WTF Wednesday: Air Pollution, Chanel No. 5, Unicorn Farm

Buenos Wednesdays! Buenos WTFs!

First of all, thank you for the stitches sympathy last week - I had them removed Monday and my mousing hand is expected to make a full recovery - hooray!

Now onto some environmental WTFery - approaching the Goodwill in Canton, NC one cannot help but be overwhelmed by the sight of massive towers of smoky steam billowing into the sky. 



It's the Evergreen paper mill and it looks like a third world Fraggle Rock - pipes and rusting buildings and silos seemingly haphazardly connected, spewing foul-smelling dusty smoke, all day every day.



It's really quite a sight, and quite a smell, and quite a load for the lungs - "Haywood County has some of the highest levels of industrial air pollution in the state. It ranks fourth out of 100 counties statewide in toxic air emissions, and third statewide in the level of known carcinogens emitted into the air, according to Environmental Protection Agency emissions data for 2010." Here's some more info from the Smoky Mountain News: 

Canton paper mill seeks state aid in costly air pollution upgrades



I hope they are able to quickly turn this into something more eco-friendly. (not bloody likely).

Moving on! Thriftstore treasures! These were part of a set of 12 bonnet-wearing ceramic girls. Creeptastic.



These old dudes may be recognizable to somebody, but not to me.



I smelled this, and they are lying.  Not at all just like Chanel No. 5.



Here we have a sculpture made by Pouncey and Sugarhoney. 



Took them over a year to whittle this design. 



Last but not least, Unicorn Farm Road. 



As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.

For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

New WTF this week:

• 80s Grumpy Cat Rhinestone Denim Shirt
• 70s Granny Square Afghan Baby Poncho
• 80s Civil War Nut's Wife T-shirt

WTF Wednesday: Sugarstitches, Fake Frat, Dental Assisting

It's Wednesday, let's WTF!

I have survived almost 4 decades without needing stitches. This changed on Monday as I was hit by a sugarfreight train.

While walking down a muddy hill, a 60 lb furry dumptruck sprinted by, knocking both of my feet out from under me, sending me flying, and I landed flat on my back and wrist.

Oooops, did I do that?

The blood spouted plentifully from that smiley face gash. 

We went to urgent care where the physician's assistant's assistant (it had to be his first day, ever) tried to numb it, but did not in fact numb it. He told me they had practiced on hot dogs.

Some women brag about natural childbirth, i am bragging about natural stitches. There was no anesthesia, I felt every stitch! 

Here it is now with 4 stitches, healing up - it's my mousing hand, so I have to be careful. I also keep seeing it in my periphery which is causing me flashes of panic because it looks like a spider on my hand. Other than that, it's fine. 

 
Moving along to a couple of vintage t-shirts I picked up last week.  First, this 60's football jersey with fake fraternity letters. Iy Phelta Thi. (Say it out loud).

Oh John, what a kidder.



Last but not least this wearable tribute to the oft-underappreciated career that is Dental Assisting. 



Scraping gums - just like dancing on rainbows! 

As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.

For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

New WTF this week:

• 80s Lonely at the Top Farm Animal T-shirt
• 80s Hendersonville Apple Clouds T-shirt
• 70s Democrat for Commissioner T-shirt

SNOWDAY!

They called for 5 inches, and we got 5 inches.  The dogs love it!



This is a different kinda snowball.

 
Sunrise on the snowy Swannanoa river.

 
I always dreamed of becoming a white lab.

 
Pouncey will get the ball, no matter what. 

 
Sugarhoney will stalk him on the bank, no matter what. 

 
Something on your nose, E.

 
Snow pounce!

Sugar heart tongue. 

Stay warm, amigos!

WTF Wednesday: Pest Control, Head Cuddles, Butter Warmers

Good day, Wednesday! Good day, WTF!

Let us begin with some strange things spotted in sunny Florida. We went down last weekend to see my parents and we had a ball.

Nothing says pest control like a 6 foot dead cockroach.

Unless maybe you've got a 12 foot dead cockroach.

This one is pretty adorable.  Like the great pyramid. Of fro yo.

Here we have a classic case of "unnecessary" quotation marks.

We toured a house for sale that was built in 1982 and not touched since.  Everything was wood grain, and lo-fi.

I mean everything.

Welcome to our home! Dog butt.

