Tag Archives: flying pig

October 14, 2025 · 8:55 pm

Critters from Scrap Metal

One of our favorite things to do up on top of our ridge line in Arkansas was create yard critters from scrap metal. We originally went to scrap yards, but insurance liability issues caused them all to close access to their yards. We ended up using used 20 gallon propane tanks and scrap tools and things we found at yard sales, plus things we had in the shop.

Our “Welcome Robot” doffed his hat at visitors, while giving the house number. We used a larger propane tank for him. He weighed about 200 lbs. A huge gust of wind would blow him over, or down the hill to the side of the driveway. We ended up putting a large chain around his neck, then attaching one end to a tree down the driveway farther and the other to the pole behind him – the stand for the owl and a driveway bar we put down when we were gone for any length of time. The wind would still make him LEAN, but we could pull him up and put something under a foot or two to stabilize him.

Our “Flying Pig” hung from a tree over the driveway, attached by a strong line to a branch. He ‘flew’ down the driveway, informing visitors that the time had come for pigs to, indeed, fly…

Our “Farmer Robot” stood to one side of our garage door. We had fun attaching tubing for arms and legs to the propane tank body, then finding the box for his head, flattening tubing for his feet, installing cat’s eyes marbles, and then adding the work gloves and his bandana.

Our “Mallard Duck” was attached to a pole in the middle of a brick planter in the back/side yard. He was up in the air, taking off. His head and beak were some kind of cutting ax type tool we got at a garage sale. Wings and tail were cut from sheet metal and attached to the propane tank. Rods were bent into shape, welding shorter parts for his feet.

Our “Patchwork Popadoo” Bird is shown here in our shop at my painting table before we put him out in the yard. He had fan parts as wings, various tool parts as his head, beak, and head ‘feathers’. He had bended metal for his legs and feet.

Our “Penguin Cleaning Robot” was made with a propane tank, oil funnel for his hat, farm disk of some type for his head, metal cone for his nose and other welded parts for his feet. We put fireplace tools in his gloved hands and spruced him up with his bright red bowtie. bowtie.

Our “Thanksgiving Turkey” received a permanent reprieve from becoming someone’s dinner. He’s made of a propane tank body, cut out feathers from sheet metal, a farm tool part for his head and beak, rolled up metal for his headpiece and wattle and ‘wings,’ and rods for his feet. He lived at the base of a tree at the top of the driveway.

And, finally, we didn’t create anything with this one – I just painted it. We had a 1,000 gallon propane tank between the house and the shop. It was white and really stood out. I tried to make it look like a watermelon. The propane fill-up guy laughed his head off when he came up to fill it, took a picture, and left laughing. It made my day. :0)

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February 6, 2023 · 3:03 pm

Monday is Flying By

This is the flying pig we had hanging from a line up high over one side of the driveway. Since he fell onto the driveway during the recent snow storm, he has been moved to the shop, waiting for some long-needed refurbishment after hanging out in the weather for several years now. He needs new eyes, a total rework of his mouth and nose, and a repaint. I’m dragging my feet a little because I’m trying to find a good time to strongly suggest that we anchor him to a boulder beside the driveway, rather than trying to hang him up again. He’s really heavy, and I don’t want my husband trying to do this when all I can do is stand nearby, holding my breath and worrying trying to be ready to drive him to the ER if the worst happens.

Since I wrote this morning, we took our trash down to the bottom of the driveway. There we found our trash from last week, just as we left it, in the humongous can the company provides. I guess the ice storm made it impossible for them to do their work. We’ll check it tomorrow after the time they normally pick up, and see if it’s still there. If so, I’ll have to call the company. We got our mail, took other mail to leave at the post office, then the bank, then the local grocery where we indulged ourselves by bringing home fish dinners for lunch. Then a nap, and the day is half gone!

We may be the last people on the planet to see this, but the last two evenings we’ve been watching “1883,” the prequel to “Yellowstone.” We moved the last disc for the show to first in our queue last night and hope to be able to watch it very soon.

Another really rich story with strong characters typical of Taylor Sheridan’s work, fleshing out the John Dutton clan. Another thing that was fun, other than seeing Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, plus new to ME actors Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett and others, were the guest stars that just suddenly were there, like Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Taylor Sheridan himself. The quality of the acting is really, really impressive. If you haven’t seen this prequel yet, I highly recommend it. I should have brought more tissues. I can’t stand it when Sam Elliot tears up.

