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Post by doctork on Jan 15, 2017 22:03:57 GMT -5
Over on the show thread yesterday, I was reminiscing about the Chicago Cow Parade, which I was fortunate to catch in 1999. www.cowparade.com/There were cows everywhere, all over the city, or at least the downtown. So I looked those cows up on the interwebs and discovered that this Cow Parade is the World's Largest Public Art Event! More than 70 cities have now held their own Cow Parades. At the end of the Cow Parade, the cows are auctioned off and the funds donated to charity. I really really wanted one of those cows, but I couldn't figure out how to get it back to WV or WA, wherever I was living at the time. Just as well I guess because the website says they have had about 5,000 cows created, and have raised $2.5 million, or $25 million, I forget which. But whichever, I calculated it probably would have cost me over $5,000 to win a cow at auction. I remain intrigued at the thought of getting one of those cows. It wouldn't exactly fit in our neighborhood here in the Isolated Kingdom of Whatcom County, and since they are life-sized it wouldn't fit into a Tiny House anywhere. However, it would be perfect to ornament our garden in North Carolina. Actually, we don't have a garden but that is OK, we don't have a truck either, which we will need to pick up our cow, and to haul our Tiny House (we don't have that yet either, but we will be getting one eventually). Though I can buy a "real" Cow Parade cow at the official website, I found another website where I can buy a similar cow for much less: miva01.nyi.net/cgi-bin/miva?/merchant.mv+Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=fedrl-947194067-99&Category_Code=C1&Offset=25&Previous_Stack_1=13&Previous_Stack_2=0&Previous_Stack_Depth=2I like the Bat Cow and the Pop Art Cow & Calf. But you can also buy unpainted cows and do it yourself. I might like to make a Denver Bronco Cow. And I have found some appropriate cows on eBay, where I can use all those helpful hints y'all gave me when I needed new villagers for my Christmas Village. This is what happens when you have nothing to do but watch football on Sunday afternoon. But if they weren't so expensive, I really would like my own Cow.
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Post by joew on Jan 16, 2017 0:17:43 GMT -5
Sounds like fun, to have your own cow from the cow parade. Unfortunately, I can't offer any cow tips.
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Post by doctork on Jan 16, 2017 19:22:19 GMT -5
Yeah, I guess I don't really need advice about cows. I just thought this forum looked kind of lonely.
I have been wondering, if I put a cow in my yard in North Carolina, would my fake cow alarm the real cows next door? Or would they like it? The cows next door are the black-and-white kind of cow.
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Post by BoatBabe on Jan 16, 2017 23:49:15 GMT -5
Your black and white cows next door (not in Washington the State, but North Carolina) are probably Holsteins. www.dairyspot.com/dairy-farming/dairy-farming-facts/types-of-cows/As long as the cow is a statue in your yard, and does not confront the next door cows, everyone should probably be okay. When your dogs go back to that yard, they will probably not be okay with the statue cow; at least, at the beginning.
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Post by doctork on Jan 17, 2017 14:53:17 GMT -5
When we had Corky, the Australian Shepherd, he would have loved the parade cow - he could always keep her in exactly the right spot, and she would never stray! And if we get a Bernese Mountain Dog, well, historically they come from Swiss farms where there were probably lots of cows. He or she should feel right at home.
The next-door cows do look like the Holsteins. I can always tell the head cow because she has a black right front leg that is different from all the others. Even the bulls (the ones with horns or stubs of former horns, of which there are a couple) follow her lead.
Callie will initially object to any stray animal or human in sight, but will eventually calm down unless it is a squirrel or a deer. She hates rodents and those deer are giant rodents who clearly have no business in our yard.
I appreciate all your factual and practical knowledge BoatBabe! Although there are farmers in the remote past on my father's side, for the past 100 years they have been city or at least town folks. When my grandparents moved to the country during the Great Depression, they bought 40 acres (no mule) on the shores of Perdido Bay in Alabama, across from Pensacola and the Florida Panhandle. Coulda been farm territory but the best they could do was chickens, no livestock.
They named their estate "Dumbiddie" because they felt they were just a couple of dumb bidddies come down to the country, didn't know nothing about country living or farming. Having been in the Army during WWI (he also served again in WWII), and having attended the Citadel military academy, my grandfather was of course an excellent marksman, so they had plenty of doves, quail and other edible game.
