Category Archives: Toy Avatars

Junk:

This is a tough one, and what got me in trouble at Rust Spot in the Winter of 2013. Bigfoot, again, seems to provide answers; acts as a beacon into the future.

The junk supported the train track, and seems directly tied. Spool Table (seemingly also known as Brian Head) was central, but Big Chair remained separate.

Marble Race:

• Longer train track; I could have extended Bigfoot’s track toward or around the swamp but decided against it.
• More established marble pedigree for racing, like I had in childhood with Bob Underston, Big Blue Eye, etc. Greenilochs, by itself, isn’t enough. I need to think of recreating the old groups of Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow & Odd. Maybe I can somehow *build* around Greenilochs, a new character. Not too big, not too small. Just right, and mirroring the “just right” size of Bigfoot itself in microcosm.

But interesting still the new idea of “irregular” marbles as the females of the species (see: Diamondia below), beautiful in a very different way from the male racers.

Toy Avatars:

Marbles that use the train track are technically toys. But what I’m talking about mainly here is the human, humanoid, or animal character toys you can buy, for example, at flea markets, perhaps preferably bought in volume to bring in a randomizing effect. This was the case with the toys at Bigfoot. I found one vendor at the main Mythopolis flea market that sold little ziplock bags of toys for a dollar, perhaps containing 5-10 toys each. I visited him several times, and I believe always bought 5 bags apiece from him. I looked for him again this past weekend, but he wasn’t there.

Billy J. Thornberry was instead purchased at a local dollar store (Dollar Tree), along with a number of my other toys I have presently. One advantage there: you can buy several duplicates of the same toy (like I did with Thornberry).

http://www.dollartree.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=332627

Cool! I’ll have to think about getting the related toys around Thornberry (lower right corner) in the above picture.

We also must talk about the *souls* of the toy avatars. After all, we’re dubbing them avatars and not mere soulless toys. They have personalities. Toy avatar ensoulment is a large subject in itself, and relates to the souls of Second Life avatars like Baker Bloch and Hucka Doobie.

A new Dollar Tree product: I must have them!

Thanks to handy GoogleEarth historic imagery, we can determine that Bigfoot and accompanying Bigfeet Swamp were born sometime between April 7, 1994…

… and April 5, 1998. One of the cool things about this 1st known historic image of Bigfoot is that you can clearly see its 4 traversing roads, or — from west to east — Blue, Green, Yellow, and then Red surrounding the swamp (more commonly referred to in this blog as the Swamp Road).

The next decade and a 1/2 saw steady growth in Bigfoot’s defining small pine forest, which slowly but surely masked its roads from clear aerial detection.

By 2015, the Haze County High School had been gone for 5 years. An apartment complex had arisen across Leola Creek, actually allowing easier access. The pine trees stood tall against the wind. Bigfoot was about to become a happening place!

It was soon decided. Taum Sauk *loved* the second, higher cave, and named it the Unholey Cave since it was closed up at the other end, unlike the first. Never mind that it, of course, had to have *one* hole in it to make it an enterable cave in the first place. The lower and larger cave with its two holes instead of one hole naturally became Holey Cave. Unlike in church, unholey is better than holey here.

While Taum Sauk was busy on his exploring trip, I dismantled the marble race track and also packed away all the Bigfoot toy avatars into my satchel, leaving only Taum’s friend Empty Promises behind. He plans to live in the center of the Spool Table, a winter caretaker for Bigfoot as it were. And I’m sure Taum will be by to visit on occasion when he can burrow out of the snow and make a return trip to the now abandoned town.

I pour a celebratory 1/2 beer remaining from the day before and sit in my chair, staring at the surroundings for quite a while.

In my mind’s eye, I conjure up an image of Taum Sauk being joined by his wife Mina in his new home.

They test out the dirt in the back room…

… soon joined by Taum’s beloved chair and atv.

My 1/2 beer finished, I then get up from my own chair and take some final shots.

I seal up the top of the Spool Table with metal caps so that Empty Promises can stay dry. I hear his small voice thanking me as I place the final cap over the second hole, making this place unholey as well.

And that’s the end of the October 2015 Bigfoot Happening! I hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories.

It was logical he head toward Mina Pool first, named after his deceased wife Mina Sauk. Or so he thought she was dead. He’d soon find out otherwise. Joy and happiness continues in Bigfoot!

He nears the stream flowing from the pool into the swamp…

… but it turns out to not be much of a deterrent, with only a bit of wet foot resulting in the crossing which quickly dries.

Taum Sauk is now past the pool and heading straight for the In-the-way Fern, which, true to its name, is directly in the middle of his path. But he’s able to skirt around it with only a ferny head brush as a bother.

He then motors past the Caves of Brush, as he snappily names them. He’ll soon be back.

He reaches the outlying area of the Bigfoot happening, and wonders if this is another iron smelting plant, perhaps owned by a fierce rival he has yet to face. In truth, it is the remains of the Middle Game High School Old Johnson Estate.

I think.

