Community Signs

 Near where I live there is a roadside farmers market where I often shop.  It works on the honor system and this is a shot of the pay box or Money Can. 

During a recent visit to the Old Salt's brother in Columbia, Missouri I captured this sign at the entrance to a large apartment complex. Several things bothered me about this sign.  First, I believe a few things are missing that should be there like skateboarding and double parking, second a few of the included items immediately told me this was not a place I would care to live. What is your opinion?

Linking to Signs, Signs 

I Don't Understand

Even a trip to the grocery store can turn into a photo opportunity, as the following signs will attest.  But, I have to admit that neither of them would ever be found on one of my vehicals. 

When I spotted this decal on the back of a jeep recently I had to laugh and run for my camera.  We have a dear friend who drives an old jeep.   She complains on a regular bases about the poor gas milage.   The Old Salt and I have been trying to get her to trade it in on a more fuel friendly model for years.  Her answer is always the same, "I's a jeep thing, you wouldn't understand."  She is right, I don't understand it at all.  Why drive a ten year old gas guzzler when the gas savings will pay for something better?  

I spotted this sign on the back of a SUV today.  This is another sign I just don't understand.  I grew up in a house with a German Shepherd and they are great pets, but why would anyone want six of them?  Heck, as I recall, one fills up a room and will eat you out of house and home.

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Thou art the Great Cat

Yesterday, I visited the local Humane Society.  

While there I captured the following animal related signs.  

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Signs, Signs

Cats on Tuesday

Warning Post

Sharing a few recent captures of warning signs in my area. 

I've heard this warning spoken for years, but, this is the first time I have actually seen someone using it in print.  

This weathered sign is in the window of a house near my doctors office.   



Linking to Signs, Signs 

Blank Signboard and Bored Husbands

My blogging buddy Lesley over at the blog "Southern Ontario, Discovered" is the host of the weekly meme "Signs,Signs".  Signs are not something that come my way every week but today I have one recent capture and several I discovered in my archives I had forgotten.  

Last month, I posted a picture on my photo blog of a herd of cows seeking shelter from the heat in a grove of trees.  You will find it here.  While standing at the fence snapping shots of the cows I noticed this signboard on a fencepost.  If you look closely at the bottom you'll see a strand of barbed wire. I'm guessing here but, I believe, this signboard, since it is blank, is used to post "No Trespassing" and other such notices.  Five small screws and a small circle of plastic are the only evidence the placard must have blown away.  

I found this chair and another like it outside a card shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico during out visit in the fall of 2009.  

While visiting Walt Disney's hometown of Marceline, Missouri this spring I found the above sign posted on an old pay telephone for sale in one of the shops.  The phone numbers  are a bit out of date, though.  I guess, that is expected for something being offered for sale at and antique shop. 

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Kiels Party Hole

There is a very small building on the corner of one of the main streets in my town that has been a Tavern as long as I have lived in town.    

Awhile back a new sign went up out front announcing a change of name. 

 This spring a chalkboard began appearing beside the entrance.  Every time I pass by there is some new message.  I've seen everything from famous quotes and funny expressions to a witty joke; but always with a punch line or message related to the bars product.  Yesterday, was our first day of school and the chalkboards message was for all the teachers in town.  

Not so sure I wouldn't be giving the owner a call if I were a local teacher. 

 How about you?   

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Hosted by Lesley

signs signs

Last week I posted about the farmers market in town.  I mentioned in that post that the reason I was at the market that day was to pick up a custom sign I had ordered previously.  I purchased that sign as a surprise for the Old Salt on his birthday which happens to be today.  I wanted  to show him how much he means to me and express how his coming into my life as improved every aspect of my existence.  

 This photo shows the wall beside our desks in our home office.  The first sign is the one I purchased at the farmers market. 

 The second was given to me by the Old Salt earlier this year.  He saw it when we were in Branson on vacation and said it fit me to a tee. He is always telling me that besides being the worst nag he has ever know that I am also extremely Bossy.  But, he always says both in the most loving way. 

 The third we have had for years and it is a reminder to us both that our office does not clean itself.    

