who did the deed. :D:D:D

[Steve Schlumpf]

Brian - sorry to hear of this! Don't know what else to say other than I am glad you both are OK.

[Gary Conklin]

What a bummer. You might try to keep an eye on CL and see if they pop up.

[Paul Douglass]

You know, I use to laugh at my father-in-law for keeping a loaded gun in his house. Than my house got broken into. Made me so mad, I got a Doberman and loaded a gun. I hope they come back! I have NEVER been so furious. It's not important what they stole, it just the feeling of violation.

Sorry for what happened to you.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Sorry to hear about your loss Brian. I just don't understand some people.

[John Keeton]

Ten to one, they were looking for something they could fence quickly for drug money. So sorry to hear about the loss, the intrusion, and the frustration of dealing with it.

[charlie knighton]

sorry for your loss, on a recent trip i had to stay overnight on the way to and overnight on the way back, i tried to stay 50 miles past the last large town off the interstate

if you go east to west, it will take all day to travel Tennessee, beautiful state in the spring

i also will stop at first rest stop into a state and get their discount coupon book for motels, check map and decide where to stay

my brother-in-law and sister stopped at large town and were trying to check in a "economy motel" when a man who had been shot in the parking lot came into the lobby looking for help, i am glad the shooters did not follow him in

the two found pieces should make good conservation pieces

[John W Dixon]

Sorry to hear about your frustration. That stuff just irks the crap out of me. Too bad more motels can't do something about the crime in their parking lots as it appears to be pretty widespread.

John

[Wally Dickerman]

Geez, Brian, I'm sorry to hear that your visit to Tucson ended up on such a bad experience. I'd have enjoyed seeing you again if you had made it to the club meeting. Just so you know, the demo went very well.

It's great that with what you and your wife went through you held on to your sense of humor. The thought of some guy looking for drug money ending up with a bag of wood is pretty funny.

Wally

[Curt Fuller]

That's a bad deal Brian. Makes you wonder where our society is headed.

[patrick michael stein]

hi brian,



sorry to here this story,if you like i can send you some walnut ,spalted maple, and some maple burl .not the same but could maybe help.




patrick

steinp@verizon.net


ps
just email if like.

[Ray Bell]

I hate to hear these stories. Sorry for your loss Brian. John is probably right, somebody looking for drug money. I wonder what they will get for a bag of wood!

Patrick, that is a very nice and generous offer you made, well done.

[David E Keller]

Sorry to hear about the ordeal. I truly hope those responsible have severe, anaphylactic allergies to DI burl.

[Mike Stephens]

Brian I am sorry to hear about your misfortune. I know it most sound lame but at least know one was hurt.

Good health good turning,
Mike

[Jeff Nicol]

Brian, I feel for you and know how it goes. I had some bone heads do a smash and grab on my old beat up Ford ranger once. They got about $3.50 in change and some keys to my old bread truck that I had turned into a camper. To many out there in this world that believe that everything is for them to destroy and use for their own misguided needs. I now have the IR lights in the driveway and I have a small light that I leave on at night that lights up all of my deer mounts through the picture window. I think it lets everyone know that I have weapons and know how to use them.

I think it has gotten worse with all the unemplyment and the drug runners crossing the border.

Stay safe,

Jeff

[Steve Campbell]

Brian; Sorry to hear about your misfortune. They are all sitting around as we speak, trying to smoke it....
Tell your wife to be careful what she wishes for. If a person did catch them I wonder what the law would do to you for getting your revenge.

Steve

[Brian Brown]

Mike, you are right. SWMBO was really upset at first, but calmed down when I reminded her we weren't there when it happened, and we didn't get hurt. I think what was most irritating, was that the truck was so messed up. We have a good insurance company. I called them at 8:00 am Saturday morning, and the glass guy finished replacing the windows about noon. You would never know no that it happened, and it only put a small dent in our vacation plans. Thanks for all your sympathies.

[Doug W Swanson]

Wow, that sucks. At least you guys were safe and they didn't get anything real valuable.

I have a story similar to that. About 15 years ago, I was going to school full time while working full time as a line cook. One day while I was at school, my car got broken into and they stole my duffel bag that was sitting on the passenger seat.

You know what was in the duffel bag? My work uniform and a baseball hat.

I did eventually get the duffel bag back after some city workers found it dumped in a park. The uniform and hat were gone so maybe they were cooks and needed new uni's.

Doug

[Lori Kleinberg]

Brian, sorry you received such a greeting from the city I live in. I hope this doesn't scare you off permanently.

[Paul Douglass]

A little humor, but I just want to thank Ray Bell, a friend, for not spelling the beans about how vicious my doberman is.....

[Matt Owen]

Sorry to hear about your loss. My car was broken into a few years back, and they stole some stereo equipment. It's really too bad people don't have any respect for others personal belongings.

Matt

[Ray Bell]

A little humor, but I just want to thank Ray Bell, a friend, for not spelling the beans about how vicious my doberman is.....
Well Paul, I don't want to give away any of your secrets, so I will just say, Alex is a very big, very impressive beast with a huge bark, and big teeth. If I was a stranger there is no way I would enter your house without you there. If Alex had been in Brian's car the thief's would not have entered.

[Bernie Weishapl]

That's a bummer Brian.

[Keith Burns]

Brian, what a bummer.

[Roland Martin]

Sorry to hear about your less-than-perfect vacation Brian. It's said that it takes all kinds to make the world go around, I think we could do fine without this kind.

[Brian Brown]

If Alex had been in Brian's car the thief's would not have entered.

I love the idea of a Doberman or Pit Bull in the car, but then I would have been arrested for cruelty to animals. Can't win for losing.

[steven carter]

Brian,

Sorry to hear about your car being broken in to. I know how you feel. We live in Indiana and have a time share condo in Florida that we go to in October. My wife and I are hikers, so on the way down to Fla. we stopped on the border of Tenn. and N.C. where the Appalachian trail crosses I-40 and went for a two hour hike to break up the trip. All went well, and on the way home we stopped to hike for a couple hours in the other direction. When we returned to my car, we found a smash and grab had occurred and most of our stuff was gone. We had 2 sets of golf clubs, laptop computer, printer, luggage, clothing, jewelry, cameras, gifts for people back home and a lot of other stuff. I think it was about $17,000 total. We had to drive the 400 miles the rest of the way home with no back Window in my Subaru Outback. Needless to way we were furious and just sick, as most of the stuff that we truly cherished probably ended up in a dumpster somewhere. It's just lucky for them that I didn't catch them in the act. The policeman said that our stuff was probably at a drug dealer's. At none of the victims were hurt is wither of our ordeals, which is way more important than "stuff".

Steve

[Brian Brown]

Well, we are back from vacation now, and all is well. No more exciting events happened, but SWMBO insisted that since her beautiful wood was stolen, that we had to stop at CS USA on the way back, and see if they had some Buckeye burl to help ease her pain. So, not only did the theives cost me money when they stole from us, they once again cost me when we went home. :eek: :rolleyes: Fortunately, CS didn't have any buckeye burl, so the expense was minimal. Thanks again for the sympathy and advice from all of you , and especially Patrick Stein for the wood offer. Now it is back to the grind of work, and SWMBO says that I need to start the yard work for the year. I hate coming home from vacation. :D