Whack Job Yard Art: Can I Get an Extension?

Barrett Chase Mar 19, 2009 15 Comments

OK, so it’s after 10 p.m., but I thought I had until midnight to enter the Wacko Yard-art Photo Scavenger Hunt. Nonetheless, I’d like to submit these beauties.

These signs are located on Highway 53 near Cotton. I took these photos today, but the guy who makes these signs changes them every now and then. I remember back during the whole French Fries/Freedom Fries debate, he had a sign up that said, “Piss on the Poodles” with a picture of a French flag and, of course, a poodle.

When I was a kid, my family had a cabin near Cotton, and these signs always entertained me. Also, back then he had a sign advertising timber wolf pups for sale, which would always stir elaborate Jack London-esque fantasies in my young mind.

Anyway, I know I’m late. But I still wanted to share these pics. Perhaps I can get an honorable mention.

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Photos Cotton, Creepy

15 Comments

Beverly

about 15 years ago

I knew those were in Cotton the second I saw them. They might be the only thing that makes the drive up there memorable.

bw

about 15 years ago

Sweet, I used to deliver Fed-x to the guy who put up the mail sign. Yep he was a wack job hermit living in a locked down sort of junkyard kingdom. It was creepy to deliver stuff there because you couldnt be sure you would make it out unscathed.Definite Unabomber ranch. Good times

Ramos

about 15 years ago

I dropped a note in that guy's mailbox one time asking him to call me and he did. I just now went hunting through boxes looking for my notes of that call and couldn't find them. They're somewhere, though. I'm sure of it.

If I try to wing it and say what I think I remember about that phone call now, eight or ten years after the fact, I'll screw it up. I sure hope those notes turn up.

Ramos

about 15 years ago

"Dumbfounded ever since."

zra

about 15 years ago

"NO TRESPASSING INJURY VERY LIKELY"

i'm invisioning tripwires and boobytraps...sort of a Rambo/Deliverance mashup.

kokesie

about 15 years ago

No wonder no one moves here.

Barrett

about 15 years ago

zra: The whole thing is wrapped in barbed wire (look closely). I imagined there were booby traps as well.

kokesie: People like this are everywhere, all across the country. But they're the exception, not the rule.

Mary

about 15 years ago

Oh, how that reminds me of Montana.

Bad Cat!

about 15 years ago

You wouldn't need to worry about the barbed wire if you used a paintball gun to cover the signs... I'm just saying...

Jim Myers

about 15 years ago

"Piss on the poodles" became a popular catchphrase on the Missabe rail gangs I worked on back then.

Hot Shot

about 15 years ago

Being from Cotton it's nice to see a little hometown rep on PDD.  The man who lives here is a character alright.  Along with the barbed wire around the signs, there are supposedly bear traps in the grass too.

Hot Shot

about 15 years ago

He was also once interviewed on WDIO after putting a wasps' nest in his mailbox to scare off the mailman.  On TV he proceeded to show that the nest (I presume empty) was harmless by taking a big bite out of it.

vicarious

about 15 years ago

While I absolutely love BadCat's paintball idea, it would only make him more paranoid. 

Hmm...tempting.

andy

about 15 years ago

He's a real loon but I love this guy. For years I would watch the signs change as I bombed up and down 53 back when I lived in Gilbert. Guys like him are a dime-a-dozen here in Brainerd, but you really need to be  committed to be this reactionary on the Iron Range. What a contrast between the psychodrama played out in this guy's yard and the Wellstone Memorial 45 minutes north...

Olivia Feierabend

about 8 years ago

I bet if any of you guys actually took the time to know who he was before speaking on it, you'd know he's actually extremely intelligent and educated on the matters he expresses his opinions about and beyond all that, is a pretty awesome guy and grandfather to his grandkids. He's lived a long, very interesting life. But it seems even the little podunk towns are overrun with the "basic bitch" bandwagoners anymore, and none can handle some originality, something more in depth than a pumpkin spice latte and the Kardashians lol. Everyone wants to be "weird" and "unique" cause its "cool", but then when someone ACTUALLY is, you're all taken aback like a bunch of wussies. You'll watch documentaries on Netflix about this exact type of stuff and get all "conspiracy theroist" on your Facebook friends, then turn around and make fun of the people who believe it. Bet you're the same ones who cry out "freedom of speech" when someone disagrees with you, not really understanding the meaning of that freedom. What a shame our society is..

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