Chickens, Houses & Family

This is what Froggy & I have been up to. It's a miniature house. There is a story that goes with it, which is where the chickens & family part of the title comes in.

There is a set of minature houses called Liberty Falls. It's a whole vilage, there are people, animals and all sorts of things that go with it. Mom and Dad had the set, they started collecting it in the early 1990's when Dillards stores introduced it. It was very popular at the time. People would line up at the doors of the store before it opened for the day, just to make sure they got their houses. I went with Mom and Dad a couple of times, it got pretty intense! These people were serious about their collection.

When we lost Mom, her collection was split between me, Froggy and Toadly. Well, technically it wasn't me - Otter got Mom's collection and she absolutely loves it. She had it out last Christmas as part of our decor. Froggy, do you leave yours out or is it seasonal?

Toadles has quite an extensive collection, and he has it nicely set up and displayed. But because he is who he is, his collection is shall we say, a little different? For example, I think he has some of his train sets with it or at least close by. Probably also has his lighthouse collection in the same general area.

Toadles announced to us that his Village wasn't complete. It couldn't be complete. It was missing something. Something M.A.J.O.R.

It needed a special house.

One that would be very popular, at least with the male members of Liberty Falls Village.

In short, it needed what our mother would have called a Cathouse. Got it yet? :)

Well, Froggy and I decided that we needed to remedy the situation. So when she was here, we found a L.F. house at a thrift store. Then we borrowed a page from Otter's book and customized it. It has red lights, so Toadles can have his very own Red Light District in his Village. The colors have been changed from what it originally was. The house in particular used to be one of the schools, Bill thought that this was so much fun he got involved and he used his Dremel grinding tool to get the name of the school off of the sign. He also made a few color suggestions in the painting.

When Toadles was here in the early summer, I showed him what Froggy and I were making for him. He thought it was perfect, and he wanted to name it after a house in a certain movie about a special house in Texas. So, in honor of the name choice, the reborn L.F. house has chickens on the roof. Chicks, specifically. They are on the roof so that any low-flying planes can find it and won't have to get lost - with Toadles, getting lost is a frequent occurance, so we thought that his special L.F. house needed a landmark - hence the stickers on the roof! I was going to paint the name on the sign, but it was just too small. But I thought that chicks would be appropriate, considering...

So, Toadles, in a few days your very own Chicken Ranch will be arriving in your mailbox! And please ask Mrs. Toadles to forgive us for this one, but we just could not resist. :)

Toadles, you will have to send us pictures of your Village once you've figured out where the Chicken Ranch fits. I'm sure you'll find a place!