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Thread: Hidden Treasure

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    A few years ago on my birthday, we had a large Willow Oak killed by a lightning strike. It was close enough to the house to be a hazard so we had to have it cut down. I saved about 15 feet of the 3 foot diameter trunk to use as a wind barrier for my fire pit. It was decomposing much faster than expected so when I burned some brush a few days ago, it caught fire and I didn't bother putting it out. The next day I went outside and found this, stuck in the center of the thickest part of the smoldering trunk. A few hours later it had burned free.

    It's an old cotton scale and it's about 15 inches long. I guess this is my belated birthday present. :D

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    Ken, A gift from above!! Happy Birthday indeed!!

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    Julie Kenward
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    Ken, that's amazing. On a similar note, I found a can of unopened beer in the center of one of my old trees when lightning split it down the middle. I have NO IDEA where that can of beer could have possibly came from. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

    Happiest of birthday's to you, my friend!

  4. #4
    Chantelle Voss
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    Great find Ken! Nice spotting, it doesn't seem like it would be the most noticeable thing when stuck in a burnt stump. I grew up in an old farmhouse in upstate New York. As a child, I loved digging large holes in my backyard (thats the type of thing young boys are supposed to do, right?). Anyways, one of my holes happened upon an old dump site used 130+ years ago when the property was a working farm. It was a great treasure trove of artifacts similar to your cotton scale. Among my favorite finds was an old roller skate (the type that one would strap onto a leather shoe) and about a dozen old medicine/elixir/tonic bottles in a wide array of shapes and colors. Thanks for sharing the great photograph!

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    Quite interesting! that's certainly a rare gift.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Any clues as to how it got in the middle of the stump (or am I confused)?
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Any clues as to how it got in the middle of the stump (or am I confused)?
    No confusion, Artie. It was near the center of the tree trunk and I have no idea how it got there. I've seen fence lines and small objects get 'swallowed' by growing trees but those things had been firmly fastened in place. I dug through the ashes to find hardware that might have been used to attach it to the tree but I didn't find anything.

    Another story about this tree. A few months after it had been killed by lightning, I was walking near it and when I was about 10 feet past, a large branch broke off and landed where I had been seconds earlier. It was a calm day so wind wasn't involved. This branch was about 6 inches in diameter and 15 feet long! That's when we decided it had to come down sooner than later. :)

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Thanks for the added flavor Ken! I am guessing that this will remain an unsolved mystery.
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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