Gone Shopping

Well, the whole idea of picking up some goofy stuff was to entertain ourselves by dressing up oddly and enjoying some time on the porch.
The last shot is my pal Daryl moving around in a 5 second exposure. I had hit the remote and told Amanda to hold still. Everyone else got blurred.
Not a perfect shot at all, but all of them still fun.

I got the leopard print shirt at the Thrift Store for .75 cents. The hat was a thrift store find from a year ago. The Teddy Bear? I think I paid .50 cents for it. One of the girls was wearing an old evening gown of mine from the 1990's.
Remember the Bumblebee Transformer Mask in the last post? Daryl is wearing that. We found it all hilarious and good fun.
Who the heck needs cable?

The rifle in the corner is a .BB gun.

I dug out some odd chairs that Rich had picked up years ago at an auction. We took those to the creek and set the beach chair at the edge of the creek. My Thrift Store teddy bears [and rabbit] looked great sitting on the 'beach'.

One of the kids put the kid's blue chair right in the middle of the creek and set a Baby Doll on it.

Saturday was another Thrift Store experience. I guess it could actually be called an Indoor Flea Market. I purchased a set of mini chickens. A Hen and Rooster.
The store is in Westby and it used to be an old Tobacco Warehouse.

On our way back through Viroqua, we stopped at Driftless Books and Music.

This was probably our best stop of the whole week. Books, books, and books. Oh yes, lots of music also.

I spent $11 dollars and bought two mysteries, a philosophical book and a book on backpacking.

I think finding odd stores and thrift stores are fun. I know I'll go back for some more books soon. 

The Moldy Graveyard???

A friend sent me a link in a text message about a place to go visit that was extraordinarily odd and different.

The Mold Graveyard. F.A.S.T. Corporation in Sparta. You can find more information at Atlas Obscura. An interesting site that can lead you to strange and interesting places to visit. This is one of those and I had no idea it was only about an hour away.

My friends from the Kenosha area were visiting and we decided go check out the Mold Graveyard ourselves. We had planned on going to LaCrosse and seeing the Riverside Gardens, but with Riverfest going on, we decided not to fight crowds and changed our plans.

Wait...
Did I fail to mention the morning trip to town where we stopped at the Thrift Store and got silly?
Yes, I did.

...um, well...
more on that in another post...

We arrived at our destination and got out.

What an interesting place.

The sign for visitors said we were welcome to walk around and look at the molds stored in the large yard and take photos.

We got a bit creative and yes a bit goofy with our fun Thrift Store toys.
Here Amanda places her pink rubber ducky on a Duck mold.

My favorite find of the day was Big Boy. Do you recall the Big Boy restaurant chain? I do!

I found him, actually I found two sizes of him. His burger was on the ground behind him next to a 10 foot ice cream cone.

Here are a few shots from the 'Mold Graveyard'.

If I said I only took a few photos of the different molds, I'd be lying.

And I found this poor ice cream cone just sitting in the hot sun...

I think it was melting.

I do think this would be a fun photo trip in the winter or early spring when the weather is bleak and dreary.

And I think I found my retirement home.

You know. The Little Old Lady who lived in a Shoe?

It isn't a Moldy Graveyard. It is a place where old fiberglass molds come to rest and sometimes be reused. I loved it.

We sought out more odd places while the Kenosha Gang was here.
Stay tuned.

The 4th

Sunrise found a group of us on the ridge watching the sun arrive for the day.

The day was going to be hot, hot, hot with heat indexes in or around 100.

What an incredible morning. The photos can speak for themselves.

We spent a good part of the afternoon on the porch in front of the fan.
Charlie had the proper idea...

The dogs played some but the heat wore them out...

After the storms moved through and we ate...the fun began on the ridge.

Sparklers have a new name. In Logan-ese, they are aptly called Sprinklers!

Fearless Daryl lit things off...

And the kids enjoyed the glow sticks....

The fireworks commenced and later on we stargazed.

And life was good...

I still like mornings

Pre-dawn is my favorite time of the day during the summer. I like to be out just as the birds are starting their morning songs.

This morning I cajoled my Grand daughter Ariel into coming with me on an early cruise. She held Charlie and we went out to watch the most glorious part of the day.

I do love it when we have mists or fog.

It lends an air of mystic to the low spots on the ridges.

In the valley bottom on the other hand...it is dull and grey.
This was taken at one of our favorite spots at Bridge M.

The ridges were clear and the valleys were immersed in grayness.

Didn't I say that I loved foggy mornings???

This view was from Kolstad Road looking down on the ruins of an old shed.

A July misty morning is not complete without a quick stop at Linda's cropland to grab some morning shots of her oats and corn.

Last year she had soy beans in this spot. This year it is field corn....

Did we enjoy the morning in all of its glory? Yes I think we did.