Linking to Signs, Signs hosted by Lesley 

We Piddle Around

During our visit to Brundidge Alabama last year I captured the above sign.  I found it interesting and had no idea what it could stand for.  I did however take the photo with Lesley's sign meme in mind.  Life and health issues got in the way and I forgot about it until I happened on it in my archives.  I researched this sign and was quite surprised by what I found out.  The "We Piddle Around" is a dinner theater and the following information and photos were taken from the theater website.

this photo curtesy of the theater website

The theater is housed in the former Brundidge City Hall built in 1940 as a Works Project Administration (WPA) project.

The WPA provided jobs for those who desperately needed to work. However, the WPA workers (at least in this area) gained the reputation, rightly or wrongly, of being folks who were "just piddling around" on the taxpayers dime rather than putting in a full day's hard work. The WPA was, therefore, dubbed "We Piddle Around."

When the Brundidge Historical Society was considering names for the theater, many suggestions were made but none so fitting as the We Piddle Around Theater. A good bit of piddlin' and a whole lot of hard work went into the theater and its original folk life play, "Come Home, It's Suppertime."  Everyone involved with the theater hope that those who share nights with them will leave believing all the piddlin' has been worthwhile.

this photo curtesy of the theater website

The website describes the "Come Home, It's Suppertime" folk life play as follows:

"Perhaps you've heard your grandma tell stories bout sittin' up with the dead, bout beatin' the blackberry bushes to run off snakes or meetin' the rollin' store. Maybe you've heard your grandpa talk about hog killin' time or fightin' the demons of the cotton field, plowin' behind a stubborn ol' mule or makin' moonshine whiskey. Well, when you "Come Home" to supper at the We Piddle Around Theater, you can pull up a chair, grab a chicken leg and a baked sweet tater and listen to a bushel of stories and tap your toes to the music 'til they're just about too tired to walk you on home."

My Mother was born and raised around Brundidge, Alabama and we visit family there as often as possible.  You can bet that the next time we plan a trip there, I am going to check the theater schedule    and make sure our itinerary includes time to see "Come Home, Its Suppertime".      

 

Linking to Signs, Signs
hosted by Lesley at Southern Ontario, discovered. 

Fair Time

Next week the fair comes to town.  I'm not talking about one of those traveling outfits that sets up in a vacant field with carnival and amusement rides over a weekend.  I'm referring to what in many parts of the country would be called a county fair.  Here it is called a town and country fair and is organized by the Chamber of Commerce and put on by a committee of civic leaders. All proceeds go back into the community through assistance with various community projects.  This is a huge event and consistently one of the three largest fairs in the state. Yes, there is the traditional midway with games and rides, but, most visitors come from far and wide for the big name entertainment.   Our fair features livestock shows, tractor pulls, exhibition halls filled with exhibits ranging from 4-H projects, garden clubs, cooking contests and displays of artists and merchants.  Popular kids contests include bubble gum blowing and a greased pig catch.

This fair started in 1872 and disbanded in 1917. It was revived in 1929 and has been in the same location ever since.   For information on the

history of the fair click here.  

In the past several years, as many as 95,000 people have attended the five-day event.  As you can imagine; the crowds, traffic, noise, and who knows what coming from the fairgrounds can become an aggravation for folks who live nearby.  Every empty field for blocks is turned into parking lots and all streets circling the fairgrounds are closed to motorist so coming and going can be difficult.  As a result, some of the residents who live near the fairground plan their summer vacation  during fair week.   

I saw this sign at last year's fair.
 But, some version of it has been displayed in the same
spot for as long as I can remember.  

 I suspect that is what the family who live where I photographed  this sign do.  Knowing they can not stop fairgoers from using their property as a shortcut they hope to reduce the damage with the sign.  Hanging their sign is probably the last thing they do each year before leaving on vacation.

This is the fencing where this year's sign will hang. The arrow will point to a break in the fence just out of sight.  Beyond the trees in the  background is the field that will soon be bumper to bumper with vehicles causing many to walk through this side yard. These homeowners will not have to worry about their flowers this year, however, because they have already become a causality of our prolonged drought.

