More of Bill's Back Yard

Outsider Art in Fort Collins:

Coined by Roger Cardinal in 1972, the term Outsider Art comes from 'Art Brute' or 'Raw Art'

It was meant to describe certain types of art created outside the boundaries of official culture.

Outsider Art does not have to be outside; nor does it have to be good.

French artist Jean Dubuffet described it as "Those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses - where the worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion do not interfere - are, because of these very facts, more precious than the productions of professions."

"After a certain familiarity with these flourishings of an exalted feverishness, lived so fully and so intensely by their authors, we cannot avoid the feeling that in relation to these works, cultural art in its entirety appears to be the game of a futile society, a fallacious parade."

It is art immune to the influences of culture

immune to being absorbed and assimilated.

Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane asylum inmates.

Why we have a Homeowner's Association

One of our 'neighbors', Mr. Bill Swets, was a farmer for many years. He used his amateur welding skills to fix or modify farm equipment, but over the years he became a little more wacky with his welding work. Starting in 1985, he started making metal sculptures and he hasn't stopped since. People who drove by his house would stop and take a look. The traffic jams along Harmony Road caused Bill to add a parking lot and give a name to his creations. He called it the Swetsville Zoo.

Bill Swets (from a news article 10 years ago)

Bill's front door to his zoo

Keg Head

Happy Buoy

Ratchet Bird

VW Spider?

WheelGator

Twin Headed Fuel Injected Flying Metalopagus

Hidden Valley again

Over to Hidden Valley at RMNP. It's a great place to get Rocky Mountain High.

This weekend Bryan from St. Louis came to visit!

The Dam Store

Located at 10103 W Us Highway 34 in Loveland, Colorado is the Dam Store...

Where you can get 3 T-Shirts for $15 and jack-a-lope heads for $99 !

...and a rum and dark chocolate candy bar that's damn good!

Human Sign Project, part 2

I don't know... I saw many more during the Summer, but I didn't take any pictures.

Fort Collins is not the best place to find a job!

Too bad this guy isn't the SOFA KING !

Random shot of office workers?
Don't forget to VOTE!

Pray for Greeley

"With the expansive prairie out one door and the towering Rocky Mountains out the other, Greeley is a city of unlikely combinations that complement each other beautifully. Experience the best of the Contemporary West in a place where you can feel equally comfortable in a cowboy hat or a business suit."
Well, that's what the Greeley Convention & Visitors Bureau says. I rode my bike out to Greeley today to see what was there. It was a nice day, and I put on about 65 miles for the round trip. As I came into Greeley, I saw some signs that read "Pray for Greeley". I didn't know what they were about. As I rode up a hill, I smelled a rather recognizable oder... it was a meat packing plant! Ah ha! This was the plant that fired about 100 Muslim workers after refusing to report for work a day earlier in protest of the company's refusal to allow a prayer break during the work shift. It was in the news and here I was and I smelt it! Mystery solved!

Elsewhere in Greeley there is a place that has what I might call a very early mobile home:

It's a wagon with a little house on it!

A look inside the mobile home.

...and that's about all I have to report about Greeley.

Oh, and they grow sugar beets there:

Prairie Dog's Companion

Prairie Dog Companion was on hand at a free concert in Old Town.

There were other bands, but my batteries went dead, so no other pictures for today!

Green Art & Climate Change

At the Museum of Contemporary Art: The Magnolia Tapestry Project

Dr. Scott Denning, Atmospheric scientist

We were at the museum for a special show: Art, Science, Connect, Sustain
We saw various examples of environmental art projects presented by Lynne Hull, and two CSU specialists in environmental science (one of them was Dr. Denning pictured above).

We saw Dead People!

The 13th Annual Cemetery Stroll

Today we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Cache la Poudre Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution by going to Grandview Cemetery and listening to dead people talk about what life was like way back then.

Charles Warren Speaks!

This dead lady read a poem

Dead Bug Man
Clarence Preston Gillette, the first entomologist in Fort Collins and head of the zoology department at CSU. He worked principally on the taxonomy of the Cynipidae, the Cicadellidae and the Aphidoidea.

Yet another costume party in this town! What do they do on Halloween?

Annie, The Railroad Dog

We were in Denver last night to see Avenue Q. It's sort of like an adult version of Sesame Street.
Check it out!

Annie the Railroad Dog: This is not the first time we have seen statues of dogs.

Here is the statue of Annie at the Fort Collins main library building.

...and this is Greyfriars Bobby in Edinbourgh.

I just found out that there was a community celebration in honor of Annie the Railroad Dog on August 23! Oops. Maybe next year!

Big Brother Knows where you Parked!

Yet another reason to RIDE YOUR BIKE in Fort Collins!

I saw this SUV going down the street at about 10 MPH.

Near the front top of the windshield were mounted these cone-shaped devices on both sides of the vehicle.

Inside the cones were these neat flashing lights. What was going on?

The SUV stopped at this one car and man got out of the SUV and placed something on the car window.

The SUV is part of a high-tech program for Fort Collins Parking Enforcement. It can scan license plate numbers and match them to previously scanned plate numbers to see if any cars are parked over the two hour limit. A computer prints out the ticket. It can also be linked to the Department of Motor Vehicles and a Global Positioning System for even more fun!

