Boyz from the Wood

Someday I'll tell the story about the night I met Widow Bryant. For now, I just wanted to introduce an interesting website with some wonderful art. She makes fantasy sculpture that I find to be amazing and life-like.

Most of us, when we hear to word "Fairy" think of cute little girls with wings. Not the Boyz from the Wood. These are men. The scuptures look like men, from head to toe. Widow Bryant also does other fantasy art and even commissions that look identical to the real person.

I recommend taking a look:

http://www.widowbryant.com

10 Things I Like About the Country

Subtitle: Why in the hell did I move out here?

1. Nature is beautiful. Just about every day when I’m walking around my house or driving to work, I have a “wow” moment. A moment where something is beautiful. It can be as simple as seeing a beautiful horse on a snowy hill, or more complex like seeing a herd of white cows grazing on green grass with the sun setting behind them.
2. Animals. I love animals and seeing them in their natural habitat. I also like pets. In the country, I see more animals. I also have the ability to have more animals then I did in the city. Within a couple of months of moving onto our land, we already had a kitten that just showed up. (Nearly Tailless Nick). But I’ve also seen animals you just can’t see in the city: deer, foxes, wild turkeys, pheasants, horses, goats, cows, dogs, cats, birds, etc. You just have to be careful when driving.
3. Trees. We have lots of them since we live in the woods. I just like them. I don’t know what else to say.
4. Privacy. Our neighbors are about a ½ mile away. We can turn up the radio, we can pee in the yard, we can act crazy, and no one would know. Sure we have cars go by, but you can usually look normal for those few seconds.
5. Healthier living. You get more exercise being out here. You want to get out and explore more. The air is better. We’re not close to a store that we can just walk over and get ice cream, pop, and other unhealthy snacks.
6. No building permits. We can do pretty much whatever we want to do. We’re safety minded, so don’t worry about us doing something stupid. But if we want to make a tree house, we could. We could put up a hen house.
7. Fires. I could build a big fire. For those of you who know me, this is a big deal. I’m a pyro. I love to burn things. We can burn trash, basketballs, sticks, trees, shoes, whatever we want.
8. We’re big fish in a little pond. May sound egocentric, but since we are better educated then a lot of the community and since we are technologically-minded, we are rare. I would love to help the community better itself. I can actually see myself being more involved and even running for a local office. We’ll see!
9. Kids love it. Think about what they will learn about nature. How they will appreciate things more.
10. Lower cost of living. We may not live in the lap of luxury, but we’ll eventually save enough money that we can take more vacations to visit the lap of luxury. My mortgage is 1/3rd what my city rent was.

10 Things I Miss About the City

1. Wonderful, up-to-date news and traffic tips on the radio. Here, I'm luck to get a radio station. Seems out in the country there are only country music stations. I HATE country music.
2. Reliable school closing information on snow days. You know what I'm talking about--watching TV on a snowy morning and seeing if your school scrolls across the bottom with the word CLOSED after it. Here, I have to rely on a country music station to list the school closings, and they only do it twice an hour. No kidding: The last time I did that I had to listen to the awful song "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk." Check it out for your self at http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/adkins-trace/honky-tonk-badonkadonk-15326.html. "Like Donkey Kong - And whoo-wee - Shut my mouth, slap your grandma - There outta be a law - Get the Sheriff on the phone - Lord have mercy, how's she even get them britches on - That honky tonk badonkadonk."
3. Getting stuck in traffic. Okay, I don't really miss it. But it sure beats getting stuck behind a tractor. But then again, I can pass the tractor.
4. Seeing a wide range of beautifully taken care of cars. The riced up Hondas and Hyundais, with the wheels that keep spinning even when the car is stopped. Here I see a lot of 10-year-old teal Grand AMs. They have to be teal, or red. Not to mention the Ford or Chevy trucks. But that's about it.
5. Good coffee. No Starbucks where I am. Not even close. I guess not having one nearby has saved me a lot of money. Maybe that's a good thing.
6. Being able to buy things in stores OTHER than Wal*Mart. I have to shop there because there isn't anywhere else unless I want to drive for over an hour.
7. High Speed Internet. My choice right now for home internet service is dialup or nothing. I chose nothing. Any suggestions or recommendations for satellite DSL would be greatly appreciated. For now, I get all my "Internetting" done at work.
8. Good looking people. I hate to say it, but for the most part, people out here are ugly. I'm not usually so shallow, but even I have noticed this problem. I wonder what causes it--bad genes, bad advice, only being able to shop at Wal*Mart. Go figure!
9. Not so much NASCAR everywhere. Page two of my local paper is devoted to the topic. Page two! I wish the newspaper would publish news.
10. Eccentric Bums. I miss the regulars that hung out in my old neighborhood. Characters like "The Preacher" who would preach sermons to his 2 liter bottle of Sunkist; or "The Barking Man;" or the "Heads Guy" who always wore a three-piece suit and walked around with a shopping bag. Since we were never sure what was in the bag, we always said he was carrying heads. I miss him.

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