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Friday, June 5, 2009 at 9:46AM 
When the common bird bath, mirror ball or those concrete kissing dutch children just won't do, show up your neighbors while using the rocks in your yard. Everyone will want one!
Seriously, there was fierce bidding on this odd image – not that anyone was sure what this cairn (carn in Gaelic, meaning memorial) was doing in a mid-western farmyard. It is an impressive piece of work, and if that is the builder posing in a similarly iconic way, it is why this photograph was taken; the composition clearly means to encompass man, house and cairn. Was it built for a reason, did it remind the owner of the home country, or "just because"? Is it still standing (let me know, if you know)?
The house is a sturdy but severe example of the American central hallway farmhouse with one room on each side, kitchen wing on the back, dimly lit rooms in the upper story. The Aeromotor Company (Chicago) windmill made pumping water easier than the hand pump.
Reader Comments (2)
Or this could be titled "A Man Out Standing in His Field." Can't wait to build one of those in my own yard. Love this photo!
Okay, I would say that puns and wordplay are not allowed on this site except that would be an egregious lie – as most of my posting titles make painfully obvious! When you get your cairn built send me a photo, though I expect you to raise the bar by doing it as least twice as big!