And more wildlife, Phylum: Mollusca

Colorado Bivalves

Wildlife biologist Kevin Cook was on hand today to talk about all he knows about glochidia!

Of the 30K known bivalves, there are about 42 species of glochidia in Colorado! Some of them are Republicans.

Then of course, there's the Giant Floater! 

<> "Sweet!" < /Cartman >

plus more stuff than you would want to know about the inside of a clam.

More wildlife!

Forget about Bobcat Ridge! We saw this guy just three blocks from our home!

Bobcat, Scat!

This morning we went on a naturalists' walk at a place called Bobcat Ridge Natural Area.

There is a picture of a bobcat we didn't see this morning.

Here is Susan, our Master Naturalist volunteer, telling us that there are so many volunteers on this walk this morning we will probably scare off any wildlife that would normally be seen! ...but we could look at animal scat and figure out what animals recently tip-toed through this area.

"What's the biggest piece you ever saw?"

Oh, look! I found some! It's bobcat!

"I'm giving it an f/5 at EV-1 !"

Bobcat Scat!

Fort Collins Can Has Chickens!!!

At the Tour de Fat you may have noticed at least two pictures of cyclists in chicken costumes. Actually there were quite a few people dressed as chickens that day. They were making a political statement from the "CLUCK YES!!!" party. Apparently on September 2nd, the FoCo city council voted 5 to 1 in favor of on an ordinance to allow hens in Fort Collins. So now I can have up to six egg laying pets. No roosters or roasters allowed! They are PETS, damn it!
Gotta see how our homeowners association handles this one...

Tour de Fat: Over the top

More than just a weird bike or strange costume...

Patio table. Note the girl in front on the stool.

Battle Ship

Cardboard box robots plus extra friend who came as a wrapped gift box.

Kitchen Table

TV and Beer on a table

Couch

Bike tows car

Another couch

Flying machine

3-piece band

Baby Grand Piano (with working keyboard)

Tour de Fat: Bikz

2008 Tour de Fat on YouTube

We came early to take some pictures of the bikes.

Bug Boy Jimmy and the Wizard of Jeanne

There were some really weird bikes at this party!

The sneaker-wheel bike

the wheel-wheel bike

Acro-bikes

stretch bike

real fat tire bike

a bike on a bike

circus bike

man and woman bike

unicycle carrier bike

goofy bike

Roadside Animals: Tour de Fat

Here's a small collection of some of the real animals at Tour de Fat:

Tour de Fat: Boyz and Giirlz

Tour de Fat is an annual pro-bike tour sponsored by New Belgium. The events, which take place in various large cities around the West, include music, beer, circus-type performances, bicycle dance troupes, and a large group bike ride. The main event is a bike trade, in which a local participant transfers the title to their vehicle to New Belgium, in exchange for a new commuter bike and trailer.
The bike parade is fashioned after a Mardi Gras style funeral procession for the automobile. This years music was provided by The March Fourth Marching Band. Does anyone in this town NOT have a costume?

We were there, along with these fine people:

THE BOYZ:

There was Santa!

And Waldo! (Hiding behind some Giirlz)

Dudes with red hats

Dudes with big hair and breasts!

Even dudes with big heads!

Transportation guards and tranys

Weird dudes and some guy with a mask!

A Space man (He does not have wings. There is a pac-man character behind him!)

Rambo

Safari dude

Easy rider

A pope with shorts

Wet-suit man?

Cro-Magnon Man
China Mam and Imperial Man

...and Elvis with his cell phone.

THE GIIRLZ:

Pink leopard lady

Plastic shorts lady

Rosie the Riveter

Cow girls

Night Lady

Bat Girl (What's she got in her mouth?)

Mother Nature

Wilma

Ocean Girl

Dyna Girl

Cult leader

Sunglass models

Joan of Arc (complete with tin foil hat)

Um, well...

Princess Lady

Chic Ladies

Just what the hell is this??

... details to follow next week!

One Last Brewery

Here we go to the North side of town!

There is a large brewery there.

We got to pet the nice clydesdale horse!

That's one big ass horse!

Lunch with the Mayor

schmooze
verb
Etymology: Yiddish shmuesn, from schmues talk, from Hebrew shĕmu'ōth news, rumor
Date: 1884
intransitive verb: to converse informally : chat; also : to chat in a friendly and persuasive manner especially so as to gain favor, business, or connections

Not a roadside mystery, just weird.

Here we are at a photo op with Doug Hutchinson, the mayor of Fort Collins. We had a chance meeting with the mayor this afternoon, so we did it!

Avo's Jam

Apparently every Wednesday night there is a bluegrass jam at Avo's!

It was dark, so these are the best pictures I could get. 

There were more than seven banjo players in the place at one time!

...and only one dobro player!

Poudre Canyon

North-West of town is Poudre River Canyon. We had to check it out for future kayak adventures.

You could walk across some areas. Maybe in the Spring it's higher!

We saw some people floating down the river on tubes! Hey, we have tubes! And we are only 20 minutes away!