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January 30, 2023 · 5:03 pm

Fleezing Dizzle

Giphy

It’s not this bad yet, but we have teeny, tiny sleet pellets falling now. The temperature is 22 degrees F., and the “feels like” temperature is 12. Mostly, it LOOKS like just a really cold rain right now, but the pest control guy just called me to ask how it was here. I suggested he go home and be safe, rather than try to come to us until all this is past and we thaw out again.

We still have public power, but looking at the weather website, we really won’t get above freezing until Wednesday afternoon, and the STUFF doesn’t quit coming, really until Thursday morning. Should be interesting.

The “fleezing dizzle” title comes from a party my parents were having a hundred years or so ago. My dad had his own one-man advertising agency, and a lot of the people at the party were in the media. A topic of conversation came up where someone started to laugh helplessly as he tried to talk about a weatherman who got his tongue tied, saying “Fleezing Dizzle,” rather than freezing drizzle. Everyone started to laugh, with the exception of one man, who said, “Oh, God. That was ME!”

Meanwhile, we’re warm and cozy inside. I’m making spaghetti for dinner, and my husband wanted some hot chocolate earlier. Full comfort mode.

I’m enjoy book #30 of 55 of the In Death series by J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts, fully into her world of amazing characters in a future world. I love being rich in paperback books – able to snuggle down under my throw, coffee cup beside me on the warmer, escaping to another world, engaged in other concerns. A nice relief.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. On the way back up the driveway this morning, we stopped and I hoisted our ‘flying pig’ into the back of the truck. One of the huge limbs that came down with the last snow storm was the limb from which the sweet pig was flying and he had crashed head first into the driveway. I had forgotten how heavy he is. We took him out to the shop. I plan to refurbish him, since he’s been flying for several years now, and then I’m HOPING to convince my husband that securing him to a boulder at the top of the driveway, wings flying, would look just as good as him flying from a line in a tree….

I hope you are enjoying your day.

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April 5, 2018 · 10:48 am

Project Refurb Continues

I always walk around the yard while taking the doggies out. Lately I’ve been deciding which of our yard art pieces need refurbishing, like the gloves, bow tie, and bandana on the two robots in the previous post. I thought you might enjoy seeing a few of the pieces I looked at today –

I call this critter the “Crow.” I like him because of his simplicity. He is attached to a big boulder to the side of our driveway, watching all comers.

 

We found a picture on the net and did our best to make one similar. “Dog with Bone” has a moveable tail and moveable head, so you can ‘face’ him any way you want. He has a spot where the paint is peeling on the left end of his bone, but I think I’ll let that go for now.

 

A group of emus is called a ‘mob.’ We have these four just off the driveway and two more on our back deck. They need their faces washed, but I think that’s all.  You can also see part of our “watermelon” propane tank in the background on the top left of the picture. :0)

 

This is our flying pig. He hangs from a sturdy line from a tree in the driveway. He turns and twists in the breeze. He’ll probably have to fall down for me to refurb him. He’s too hard to get up there!

 

This is the gazing ball I covered with a mosaic design a couple of years ago. It needs a good scrubbing with a brush, but it looks okay, otherwise.

 

 

Our “Guard Dog” is bolted to the big boulder on the other side of our driveway. He is made entirely of cut out metal, wire, some tubing, and ball bearings for his toes.

 

“Mama and Baby Snail” are made from rolled up strap metal and some beads for eyes.  I think they mainly need washing.

 

The “Peacock” has lost a lot of his flat beads from the spokes the make up his tail feathers. I’ll try to find the beads, or replacements for those.

 

The “Pop-a-Doo” Bird seems to be holding up pretty well. I spray him heavily with wasp spray, as they like to nest around his neck for some strange reason. His beak needs a good scrub.

 

I may need to paint the shovel part of this shovel bird this year after a good scrub. The birds like to eat seeds off his back.

 

 

The “Sitting Bird” needs some paint on his legs, as well as a repaint of his chest, plus a good cleaning first. I’m going to put a rod in the planter so that I can sit him on the corner of the planter behind the rod. He tends to blow over in a hard wind.

 

This wonderful stone turtle is from a Mexican treasures shop in Van Buren, Arkansas. We bought him several years ago. He was plain, without eyes or any coloring on his shell. You can see he needs a good cleaning and a refurb of the paint on his shell.

 

The turkey just needs a good scrub.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the partial tour of the ‘stuff’ we’ve made. You can see that I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Our “box turtle” is in the shop now. His eyes were falling off and his paint is peeling. I’m going to start on him next.

 

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