Monday, September 29, 2014

Kitten Update

29 September 2014

After a few days with Gordon and Terry, Mozart moved in with Dale and Sean. Mozart is now Russell. He has Macy Ruth,  a miniature Pinscher, as a playmate. He is one happy kitten.



Friday, September 26, 2014

Hopewell Valley Stampede Part Four: On the Way Back to Pennington

26 September 2014

Ox Tops was at the entrance of Saint Michael's Farm Preserve.


Ox Tops is decorated only with plastic bottle caps.


On one hoof, that's pretty cool.  On the other, that's pretty disturbing.


50 years ago, this ox would have been decorated with metal caps.


America:  land of non-degradable waste



At the top of the hill, at Cherry Valley Road, we found OOOXXX Sparkle.


It took me a few minutes to realize that the big round things were supposed to be jewels.

Oh, I get it now.  Sparkle.  Ha ha.




Celeste peeled off for home.  We turned onto Pennington-Rocky Hill Road.  We still had a few oxen left to visit, although I cut the one on Elm Ridge out (Forever Nowllie looked interesting from a drive-by).  We stopped at Lucky Lindy.


Pilot?  Flying cow?


John K really dug Star the Wishing Ox at the Kerr farm.  Here's Jack H reading some of the wishes:



He looks kind of annoyed.





Of all the oxen we saw on the tour, Rooted is my favorite in the scenery category.  He's at the intersection of Pennington-Rocky Hill and Old Mill.  This one is definitely worth a close-up look.









Back in Pennington, we caught the two we'd skipped on Main Street on our way out.

Pennington Means Business:



It reminds me of the two paint-by-numbers style pictures hanging on the wall outside of the bathroom at the Sergeantsville General Store.


I didn't get what Olde Blue was about.  Someone suggested it was Sinatra.  Whatever.



And that was the Hopewell Stampede Ride.  We saw 37 oxen in 40-something miles.  I was out for six hours.  I took 139 pictures.

Of all the oxen I came into contact with that day, this one is my favorite.  His name is Moxie, and one of his many nicknames, since kittenhood, is...


...Mox Ox.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Hopewell Valley Stampede Part Three: Hopewell Boro

25 September 2014

We coasted into Hopewell Boro from the west.  First up was Bull's Eye.


The pun had to be made sooner or later.

Sir Not Appearing in this Film:



I made sure we'd see our old friend George and his Senior Officers.



When I explained how Bob covered up the drain hole by painting trouser buttons, Celeste crawled underneath to inspect.  I didn't have my camera ready in time.  Damn.


We were hungry. We stopped at Boro Bean.  We hung out there for a long time.  Although we got on our bikes, we could have walked to the Cool, Collected, Collaged Ox.


Kinda meh.


Across from the Brick Farm Market was An Ox for All Seasons.  This one is worth a lot of close inspection.







Agricolox sports a bee worthy of Doctor Who.



one big-ass bee




Spinning into the VortOx was another one whose meaning we sort of missed.




The Ox and the Birds reminds me of Mexican art:




Is the Wizard of Ox a unicorn?


What are the fuzzy-looking things?


We all liked Tyson:



thumb prints!



That was the last ox we saw in the borough.  I took us out of town on Carter Road.  More on the last leg of the tour tomorrow.