Rat Fink Landscapes 2011

While Andy did his thing on Friday of the Rat Fink Reunion, I went off with camera in tow and had some time to myself. I have taken many a picture of the landscapes throughout Manti, Mayfield, Aurora etc. But never with a camera capable of capturing things the way I had wanted it to, and never on my own. I very much enjoyed the day driving around and looking at all the beauty that the area has to offer. If there were more opportunities for a job down there I would probably live there. There’s something about small towns, cleaner air, slower pace – they aren’t so complicated. A giant garden and a lot of land…I’d be okay with that.

So anyway, here are a few shots that I took while I was out and about. 

Its never too hard to find a roaming goat

 This barn remains the same as I remember it when I was a kid

 Hey Lady - You got any corn nuts?

 Sun was going down

Okay, so I have taken pictures of this place before...I'm pretty sure there is a picture of it in a previous blog. But this time, I got real adventurous and decided to go up to the house, the exterior just wasn't enough this time I guess.

So I start making my way through waist high weeds and a blanket of mosquitoes and the earth is squishing beneath my feet - reminding me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when short round says "Feels like I step on fortune cookie!" - I knew it was no fortune cookie and there is still remnants of some unknown substance on my chuck tailors - eww.So moving along, with the eebie jeebies now in place I get passed the weeds and I am approaching the house, and keep in mind, I am in the middle of NO-WHERE. This house exists on one very lonely street - with the sun starting to set I couldn't help but be stunned by the odd beauty of the place. I also couldn't help but anticipate the boogeyman appearing from the back shed to come along and claw my face off or something.

As I get closer I can see that there are still items in the house and what I saw when I approached the windows of which no longer hold pains of glass I was mesmerized. The front room contained 2 ancient stoves that are probably worth some major dough...what once kept someone warm now sits alone in an empty room, surrounded by mud and cow pies. The ceiling overhead rotting and waiting to give way to all the memories it may contain. There is something absurdly odd about seeing what was once a home now giving shelter to only 8 legged things and the occasional roaming animal.

Through the chirping of crickets and the buzzing of cicadas the house made eerie noises of its own. It's parts banging in the wind - several times causing my inner voice to say "run - get the hell out of here", my heart beating more loudly as I continued around the back of the house. Now out of site of my car and realizing my phone was on the seat - typical slasher movie ending begins playing in my head when I realize, "wait I am fully clothed, nothing can happen to me, it doesn't work that way", so I tell myself to keep my clothes on and I keep taking pictures, each view of the inside of this place more interesting than the last.

I chose to remain outside of the home - as much as I would have liked to go inside and get a closer look, the home is so rotted with the ceiling falling in, the floor featuring gaping holes, etc. it just didn't look safe...not to mention the dead cat on the floor - probably having succumbed to hantavirus or something. Looking at the pictures still boggles my mind...layers of wallpaper trying to escape the somberness of the walls it once covered, red paint flaking from a banister that once led to an upstairs now leads only to an open sky. It really is hauntingly beautiful.

Afterwards to rub a little bit of the bad juju off, I stopped to take some pictures of these lovely horses. They were gorgeous.  - Horses are always aplenty down there.