Thomas Dambo - Big Rusty's Designer

     Thomas Dambo, the designer of Big Rusty, is a Danish recycle artist based in Copenhagen. He trained as a carpenter, but once employed as a full time carpenter, he found the work repetetive. He enrolled in Kolding School of Designs in 2005. 

     While at design school, Dambo saw potential in trash as the raw material for his art projects, especially construction trash. His first major project, called "Happy City Birds," featured 73 birdhouses and a bird feeder hung on a plywood tree, all made from scraps of plywood.  Since "Happy City Birds," Dambo has built over 3,000 birdhouses word wide. 

     Dambo loved fairytales as a child and enjoyed creating his own stories of magic and fantastic creatures. Giant trolls made their way into his art beginning with seven trolls built in Boom, Belgium. In April 2023, Dambo published Trash, Trolls, and Treasure Hunts, the story of his first 100 trolls.

     Hainesport's Big Rusty is the first in a series of 10 trolls built in the United States during the summer of 2023.  The others are located in Vermont, Michigan, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington State.

     Read more about Thomas Dambo and his art:

https://www.reckontalk.com/thomas-dambo-wooden-troll-locations-artwork-photos-biography/

https://thomasdambo.com/works/bird-mural/#:~:text=This%20mural%20is%20part%20of,the%20world%E2%80%9D%20by%20Anne%20Schmauss.

https://www.nj.com/news/2023/07/a-giant-troll-made-of-recycled-trash-from-abandoned-building-now-lives-in-south-jersey.html

Big Rusty

      I've tried to resist, but I have to say it: one man's trash is another man's troll.  Meet Big Rusty, a 20 foot tall troll designed by Danish artist Thomas Dambo.  Dambo and a group of volunteers built Rusty from trash found on the abandoned Creek Turn Pottery site which is located on Route 38 in Hainesport (39.9762330,-74.8264650).

          Artists Herman J Kleiner, Jr. and his wife Francisca Kleiner operated Creek Turn Pottery for over 50 years.  Hainesport Township purchased the 28 acre plot from the Kleiner Estate, and it will be developed into a park.    

     The recycled Rusty entertains visitors whenever the property's gates are open.  You can prowl the property at your own risk.  I took the following pictures when I visited yesterday.

 

The place is covered with nifty graffiti.  Some of it is X-rated, so parents be advised. 

The property drops off at the back, and the Rancocas Creek flows below.  It's a lovely view.

 

     In the coming days, I will write about Thomas Dambo and the Kleiners and their business.

     

    

The $99 Power Washer

      YouTube has lots of videos about $99 power washers, all presented by a bunch of handy, husbandly types.  It seems like these reasonably priced, lower PSI, lightweight little gizmos are just the thing for effortlessly melting the winter's accumulation of green and black slime off of sidewalks and siding.  I picked up a Craftsman and started in on my green fence and black sidewalk.

In previous years, I mixed up a bucket of detergent and bleach and scrubbed with a stiff brush.

 

The power washer blasted the dirt off with plain water.  So far, so good.

So white!  I even power washed the rock.

      The next day, I decided to obliterate the mold on the patio.  I aimed my power washer nozzle at the wall and blew a hole in one of the blocks!

Yikes!  Yellow sand and water dripped down the wall.  My neighbor's theory is that this block had a flaw of some sort.

     I waited a couple of days for everything to dry out, then I pulled out the J-B Weld.  It took three applications to fill the hole completely since gravity caused the J-B Weld to leak out.  I filled the hole as much as possible then slapped some blue painter's tape over the opening to seal in the epoxy.  The next day, I removed the tape and repeated the process.  On the third day, I overfilled a little and blended the epoxy at the edges.

The repair looked like this.

   

Some sanding lightened the color.  A season of sunshine should fade things out so that the patch is barely noticeable.

No more mildew.  The wall is now pinky-peach and gray.  I also power washed the patio furniture, the wooden bench, the flower pot, and the red pavers under the bench.  

   

     I was on a power washing roll and decided to tackle the siding next.  I set myself up on the shady side of the house and began.  The power washer pressure cut in and out.  Water started leaking out of the intake connection.  None of the trouble shooting tips in the manual fixed the problems.  I toted the short lived power washer back to the store for a refund, and went back to cleaning the siding with a hose, bucket of soapy water, and a soft brush on a long, telescoping pole.  We're spic 'n' span around here now, but I plan on getting another $99 power washer next spring since it makes the clean up easier and faster.  Maybe a different brand will operate for more than 10 or 12 hours.  As long as I can finish all the annual sprucing up before the appliance gives out, I'll feel like I got my money's worth.     

Roving Peacock

     The local peacock recently strolled into a neighbor's yard, flew up and perched on the chimney, and carried on like a bird possessed for a half hour or so.  At 6:00 a.m.  Why?  Most likely, he was trying to attract a female.  No one answered the call, so he eventually came down and walked home.  If peahens are anything like the human ladies in my circle, I would suggest that my noisy feathered friend change tactics.  Show up at dusk, not dawn.  Bring flowers, and buy the gal some dinner.

    

     Here's what it sounds like:

 

The Partridge Inn, Augusta, Georgia

 The Partridge Inn is a hotel in Hilton's Curio Collection (independent hotels supported by Hilton).  Though it sits atop a hill, possibly the highest point in Augusta, the views are not spectacular.  The elevation does provide pleasant breezes and slightly cooler temperatures.  I did not enjoy an overnight stay, just a drink on the wonderful veranda followed by dinner.