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Post by BoatBabe on Jan 19, 2017 20:48:28 GMT -5
Ya know, Doc, Seattle did two Pigs On Parade fundraisers (in 2001 and 2007,) one to celebrate the Pike Place Market's 100th anniversary. The original Pike Place Market pig was really a piggy bank, and was instrumental in saving the Market. This explains why we did pigs instead of cows: // Why Pigs? In 1971, the citizens of Seattle voted to save the Market from the wrecking ball and also to ensure vital social services for low-income people. The Market Foundation thought a piggy bank could help raise money for these services. Georgia Gerber, a local sculptor, designed Rachel, the Market’s piggy bank. \\ Georgia Gerber was a well-known local gal on Whidbey Island when I was modeling for another sculptor there, Kenneth Hassrick. As you can image, the fine arts community on an island (that was pretty much "country" at the time) was very tight. Ken used to say about Georgia's sculptures, "They are very nice. Nicely done. But they don't have any 'bones.' " Now, not being a sculptor, I was never quite sure that I really knew what Ken meant. But I did get to watch him, for three years, BE a sculptor. That was quite an education in the blue-collar aspect of Fine Art. Georgia is also pretty famous around here for her public sculpture in Langley, on Whidbey Island, where I once was a city councilman. We called it "The Boy and Dog Park." It actually was a wide place in the sidewalk, with a couple of benches and great view overlooking Saratoga Passage toward Camano Island. Christmas there: Fer Cryin' Out Loud! I just googled those images, and Georgia Gerber's career as a public art sculptor has progressed wildly! www.google.com/search?q=georgia+gerber+boy+and+dog+sculpture&biw=1366&bih=638&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjX1Z7xx8_RAhUPxGMKHQrRAskQsAQIGQ#imgrc=_The internet is a fascinating thing. I think I understand Ken's "no bones" part now. Ken was a classic sculptor. Anyway. Back to the subject at hand: laughingsquid.com/pigs-on-parade-celebrating-100-years-of-seattle-pike-place-market/If one of these pigs is still wandering around, or ready to wander around again, Doc, that might be a better-sized statue for your Bellingham property. I'm particularly partial to the "Lipstick on a Pig" one.
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Post by doctork on Jan 20, 2017 9:42:25 GMT -5
I kind of remember news stories about the Pigs on Parade, though I didn't get to Seattle to see them. I think they are cute too, and one would be mighty fine on parade here in Bellingham. In my yard.
Pigs are very intelligent. Do you remember Arnold Ziffle? He was on Green Acres on TV, and he was one smart pig! And then there is Babe the sheep herding pig. I love that movie. And Babe was even better than Corky at herding.
I think Chicago chose the cows because of its history as Cow Town, major midwest shipping center and all, home of the Merc where they sold pig belly futures and all. Plus Mrs. O'Leary's cow who was wrongfully accused of starting the Great Chicago Fire.
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Post by doctork on Jan 27, 2017 21:54:52 GMT -5
I looked up Pig Parade and found that there will be a BBQ event and Pig Parade in Hillsborough, NC in September, which is between Greensboro and Research Triangle. That is, not too far from my house, perhaps 2 hour drive! I've penciled it in.
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Post by gailkate on Feb 1, 2017 20:52:17 GMT -5
Can't believe I missed this. The Seattle woman really knows what she's doing, but the fiberglass cows seem affordable. For $200 you get a newborn calf not much taller than your beagle. She'd bark like mad till she got used to it and then find it a comfortable companion.
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Post by doctork on Feb 2, 2017 17:13:46 GMT -5
A couple days ago (Sunday I guess) I went to Haggen's to get the Sunday papers and they had several of those fiberglass animals on display - a hog, a pig, and a couple of cows. I am inspired, as I think I could buy the plain ones, then paint them myself. I like the lipstick pig too.
I won't be buying much of anything extraneous any time soon though, as I just paid my cruise final payment, emptied out the bank account of "spare money." Scotland and Norway, here I come.
BoatBabe, you don't have Haggen's in Seattle area do you? I think it is limited to the Isolated Kingdom of Whatcom County, but it is a wonderful grocery store. I remember the first time I went there, having just moved from West Virginia where pickings are slim in grocery stores. I had tears in my eyes at the wonderful array of fresh produce. They also had fresh "homemade" marionberry pies, which I thought was a joke about the former mayor of Washington, DC (Marion Berry), now deceased. But no - there really are marionberries in Whatcom County, and every other kind of berry too. The county is primarily agricultural despite the presence of Bellingham and Western Washington U.
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Post by BoatBabe on Feb 2, 2017 17:31:18 GMT -5
Well, for a very short time we had a couple of Haggen grocery stores here, but Safeway went after them until they closed their stores. Too bad, really. I liked the one that was closest to us. Now we are back to QFC, and I have seen no cows or pigs there at all (except for the packages ones . . . )
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