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 Signs, Signs  

Friday Fences 

Key's Cafe and Times Beach

Key's Cafe was a well known and popular eatery in our area visited by both the locals and those traveling the historic old Route 66. Unfortunate circumstances closed not only this well liked landmark but the entire town of Times Beach (where the cafe was located) in 1983.  Once home to more than two thousand people, the town was completely evacuated due to dioxin contamination that made national headlines. It was the largest civilian exposure to dioxin in the country's history. What was Times Beach is now the Route 66 State Park. 

Read more about the ill fated town of Times Beach by clicking here. 

If you read the above link then you know all about a man named Russell Bliss who was accused of spraying dioxin contaminated oil on numerous locations in our area, one of them being the land surrounding his own home.  This dioxin contamination was responsible for the disruption of  many peoples lives, their future health issues and extreme taxpayer expense.   

Russell Bliss happened to be one of my neighbors for many years. The Bliss family lived just down the road from me.  The Bliss children went to the same school as my daughter. Trails surrounding their property were some of our neighborhood's regular places to go for hikes.  I must admit I have wondered if this contaminated soil had anything to do with my having Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  

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signs, signs 

POSTSCRIPT added 7-13-2012

Based on some of the comments received I feel I should add the following. 

 I agree this was a terrible legacy for both the town of Times Beach, this area and our nation as a whole. But, we have to remember that at the time Russell Bliss was spraying his oil on roads neither he nor the public knew the dangers of dioxin.  The chemical company from whom Bliss got the used oil may have known but I doubt they shared that information with Russell Bliss. You see, Mr Bliss used the oil on his own place, even around his own home. 

Once enough time and knowledge revealed the horror of this product ten years had pasted and Russell Bliss had long since quit doing this kind of work.  By that time Mr. Bliss and his son had a successful business together that had nothing to do with used oil or dust suppresion. It took yet another ten years for the relocation and clean up of these sites (there were many) to be completed.

 Russell Bliss was made the scapegoat for this tragic situation. His was the name ordinary people saw and he had the misfortune to have a easily remembered name. He didn't created the dioxin. The practice of spreading oil on dirt roads to suppress dust was done all over the country for decades.  Russell Bliss and his family were hurt more by this unforunite episode than the rest of the people involved.  Russell Bliss and his family lost everything they had which included a successful business and the property that had been in his family for generations.  All their savings and other resources went into fighting years of lawsuits. Even Bliss's son who was in high school at the time this dioxin was being sprayed around the area was sued by many of the relocated families simply because he became a partner in his father's business  that was unrelated to dioxin ten years later. 

This family became outcast in a community were they had lived all their lives and were forced to move out of the state.   Bliss did an interview after the clean up where he talked about how the government provided free medical testing to all those living in contaminated sites.  His own property was one of the most contaminated sites and his family were never offered that same testing.  They had to seek  medical help at their own expense. 

I have not been able to find any current information on what happened to the Bliss family.  The gossip I get from friends in my old neighborhood is that by the time all the lawsuits were settled Russell Bliss was a broken man and his family was separated and scattered as well.  

And this tragic situation is not yet finished. Read the latest on this saga by going to these links. 

  

EPA Discovers More Dioxin in West County

CBS News St. Louis  

 Last year it was announced that Strecker Woods (where all of our neighborhood hiked) has been found to contain dioxin and talks are still ongoing about cleaning it up.

Not Verses Should Not

 

I photographed this sign in a window in Plattsmouth, Nebraska a few months ago.   As someone who has suffered with Fibromyalgia for over thirty years I disagree with the wording of this sign.  It should read   "Pain should not become a lifestyle."

I believe for many people pain effects all avenues of their life.  Chronic pain can become so encompassing that dealing with it does become a large part of a persons lifestyle.

I have no way of knowing if the following facts are actually true but I found one study that claims:

116 million people suffer from chronic pain every day.

   

Of those suffering from chronic pain:

                                      77% report feelings of depression
                                  84% report an inability to sleep well. 

74% report significant loss of energy and concentration

Pain is estimated to cost the US $635 Billion a year in healthcare expenses and lost productivity.

Linking to Signs, Signs 

truck signs

On a recent trip into the city we happen to get behind two trucks that carried a message.  Or for our purposes today -- a sign.  