In 1816 the building was the residence of George Walton, the governor of Georgia.  In 1836 the owner converted a portion of the house into a hotel.  Later the building was converted into a residence hotel for northerners who wintered in the south.  The property went into decline for a period then was restored and reopened as a hotel in 1910.  It has operated continuously since then.

https://lifefamilyfun.com/the-partridge-inn-augusta/#:~:text=Report%20Ad-,The%20History%20of%20the%20Hotel,Oaks%20for%20the%20Meigs%20family.

The veranda was the perfect place for cocktails.

The view was just so-so.

These lights are fueled by gas just like in the old days.

A Beautiful Outdoor Lounge

     Of course, every old building has a ghost.  This video tells the story:

The Bomb Plant

        Your average Joe or Joanne probably doesn't know much about the Savanah River Site (SRS), located on the outskirts of Aiken, South Carolina, yet, it is a very important component of the defense of the United States.  

     The bombs dropped on Japan that brought an end to the second World War, were the opening event of the Cold War - a period of political tension between the United States and Russia.  In 1949, spying verified that Russia was conducting underground nuclear explosions.  By 1950, the Savanah River Site was under construction.  We had the bomb.  Russia almost had the bomb.  Now we had to have lots of bigger, better bombs.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-announces-soviets-have-exploded-a-nuclear-device

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_River_Site

     The U.S. government purchased 310 square miles of farmland which included the towns of Ellenton and Dunbarton.  About 6.000 people were relocated.  Though the locals referred to the new facility as "the bomb plant," the plant didn't manufacture bombs.  They produced the radioactive ingredients that fueled hydrogen bombs.  Over the years SRS has gone from making bomb components to making fuel for power plants.  They also properly dispose of spent nuclear material from power plants in the United States and abroad.  Our tour guide explained that this nation's nuclear stock piles, which were manufactured in the 1980s, have deteriorated and need to be replaced.  SRS will produce materials for this replacement operation.  

https://www.srs.gov/general/srs-home.html 

https://www.energy.gov/srs/savannah-river-site

     There are lots of jokes about glow-in-the-dark alligators that live on the site.  While this is not true, it is a fact that the site has suffered contamination over the years.  Before SRS was even built Eugene Odum, a professor from the University of Georgia who is known as the father of modern of ecology, studied the area.  His involvement lead to the founding of the Savanah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL).  The laboratory is located within the Savanah River Site, and it has operated for the past seventy years.  Tours include a visit to the lab where guests attend a lecture featuring live animals native to the site.  Our presentation included a bullfrog with a history of slipping out of the lecturer's grasp.  Froggie didn't escape during our lecture, but he did urinate on the speaker and the carpet.  There were two alligators - an adorable two-year-old and a much bigger three-year-old who was getting scary big.  We saw a few snakes.  The poisonous ones were locked in plastic boxes.  A non-poisonous snake was held by the lecturer.  During the talk, the snake bit her.    

https://news.uga.edu/the-father-of-modern-ecology/#:~:text=Eugene%20Odum%20is%20lionized%20throughout,its%2010th%20anniversary%20this%20year.  

https://research.uga.edu/news/seven-decades-of-environmental-research-at-savannah-river-ecology-lab/        

https://www.postandcourier.com/news/deadly-legacy-savannah-river-site-near-aiken-one-of-the-most-contaminated-places-on-earth/article_d325f494-12ff-11e7-9579-6b0721ccae53.html

https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=0403485

http://governor.sc.gov/news/2021-12/gov-henry-mcmaster-unveils-savannah-river-site-settlement-recommendations#:~:text=In%20August%20of%202020%2C%20South,allocated%20by%20the%20General%20Assembly.

     Savanah River Site Tours are free.  Guest must be over the age of 18 and be United States citizens.  You have to provide your Social Security Number when you sign up for a tour.  Security is very tight.  All bags are checked.  Guests tour by bus and are monitored at all times.  No photography is allowed.  Here's the information if you are interested in booking a tour:

https://www.srs.gov/general/tour/public.htm       

     

               

        

Abbeville, South Carolina and the Burt-Stark Mansion

      Abbeville is a quaint, little place with a downtown trying to make a comeback.  There are several restaurants, a boutique hotel, an opera house/community theater, and a historic mansion.  Abbeville is known as the birthplace and the deathbed of the Confederacy.  After a meeting held in Abbeville on November 22, 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union.  The Confederate cabinet held its last meeting on May 2, 1865 at what is now known as the Burt-Stark Mansion.  

The Main Street

A Building Waiting for a Business

The Belmont Inn is listed in National Register of Historic Places.  

The Burt-Stark Mansion
We enjoyed a lengthy, private tour of the mansion, the slave quarters, and the grounds.  Mary Stark Davis lived in the home until 1987.  Many of Mrs. Stark's evening gowns hang in her bedroom wardrobe.  Our docent opened the wardrobe and showed us each beautiful dress.  No photography is allowed inside the mansion.   

This is a view of the back of the house.  You can see the separate kitchen on the left.  The bumped out area on the right contains the downstairs bedroom.  This bedroom is actually two adjoining rooms divided into a winter area and a summer area.  The winter area has three walls adjoining the interior space of the house.  This makes the room easier to heat.  The summer area has one wall connected to the main house and three exterior walls, all containing windows for catching cool summer breezes.