TxDOT Gives Playboy 45 Days To Remove A Marfa Bunny On A Stick

When I read this morning that the Texas Department of Transportation was giving Playboy 45 days to remove an unlicensed road side advertisement I figured it must be some sort of hideous eyesore that had generated a lot of complaints.

And then I saw a photo of the "advertisement."

The "advertisement" is the iconic Playboy bunny logo on a stick.

Playboy considers this to be a roadside art display. The name of this art display is Playboy Marfa. Which might lead one to correctly guess that Playboy Marfa is in the Marfa  zone of the Big Bend Region of Texas.

This roadside art was created by New York artist, Richard Phillips, working with Playboy's creative director of special projects, Neville Wakefield.

In addition to the Playboy bunny on a stick, the art installation includes a 1972 Dodge Charger sitting on a tilted concrete platform.

TxDOT claims Playboy does not have a license for outdoor advertisement in Texas.

Playboy claims they have not violated any laws and will work with TxDOT to try and alleviate TxDOT's concerns.

What I am wondering is why is there such a shortage of common sense in Texas public agencies? And they are known by initials. TCEQ, TRWD, TxDOT, FWISD.

Does that Playboy bunny on a stick look like an advertisement to you?

If this "advertisement" is meant to generate publicity, well, Playboy has done a good job, with help from TxDOT, turning this into yet one more national story that makes Texas appear even goofier than it actually is.

Saturday Morning With A Pool Half Empty, A Divorce From Skinny, A Horror Story From Carlotta & A Weird Email From A Cousin With Deep Fried Turkey

Looking out from my patio prison cell bars you'd think the pool was back full of water, due to looking blue again. You would be wrong. It is only about a third full. It will likely take til late Sunday to get full.

I don't think we got any of the predicted rain and lightning, yesterday, in my zone of Texas. We did get a lot of wind. Which blew down a tree across John T. White Road, which made an interesting return, last night, as I was heading west, back to here.

This morning I was shocked to see a message from "Skinny" in which he or she says he or she is divorcing me, due to my inability to learn the proper nomenclature for critter and flora sightings on the Tandy Hills. "Skinny" suggests I focus some attention on the best part of Texas. That being the Trans Pecos area of West Texas.

But I have already been all over Big Bend Country, to places like Terlingua and Marfa and Fort Davis and Alpine and Wink. I just have not gone there (too much) on this blog.

I heard from Carlotta Camano this morning, telling me a teacher horror story. I used to think teachers were paid sufficiently, what with that long summer vacation they get every year. For some time now I have changed my mind and think teachers are underpaid.

I also heard from one of my cousins and his wife this morning, via email. I'd not heard from them in a long time. I don't know what to make of this bizarre email.

Subject: URGENT HELP NEEDED!!! Mike & Karen Jones

Am so sorry that I didn't inform you about our trip,I'm writing this with tears in my eyes,I came down here to Wales,United Kingdom for a short vacation unfortunately I Was mugged at the park of the hotel where We Logged all cash,credit card and cell were stolen Away From us but luckily for me i still have my Life And passports with me

I've been to the embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all and my flight leaves in less than hours from now but having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager won't let me leave until i settle the bills,I'm freaked out at the moment.

Thanks
Mike & Karen Jones

Are they trying to be funny? Is this some sort of Nigerian scam parody? I don't get it. This email was sent to multiple "undisclosed recipients."

Tonight I expect to be connected, via I-Phone Face Talk, or whatever it is called, to a virtual visit to the Trainwreck in Burlington, Washington. I await this virtual visit with eager anticipation.

Switching the subject to Thanksgiving. This is the time of year my Eyes on Texas website gets a lot of hits due to people looking for info about Deep Frying Turkey. A couple days ago a guy named Dave told me the method I described to measure the amount of oil needed was erroneous and could lead to a bad accident. Like a fire. I don't know where I got the original frying instructions. They seemed completely credible to me.

The sun has now totally lit up the place. But no swimming for me.

UPDATE: Above my memory failed me when I said we got none of yesterday's predicted rain and lightning yesterday in my zone of Texas. I forgot that around noon heavy rain thwarted my plan to go hiking on the Tandy Hills. I saw no lightning, though, and heard no thunder.

Marfa's Somaphx Has A Blog With Fascinating Subjects

You are looking at a resident of Marfa named Somaphx in the picture. Somaphx lives in a cave in Marfa. Marfa is known for its mysterious Marfa Lights.

I first met Somaphx in late May. She made a comment or two on my blog. Somaphx may have emailed me, too. I don't remember.

I remember Somaphx telling me she wanted to start up a blog, but that doing so got her computer all riled up. So, she thought that in lieu of a blog, commenting on my blog would be the Somaphx blogging experience.

Well.

Today I found that Somaphx did go ahead and do a blog. It is called "Odd Blogs: Perfect Infinitives & Serendipitous Convergence."

Somaphx has written one post on her blog, dated June 1. Much of what Somaphx wrote referenced me and this very blog you are reading.

Some excerpts from the incredibly insightful, incredibly intelligent, Somaphx blog....

"I accidentally wandered into this site last week, searching for the City of Marfa's Noise Ordinance (I don't believe we have one, many street signs, either) and found myself somewhere in the stacks inside Durango Texas' substantial internet library, where I spent the next two days...."

"Durango, Texas is nowhere near Marfa. And Durango is an actual dude -- not aboding in Durango -- whose name just happens to be Durango. And in Texas, not Colorado. And he just happens to be from Washington in the visually spectacular Pacific Northwest, where I have family...."

"And, he jumped orbits in 1999, the same year my Houston-Marfa exodus saved my life. Now I know you're thinking an in-state move hardly constitutes an "orbit jump" such as Durango's Odyssey, but trust me on the sunscreen: Twenty-two years in Oiltown, pop. 4,000,000 (anyone know the post-Katrina numbers?), 600 miles into the Far West Texas Borderland Vortex of Strange is a million miles from home (more on these triangular phenomena in future episodes). Six hundred miles in any direction in this state ain't nothin'."

"On Thursday, I open Durango's pink-flower post, and there are my flowers, blooming on a Tandy Hill I've neither seen nor heard of. His closeup photograph was stunning; took my breath away. Century's Lady. Lovely. Perfect infinitive. That Tandy Hill has a place of distinction on my places-of-longing list."

I don't know what has become of Somaphx. Marfa is West of the Pecos. When you live past the frontier, miles past were civilization ends, well, you can go missing and it can take a long time for anyone to notice.