What is a garden blog?
This garden blog is a reflection of the life of one family, as expressed in our yard projects. Each project is either intertwined with the history of our lives, an expression of a moment in time, or represents hopes for the future.
The bird bath is a good example.
- old bird bath
But not this one. This is our current bird bath and was just a hopeful purchase from two-seasons-ago that failed. The laminate over the hammered metal bowel has long since peeled away.We want beauty, permanence and function. Stone would be nice.
But first… to the history. The bird bath was supposed to involve a dinosaur foot… this one.
T-Rex foot
The history: My dad, Jim Houser, was curator of the Museum of Science of Natural History in St. Louis, MO from the 1960’s through about 1990-ish. Two fiber glass dinosaurs graced the front: one a Tyrannosaurus Rex and the other a Triceratops. A tree felled the T-Rex, and my father, feeling nostalgic about it, asked to cut off a foot before the rest was trashed. After a couple of years as a popular Halloween prop in front of my parent’s home, it retired to a spot in the side yard where it quickly was consumed by their forest.
About nine years ago, my husband and I recovered it and brought it to live in our back yard, thinking we’d make it a proper landmark.
It was a planter for a little while, but that didn’t feel honorable enough. A bird bath might seem, well not very honorable either, but I thought that sounded better. After all, weren’t birds descended from dinosaurs?
The bird bath lasted for a little while, but the pump system and bowel continuously leaked and needed maintenance. We gave that up.
Now the dinosaur foot looks out of place. Still waiting for a proper position in the yard to restore some of its lost glory.
bird bath/feeder area
I will go in search of in inspiration to renovate the area, find a good place for T-Rex-foot and a nice bird bath as well. I invite any and all suggestions.
