Alas, I cannot bring back the California Grizzly Bear, which was last sighted in 1924 and declared extinct shortly thereafter. It was hunted to extinction after the gold rush caused ’49ers to encroach on the bears’ habitat.
I do have a couple of stories about the bear that first graced the flag of the very short-lived independent California Republic. That happened in 1846 … and apparently California has been dependent ever since.
Bear baiting, where bears were put into fights against bulls, were a big spectacle in the California of the 1800s. Horace Greeley, a newspaperman of great accomplishment, saw one of these fights and observed that a bear fought with a downward swipe while a bull countered with a horn’s upward thrust. This caused Greeley, it was said, to coin the terms of bear & bull markets for Wall Street.
This wasn’t fake news (joke! It’s a joke!), but it wasn’t true. The popular term (OK, not so popular with most) for a bear market has a very different beginning, which you can read about in Merriam Webster’s article, here.
California has plenty of wild spaces where grizzlies could thrive, but efforts over the last few decades to move up to 500 grizzlies back into California have not been successful. You can draw your own conclusions about whether California is wild enough to support the mighty grizzly bear.
The bears that I make are all from Black Walnut, and measure 19″ from nose to tail. They stand about 9-1/2″ high.
These bears and everything else that I make in the Woodshop are now available on my new site, MrMsWoodshop.com. Special offers for this one-time-only launch month are free shipping for any order over $50, and 20% off everything, site-wide, when you use the promo code “MrMsLaunch.”
Here’s the link to go straight to the page for these California Bears.
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If ever there was a time when we needed a little more heart, this is it.
I’m happy to do my part.
These hearts have unique wood designs. Note that all of these woods appear in their natural colors; I only apply mineral oil and Mrs M’s Board Butter as the finish. Here are the hardwoods used in these hearts:
Bloodwood, AKA Satine. Of course. These are hearts; they have Bloodwood in them. From tropical South America.
Jatoba, AKA Brazilian Cherry. Found in the West Indies, and from southern Mexico to northern South America.
Hard Maple, AKA Sugar Maple. It’s also true that this wood is known as Rock Maple, but when used in hearts, I only think of it as Sugar Maple. From the USA.
Cherry, AKA American Cherry or Black Cherry. From the USA.
Canarywood, AKA Canary. While a heart should not be thought of as a bird, hearts do sing. From Panama south to Brazil.
Purpleheart, AKA Amaranth. From Central & South America.
Bubinga … a wood with a name so fun to say, it really doesn’t need an AKA. However, it has one … and it’s fun to say, too: AKA Kevazingo. This is a fabulous musical wood, and it belongs in hearts. From equatorial Africa.
One more thought on how I make these hearts: although every heart is unique, I do make them 2 at a time. Though different, you can certainly conclude that hearts have a complementary match, if only you can take the time to find it. The last 2 pictures in this gallery are matched hearts, just for fun.
Finally, I have launched MrMsWoodshop.com this weekend. You can now buy these hearts with a click! Through the month of May, there is free shipping on all orders over $50. Plus. PLUS! You can save 20% off of every board on my site with this discount code: MrMsLaunch.
Don’t delay long, though, as the code is only good through May 31. And I promise I will never offer this 20% site-wide discount again! Here’s the direct link to the Hearts page.
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