Our Eagle

When we poured the driveway for our current home, approximately 10 years ago, we did not know it at the time, but we had poured it too close to this 90 year old and 70' tall Blackjack Oak tree. 

The Arborist that came out to cut it down after it had died in year two of us living here told me that it was because of magnesium and fly ash from the concrete that had leached into the feeder roots; clogged them, and led to the untimely death of this gorgeous tree.  Though we also have an incredible looking 100+ year old Pecan tree on our lot, this oak tree had been the most grand of them all.

I have always loved Eagles, not only for what they symbolize to us as a nation; but also for their majesty. I have watched documentaries on them, and to understand how God made them to fly like no other bird, makes them the most grand bird of all.

That is when I got the idea to hire Clayton Coss, the world's greatest chainsaw artist, to come out and turn the ruins of our grand oak tree, into an even grander Eagle sculpture.  And I wanted it to be a Momma Eagle, with 2 little eaglets in the nest being tended to.

This sculpture is of Momma Eagle just landing, surveying the area for danger, and preparing to feed her two young eaglets.

Because this is a dead tree, it will not last.  3 years ago, we hired Clayton again to cut off the base of the tree, and to permanently mount the Eagle sculpture to a decorative stone base that we had constructed. That helped to stave off water damage from the base.

It was time to spruce her up again this year.  She needed caulking in the cracks, she needed a new coat of weather proof stain/sealer, and she needed to have 3 squatters evicted.  The squatters were actual wood peckers that had bored 3 holes into her structure and nested.

Thanks to my good friend Kelly Wood, our Momma Eagle is now back to her previous majestic glory, beaming with pride from Kelly's latest restoration efforts.  She is now good as new for hopefully another 2-3 years.  Thank you Kelly.

At night, she beams with pride too.  Long ago, we installed an LED spotlight high up in another tree, and make our Eagle the primary focus of the spotlight.

Take a look:

This is probably as close as I will ever get to seeing one in real life; but to me, she is the next best thing to being there!