La Casa Rana

I sprained my ankle so I haven't done any work on the patio this week. While I nurse my wounds, I thought I'd give some of the back story on the signs and trinkets on the shed.

The license plates were inspired by a wonderful barbecue spot along the banks of the Colorado River in Austin. I started collecting the plates and when it wasn't going fast enough, I found a vendor on eBay who sells them in big lots. I've been debating about getting some smaller motorcycle plates to edge the window.

The burned sign above the hose bib is a Wilderness Boundary sign I found while chasing a fugitive through the Trabuco District of the Cleveland National Forest. Above the burned sign is Pacifico, my favorite bottled beer. Above that is an old sign I found in the creek bed on the old Dezi Arnaz ranch. The rusty saw blade is a discard from a Conservation Camp. The Coors sign we bought from the brewery of my favorite draught beer. My friend Dave gave me the RxR sign. I picked up the No Tresspassing sign off the shoulder of the Ortega Highway. I love it because the smaller lettering says, "No Hand Gliding or Sky Diving Landing." Damn those pesty HAND gliders!

I like the red caboose lamp in part because of the railroad lore (the other part, my Mom reminds me, is that my family in Kansas were railroad folk). In the pioneer days before radios and cell phones, train crewmen would take a lamp with them when they went to town for the night. They would hang their lamps outside the home of their "hosts" so the other trainmen would know where to find them. The neighborhoods where the trainmen visited, became known as the red light district.

Finally, the sign on the gate that guards the shed, "Beware of Attack Frog" causes a lot of trepidation with our younger visitors. These kids usually crouch low by the fence and stare nervously on the other side. Isn't that exactly the wrong thing to do if there is an attack frog about?