Moving along to last night's terrible basketball game between UNC and NC State. Brice Johnson fell out of bounds and then cuddled the State assistant coach's head. 

Pre-cuddle:

Early cuddle:

End cuddle:

Background lady loves head cuddles.

Now for some thrifting treasures. Dental implants - a solid choice indeed.

 Creepy washed out boy-girl twin dolls lacquered onto a piece of wood, anyone? 

Good point, passive aggressive bathroom sign. 

This was found inside a Kenny Rogers LP.  Straight outta 1988 via Print Shop.

Last but not least, butter warmers.

As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.

For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

New WTF this week:

• 80s Diagonal Iris Flower Sweatshirt
• 80s Parkway Motel Ladies Basketball Polo
• 80s North East Sales Team T-shirt

WTF Wednesday: Bag Feet, Horned Toads, The Fatheads

Greetings, Wednesday! Greetings, WTF!

Old man winter has again dealt an icy blow to western NC, thereby impeding my thrifting, but still there is WTF to be found, just gotta poke around! 

Speaking of winter, here's a polaroid from back when little kids didn't have boots, they tied plastic bags to their feet.



Behold a book called Taxidermy. First published in 1943. 

 Full of instructions and diagrams for skinning and mounting a panoply of animals. 

Includes the easy way to skin any kind of lizard, and a great tip - put crumpled tissue paper under your stuffed crayfish.  More lifelike.

 Here was one of my first business ventures: 





It was a failure. 

Meet the Fatheads. Second grade art gone awry.


 
 Last but not least, Pouncey's tail.



As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.

For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

New WTF this week:

• 80s World's Largest Cuckoo Clock T-shirt
• 70s Pom Pom Ski Teddy Sweatshirt
• 80s I Love You Flock T-shirt

addicted to power

once again this year, we gleefully celebrated valentine's day with arby's. 



power went out during a wild windstorm saturday at 830 pm, and it was restored at 5pm on sunday. generally i spent the outage railing against humanity, researching generators, calling duke power for updates every 15 minutes, scampering through neighbors' yards looking for signs of progress, rage-cleaning the stovetop, and going to creekside taphouse for many dranks.

sugarhoney spent the outage sitting like a human.



i hope everybody stays safe, snuggly, and warm during the forecasted ice storm!

WTF Wednesday: Clowns, Servants, Feral Swine

Good morning, Wednesday! Let's WTF!

Here is a school bus with some crocs in the windshield.

Behold a divine assortment of housewares at the Goodwill.  A butler/servant figurine, a vodka bottle wrapped in tassels, and a plastic giraffe filled with photos of safari animals. 

Here's a fantastic story of a hunter who killed a 707 lb feral pig about 45 minutes from here last month.

Bruce Florence, of Caswell County, shot this 707.5-pound wild hog in Transylvania County Jan. 16. The pig measured 7 feet 4 inches from snout to tail.(Photo: Special to the Citizen-Times)

I've hiked a lot of these woods, and have never seen a feral pig.  Some great quotes in the story: 

When a 707-pound wild hog with razor sharp tusks is hurtling at you at full speed, it's, well, a tad unsettling. "I thought I done filled one of my boots up," Bruce Florence said with a hearty laugh. "It scared the fool out of me."

*****

"We got about 150 pounds of sausage off him," Bruce Florence said. "The tenderloin was 5 foot, 10 inches long."

They killed the beast at 9:15 a.m., and by that afternoon Florence said he was eating ribs and sausage, with the tenderloin on the menu for Saturday.

"I had to bump my blood pressure medicine from one to two pills a day, I've eaten so much pork," Florence said with a laugh.

They're also tanning the hide, and Florence said they removed six, five-gallon buckets of fat, just from the hide.

 *****
And this gem about what to do if a wild pig attacks you:

If you fall or are knocked down, get onto your back with your feet facing the animal, and start kicking rapidly with your feet against the end of the snout or head, making sure that your feet don't get caught in the pig's mouth.

*****

Okay! WTF?!


Last but not least, a thrift store clown.

As with all wtf wednesdays, there are no answers, only questions leading to more questions.

For more vintage wtf wonders (for sale), click here: vintage wtf

New WTF this week:

• 80s I Love Eggs Incredible Edible T-shirt
• 80s Charlotte Palm Trees T-shirt
• 80s You Can Do It! Weight Watchers Sweatshirt