The nearby crevasse filled with numerous white rocks confounds Taum Sauk. “What devilish spectacle of nature are we dealing with here?” he asks himself. Seeing the path ahead become more faint he chooses to turn around at this point. To my admitted disappointment he’s decided he’s already seen enough of the swamp, and is ready to find a place to bed down for the coming winter months.

With this in mind, he returns to those caves.

Turns out the lower and larger cave has a hole on either side. That won’t do, he thinks.

But then he finds a nice new spot to sit and contemplate above it. *That’s* encouraging to him.

And then there’s the other, higher cave to still peek into…

I’ve circled back to Bigfoot on the Swamp (aka Red) Road.

Looking up: lattice of limbs, filled with chirping birds at this time.

Looking down: Spool Table, which I might rename Brian Head after the recently killed Barbie head, the sole casualty of the toy/junk happening that I know of. Because that’s her (his?) quizzical name as I’ve indicated before: Brian Head. Not coincidentally, there’s a place of that name in Iron County, Utah. I knew a man who owned a cabin there once, way up on the side of a mountain. Perhaps he still does. He claimed he wanted to write a blockbuster film script for Kirk Douglas, who has so far lived to a ripe old age of 98. But clearly my old Brian Head friend is running out of Father Time on his mission.

But what of the blue mushroom and matching blue plastic ring at the center of the table? The answer to that particular question and many others weren’t to be found this day. Bigfoot largely remains a mystery wrapped in an enigma seasoned with puzzle pieces.

The 3 bricks topped with metal caps in the happening, each one holding up a specific curve of the marble track. They are, in descending track order…

#1:

#2:

And #3 (left, background):

And there’s a fourth cap in Bigfoot as well, with similar look and function but without an accompanying brick. You can see it in the foreground of the below photo, perched on the edge of the spool table. It’s sometimes called Walking Cap or Walking Ball to differentiate it from the other 3 of its ilk.

The day before, I brought in a number of other marbles to test on the track mainly. 2 others made it down without stopping or flying off, just like Greenilocks the day before that. 2 more brides were also brought in for the new winners. But, in my ear now, I’ve been corrected by Hucka D, who states there was only one wedding during the happening. The rest of what he’s telling me about mismatched bridesmaids and groomsmen isn’t making much sense, so I’ll leave it out of the blog for now.

Moving to the left side of the table we have dead Brian Head and matching Starbucks’ female head logo on the 4 shot latte I brought to the camp this day. Story behind the image here; I’ve never really thought about it until now! *

More details concerning the track before its subsequent dismantlement…

Taum Sauk is now out of his chair and sitting on the atv, clearly itching to start his exploring trip. Let’s see where he goes!

—–

* Quotes like this from the official Starbucks article about the image makes her sound queerly Hucka D.-like:

She means something different to every one who sees her, who knows her. For me she’s kind of the final say on the spirit of everything I write and everything we do. Even as I’m writing this, I wonder what she thinks. (She likes it, by the way.)

I left 1/2 of a New Belgian 1556 beer from the day before chill’n in this pool for the celebration. Almost time to repop the cork!

Mina Pool probably holds more mysteries that you would expect in its deceptively shallow, golden waters.

The pipe perhaps knows more than it’s letting on. Does the pipe have a mouth? Is the water that spills forth into the pool and inclusive Bigfeet Swamp somehow sentient?

In taking a closer look at the falls, I spot a small salamander sunning on the rock just below. In a knowing way, I could add.

The dying back of the weeds and cattails has revealed the swamp’s outtake culvert. I was somewhat disappointed that Taum Sauk didn’t quite reach this destination in his subsequent explorations.

Bigfoot Swamp looking south to north across its approximately 100 foot expanse. We’re on the opposite side from Bigfoot now.

Leola Creek looking down from the swamp road to the east. It’s about a 50 foot descent from the swamp to the creek.

Then just turning around from the same basic position: Bigfeet Swamp from the west. I’m continuing to walking counterclockwise around the swamp on the encircling road and taking pictures before returning to Bigfoot proper.

Almost back to Bigfoot now…

So here we are: the final day of the Bigfoot art happening. I took the whole day off to enjoy the event. More perfect weather in Blue Mountain, with nary a cloud in the blue, blue sky.

We start with a photo from the upper road of Bigfoot, or what I’ve been calling the Blue Road at times. A poor little Monarch butterfly has given up his or her life in the Fall crispness.

There’s some unused junk on just beside the Blue Road, including the remnants of old chain link fences.

Speaking of which, it seems someone, probably skateboarders, had removed some fencing on the Bigfoot end of the stadium sometime in the last several days. Must be careful to cover my tracks into Bigfoot from the stadium! But I suppose on the last day of the happening, it doesn’t matter that much. Still I’d like to hide the existence of the strangely placed swamp as much as possible. My *personal* swamp I wish it to be! Something that has been dislodged from time and space itself.

Back to the Blue Road: part of the leftover junk I gathered from the plateau that didn’t make it into the happening at the swamp. And there’s some more of the same on the Green Road just below. Future possibilities…

But it’s Bigfoot proper that must be our focus for today. Toy avatars gather for one of the final group shots. Say cheese!

Mina Sauk is still at her pool, where the plastic see-through boat has refused to float even with her not inside. Sunken loot?