Taking the Back Roads

Hi guys! We live in East TN, but every summer make a trip back to our home state of South Dakota to see our family and friends. We usually take interstate from Nashville up through Kentucky, a piece of Illinois, across Missouri from St. Louis to Kansas City and north through Iowa and into SD. This year we took a different route and drove "straight" through Bloomington, Indiana to drop one of our pups off with our daughter. We then took smaller highways and some interstate roads nonstop through Illinois and Iowa and Minnesota into SD. It was dark most of the way or if I wasn't driving, I  was wedged into a corner of the waaaay back seat in a fetal position between the door and the cooler and suitcases (NOT recommended by the way!) On the return trip we took our time a bit more and traveled less like vampires and more like "real people"..complete with overnight hotel stops! We made a stop in Brandon, Iowa to see "The biggest cast iron skillet in Iowa" ..apparently it was at one point the biggest anywhere, but someone someplace out did them and they were downsized to merely Iowa! Our son and Grandson were happy to get out of the car! We also saw the Biggest Truckstop in the World" in Iowa..Iowa must have size issues!

We stopped for drinks and a break in Eugene, Indiana and ran across their old covered bridge..literally!

 
 It was closed to auto traffic..

 If I remember right, this is the Wabash River that you see out the side windows.

 There were kids swimming in the river when we were there..looked like fun! (you can barely see them under the new bridges support)

 We saw a sign for Junky Joe's and of course had to stop! The outside was quite junky and I was a bit dubious, but I am a junking kind of girl so in we went!

 ...and man does he have junk! Shelves and shelves and rooms and bins full!

 I think we were here an hour but you could spend a day..

 I believe the owner's name is actually Steve..Junky Joe was his grandpa. It is a small town and he had several locals dropping in looking for screen door hinges and clothesline while we were there (they had had a storm the night before he said) The closest place to find something to fix your issue!

 He has a big back room with lots of old doors and windows..none of which would fit in our car so I tried to not even look!

 I did get a few things as we only had a tiny bit of room left in the car.

 He told me to make sure I got a picture of his deer antlers..

 I got this very interesting old oak plant stand. The base is a turtle! It looks to be homemade as I have never seen one like it before and the turtle looks handmade.

Too cool!

 I am cleaning this up and putting it on EBay. I also got a bunch of rusty old springs (great place if you do altered art and mixed media for pieces parts!) I got a box of old sign letters to use, some vintage Christmas things and some old hinges.

And this old metal stop sign that was off an old school bus...double sided and too cool! It was one of those that pops out when the door was opened.  So next time you travel, consider taking the back roads too! I have been working on converting my daughter's former bedroom into a studio this week, so stop back for photos on that! Til next time! Julia

Rescue pup

Hi guys! We just got home from vacation. A lot has happened in the last month. We got a new puppy! I was driving our son to his basketball camp last month a day after my last post. It was the next town over and we took the country backroads. On the way there I saw a brown flash on a deserted road and thought..dog. I better watch out for him on the way back. On the way home I slowed down and looked and saw that it was a brown puppy and it was starving! I had our pup Daisy and my grandson in the van and I didn't know how they and the pup would react, so I took them home, got some dogfood and went back. She was so emaciated! I opened the van door, she came up out of the ditch where she was laying, wagging her tail. She licked my hand and jumped right in and ate all the dog food.

WARNING A FEW OF THESE PHOTOS ARE NOT FOR THE EASILY UPSET (but there is a happy ending!) It is difficult for me to look back at these too!

 Apparently, someone had just thrown her away. Her claws were long and never trimmed and you could see every rib and backbone.

 She was about 3 months old and looks to be some kind of hound.Her face was so sad and confused..it broke my heart.

 

 So I gave her a bath and worm pill, clipped her nails and gave her lots of food and water..she didn't go off the deck for 2 days! I got my daughter's dog's extra kennel set up with comfy blankets and a fan and she just ate, drank and slept.

 3 weeks later! My daughter named her Annie as in Orphan Annie, but I call her Sweet Annie because she is the sweetest pup. You can't even see her tail here..it is constantly wagging! I gave her a bath last night and her tail wagged the whole time.

 Daisy was perturbed and jealous the first week. Week 2 she wanted to tussle and play w/ Annie, but Annie thought she was trying to kill her! Week 3 and they are great pals. Daisy still gets pouty if Annie sits in my lap though..that is HER spot!

 I can't believe this is the same dog. These pics were July 16th and she has grown in the 2 weeks since then..she is bigger than Daisy now.

 I was trying to get her to sit for a photo and I'd push her butt down and she'd fall over on her side dramatically and "swim" across the lawn at me. 2 "ham" dogs at the house now... Daisy is still top Diva Dog though!

As difficult as it is to get Annie's pic, Daisy is a total pro..she sees the camera and sits and poses! She wants her camera time too! She is also a rescue but was not in as bad shape as Annie. So here we are a 2 dog home. We stopped at a junk shop on our drive back from our trip to SD to see family (pics of Junky Joes to follow).As we were leaving, Junky Joe (who looks like a Duck Dynasty dude and who's name is actually Steve ..Joe was his grampa) gave my husband a handful of herbs he picked from beside his store, "Here..give this Sweet Annie to your wife!" Coincidence or cosmic thanks??? More pics to come soon (promise!) so check back! Til next time! Julia