Tuesday this week SWMBO called my from the ER (BAD!). Seems she'd been
over the Farmersville (yes, really the name) TX to see the traveling
Vietnam Memorial Wall and pay her respects to a HS Classmate who fell.
Heat and stress caused her heart to go wild (160+) and it wouldn't
seem to calm down despite her breathing exercises (it's happened
before, so she knew what to try). Anyway, she was transported to the
ER in McKinney TX - hence the call.

I broke a few laws getting over there from the office (a Honda S2000
is quite quick if you want it to be, say 140+). Turns out she was
sitting up in an ER bed complaining she wanted out! All was fine and
after 2 hours she was out. Whew!

Point of the story

When I went out to get my car I noticed a truck parked next to me with
a decal on the camper shell window - "Curly Woods, McKinney Texas".
Hmmm. Went over there this AM - woodie heaven! More beautiful wood
than I have ever seen in one spot - multiple grades of curly maple,
spalted maple, birds eye maple, big leaf maple, ambrosia maple, fancy
walnuts (American, South American...) curly cherry and about every
kind of exotic I'd ever heard of. They had it in burl chunks two men
couldn't lift, they had it 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 8/4, they had it in pen
blanks, turning blanks, bowl blanks. They had it stacked everywhere!
It was unreal.

Talked with Frank, only guy in the warehouse. Said I wanted to make a
few knife display cases, but didn't want to spend a fortune yet (still
learning). He wandered me around and found a hunk of curly cherry that
was too thin (about 5/8 thick). Said " Try this, I'll let you have it
for $4 a BF". That deal took about 2 ms (little m) to process and I
walked out with 6.9 BF for $30 including tax. Bit of a trick getting
it in the Honda, but WTH. Next time I go in the truck!

Check them out

www.curlywoods.com

They really have some nice stuff and ship all over. Plus, from my
experience with Frank, they're good folks. I have no commercial
relationship, other than as a customer.

BTW, I haven't yet worked up the courage to go to the Wall, though I
commuted to Dulles every week for more than a year and worked not 45
minutes from the Wall in Washington. Too many comrades, too many
memories - I'm not ready yet.

Regards.