Saturday, December 29, 2007

A return to Dead Things

Oh, I have even more pictures from my visit to Dead Things, the wondrous curio shop down in Yarnell. But this post is dedicated to various animal manifestations, primarily bones. After all, what Hollywood cliche says "the dangers of the American West" better than the shot of bleached bones.

However, if you're collecting at higher elevations, you are quite as likely to happen across an antler or, if lucky, a matched pair. Elk, deer, bighorn sheep, and, in the case above, pronghorn.

More antlers. Note that not all dead things at Dead Things are strictly for decor: birdhouses in the foreground.

And how about dead things which died long, long, long ago? Fossils also fit into the market niche.

However, the contents of this box return us to our desert west focus...

...as does this round-up of assorted skulls...

and this cliche of all Arizona cliches!

Ending on a reminder that there are less romantic animals in the West. BTW, here's a previous visit to Dead Things.

12 comments:

Linda G. said...

All dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones made me think of the Nicholas Evans book 'The Loop,' that told of roads paved with wolf bones..a sad note on how the west was won..but I'm not a romantic who thinks the wolf can be restored to natural habitat..there's too little of that left even now..

Catalyst said...

Any sign of the Grateful Dead?

C. Marie Byars said...

We have a (hornless) cowskull in our living room--from a real rancher! It's painted with genuine Pueblo Indian symbols. My sister-in-law once thought it "tacky" because she thought it was some sort of plastic skull we'd bought & hung up. Oh, well, the Dallas financial world is more cosmopolitan than us.

Granny J said...

brain -- I suppose that the earth can take care of only so much biomass & since so much more of the biomass consists of human beings, there's less left over to devote to other critters. Sad situation.

Cat-A -- nary a hair, tho they'd be mighty grateful if they ever saw that store!

cm -- Only someone from Dallas could imagine a plastic cow skull! The best are those that are gifts (like yours) or that are found while in the Outback. A piece of me says they shouldn't be boughten.

meggie said...

I read the Loop too, & wept at the the telling of the wolves history.
But, as Linda says, there really is no going back.
LOL at Catalyst!

I do find bones somehow disturbing. Perhaps that is why I wish to be cremated.

Granny J said...

meggie -- at this point, I'd be afraid to read The Loop. As for the bones, they're just another way of saying that someone or something once walked this way.

JuliaR said...

Movie references! In "Roxanne", there is a store called "All Things Dead". In the movie "Romancing the Stone", when they find the downed plane in the jungle, the (skeleton) pilot hanging out the window is wearing a leather jacket with "Grateful Dead" written on the back. As my husband says, none of us are getting out of this one alive.

Granny J said...

juliar -- but then we'll never find out what happens next!!!

k said...

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE it! I WANT IT!!!

That does it. As soon as I can do a *jailbreak* out of this place, I'm hopping on the truck with Walter and making sure we get routed through Prescott.

I really just can't stand it any more, granny j.

YUM!!!!!!!

Granny J said...

k -- you haven't seen it all -- I have still more Dead Things in my camera -- these happen to be primarily mineral, with a few vegetable thrown in for good measure.

Lucy said...

The items in photo 5 would be very useful for the slaying of Philistines...

Granny J said...

lucy -- time to buy a batch & storm the temples of TV!

 
Photo Blog Blog Top Sites Blog Directory for Prescott, AZ

Local Blogs - Blog Top Sites