Featured Yard Art - Iron Sprocket inside Oak Log (grew around it)

So I found this at an estate sale where the recently deceased operated a tree service. This unique item was offered for sale at the bargain price of $10. I love it and I usually buy the things I like because that means someone else probably feels the same.

It was stolen from my garage when I left my door open and ironically there was tree service being conducted across the street the next day and also two doors down and next door the day after. It almost seems like a Twilight Zone story given the coincidence because nothing else was missing from my garage. The log/cog was on the floor next to the door/driveway edge so it would have been easy to see from the street and easy to grab.

I was planning to offer it up for 10-day auction on eBay to make some money. Just out of curiosity what do you think people would pay for this? Or what would you pay? It's one-of-a-kind and think about how long it took for nature to create this.

Thanks

 

It "was" a pretty neat looking item. Sure is a mighty strange coincidence about the tree service guys in your neighborhood after the disappearance...........where's the video doorbell when you need one?

 

I could have used one of those devices but we don't have any security cameras. I'm considering one now since the technology has come so far. I found a battery powered WiFi camera that runs for six months on a charge and only $55 (no wires). It's the Wyze brand.

I live in a safe neighborhood aside from the occasional petty theft like I have experienced. I don't leave my garage door up unless I'm in the front yard so it was my mistake to present a thief with the opportunity.

Part of the problem was that my cat was hit by a car and is now thankfully recovering. I returned home on Sunday afternoon to find my furry friend looking like he's a goner in said garage (he has a pet door access). So I quickly emptied my vehicle of weekend travel things and sale finds before taking him to the veterinarian (panic). Dealing with his trauma overwhelmed me and led to making a mistake like leaving the garage door up, and leaving my resale items in the garage instead of taking them inside my house.

The Twilight Zone side of my brain wants to think that the owner's spirit made it vanish from the garage into the ether so-to-speak because over the years on display at his home there were lots of moments with company where somebody offered to buy it and he always refused.

 

Glad your feline family member is OK <3 Long may his recovery continue xx

 

I once had tomato plants stolen off my front porch. Not the package that was sitting there,just the plants. Go figure ! People will steal anything.

 

Some kid probably thought they were weed plants - LOL!!!

 

That sprocket is unusual, and caught somebody's eye. Personally, I would have liked to have something like that but wouldn't pay much ($5 at most). I'm sure there are people into such things that would pay more, though.

 

This is why professional loggers are wary and don't like to cut yard trees. Nails, wire, bolts, and now, oh my, Sprockets........Very dangerous!

 

@Figtree3 I'm not too worried about it anymore, just upset that someone stole it. I forgot to mention that our house also had tree service performed the week before so I kind of like the synchronicity aspect of the story and will spin the yarn that it was reclaimed by the spirit for the sake of an interesting tale.

 

@Gus Tuason I have also heard this. My neighbor said you have to watch out for a metal stake that was originally used to reinforce the young tree and then the tree grew around it because it was never removed.

 

Sounds great!

 

@BoudiccaJones Thanks, he is still mending. Yesterday he made a jail break and hopped the fence after a week of not the leaving the house with supervised yard time. I think he figured out the leg needs more time because he came home soon after and hasn't tried to leave again. A couple more weeks and Cheeto will be better.

 

What a pretty cat !

 

Glad Cheeto is recovering!

 

So here's the supernatural conclusion that I suspected based on the erie coincidences... and just to recap the reason for the vibes from the other side: first we had tree service on our house two weeks before going to my Dad's birthday on Friday night a few hours south of where we live, and on Saturday I went to an estate sale that was very close to my childhood home (my folks live in a different place now) and the recently deceased owner of the home with the estate sale ran a tree service and so that's how I came into possession of the log/cog yard art item–it got jammed in a log splitter and that's how it was originally found.

When we returned home Sunday we found our cat in bad shape after being hit by a car and I quickly unloaded the car to take him to ER Vet and remember placing the log/cog under a table near the edge of my garage. The log/cog went missing on Monday when I forgot to shut the garage door and there was a tree service removing two trees from directly across the street. There was also another tree service down the street on Monday, then the next day, and then my next door neighbor two days later (it was like tree service bonanza on my block). My wife agrees I put it on the garage floor and there were a few pieces of oak bark where it was laying. We don't have oak trees anywhere on the block. We have a sycamore tree and the bark is much thinner. I remember pointing at the spot beneath the table and saying, "oh no, it's gone! Someone stole it when I left the garage door up."

Today, a week after the log went "missing," my mom dropped off 4 chairs we left at their house down south because they wouldn't fit in our car and they have an SUV and a truck that could transport them. My parents have a second lake cottage that is east of our town and is on the way to their cabin so Mom dropped off the 4 chairs AND she brought the log/cog because she said we left it at their house.

Why do I remember placing the log/cog on the floor of my garage when we returned home Sunday, and why are there oak bark fragments on the floor where I remember setting it down and these fragments were confirmed to match the oak log today and not the sycamore tree on our property.

I told my Mom, "You're going to think I'm crazy but I already brought that home." And she replied, "Oh that's why your reply sounded off when I told you on the phone I'm dropping off your chairs and you forgot your yard art thing." She smiled and agreed that it is very peculiar.

I mean??? Rod Serling couldn't write it much better.

 

Very eerie! So your dad's birthday was on a Friday, you bought the log/cog the next day, then went back to your parents' house before leaving to go back home Sunday? If you and your wife both remember it on the garage floor, and the bark matches... wow. Yes, keep an eye on it all the time!

 

And just to add one more odd (coincidental?) detail to the whole story...
The tree service I paid for on 2/24 with a check did not clear my account for two weeks and was finally resolved on my Dad's birthday 3/11, the day before I visited the sale even though the tree service I paid insisted that they received their money days after Feb.24 and the check was good when I contacted them on 3/9. It was my bank's error. It's too many things to dismiss as mere chance. It has been several linked events to remember.

 

My goodness. He is beautiful. I have a 20 year old ginge, Jasmine and she's beautiful. SO glad he is on the mend! (that face...!!!)

 

I volunteer to catsit Cheeto! Pending approval of my five spoiled felines, that is