For all the shouting this rig did about maintaining your distance.  The driver of this truck actually merged onto the highway and cut us off in the process.  500 feet, heck no.  He was within ten feet when he pulled into our lane.  Fortunately, he had a tarp covering his load so there were no rocks flying.

I have to agree with every word on this telephone truck.  But, our grandson was with us and ask "Who taught them how to spell.  They forgot the "vowels"."  Duh!  And this is boy who runs out of texting minutes every month.  

Linking this post to Signs, Signs hosted by Leslie. 

Villa Ridge Zephyr

 About a quarter mile from my Mothers house sits an abandon Zephyr gas station and cafe.  The old place was already empty and slowly deteriorating when my parents moved to that stretch of the famous Old Route 66 back in the mid seventies.  

I took this photo of the old sign in March of 2011, but, for some dumb reason, never did photograph the decaying building.  When I did a google search I found quite a few shots of both this sign and the building going back about ten years.  Most of them were done when the sign was hiding behind and overgrowth of vines and weeds.  I also found that a artist named Tripp has done a watercolor painting of the old building that was very good.

Click on the following links or key Villa Ridge Zephyr into google.  

Zephyr Station 

Zephyr Gas and Cafe -- Villa Ridge Mo. 
David Tripp Painting 

I captured the following sign during my last trip to Omaha.  It was nighttime so it is not the best shot but I wanted to share it because I have never seen another like it.  The moveable sign was in front of the Bag and Save supermarket near my sisters house.

Nice to know that someone is thinking of us old folks.  I see "expectant mothers" signs around here but never "Senior Citizens."  

Linking to Signs Signs hosted by Lesley

Prayer of the woods

 A while back my brother and his family took a family trip to Louisville, Kentucky.  When they returned I was going through the photos my SIL had taken and discovered  these four banners (I'm going to consider them signs for todays post) and fell in love with the content.  With my SIL's permission I am posting them today to Lesley's meme on Signs. 

I believe these pictures were taken at the Louisville Zoo

What a wonderful reminder as to how much generations of homosapiens owe the humble yet so might tree.

 My research shows that this prayer/poem has been used in the Portuguese forest preservations for more than 1,000 years.


Prayer of the Woods
I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights, 
the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun,
 and my fruits are refreshing draughts,
 quenching your thirst as you journey on. . 


I am the beam that holds your house, 
the board of your table, 
the bed on which you lie,
 and the timber that builds your boat.


I am the handle of your hoe, 
the door of your homestead, 
the wood of your cradle,
 and the shell of your coffin.


I am the bread of kindness,
 and the flower of beauty. 
'Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer:
 Harm me not.
 


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Cactus Flower Cafe

I captured this sign on the circle in Dothan, Alabama during our visit there a few weeks ago. 

What the heck is California style Mexican Cuisine, anyway?  

Even the Old Salt who lived in California for forty years was stumped by this one.  

linking to Signs, Signs hosted by Lesley

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Something New

Since the first of March I have been lucky enough to travel through parts of seven states.  We have made pit stops in all of them and most of those stops have been at gas stations.  

 Heck, every one knows that gas stations are the best place to get all your needs met and get back on the road quickly. Right?   

Of all the stations, in the country, that I have been in I have only seen the product pictured below once in my life.  

This station in Iowa is either on the cutting edge of new product placement or could they have a higher regard for their customers?   

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Century Farms

Throughout  the county where I live you will see signs like this one marking farms owned by the same family for 100 years or more.   This Century Farm is next door to the Catholic church in Villa Ridge, Mo. where my brother was the pastor for five years.

The state of Missouri began honoring the owners of Centennial Farms during the American Revolution Bicentennial year of 1976.  In that first ceremony 2,850 farm owners in 105 of our 114 counties were recognized.  This program has grown to an annual event with approximately 7500 farms recognized as of 2010.  120 of those farms are located in my county.  

To be considered for this select group of farm owners, the same family must have owned the farm for 100 consecutive years or more with the line of ownership documented from the original settler through bloodlines, marriage or adoption.  The present farm must contain at least 40 acres of the original land that still makes a financial contribution to the overall farm income.

Long-term owners of Missouri farms are proud of their family accomplishments, as well they should be, and consider it an honor to have this sign displayed on their farm.

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