Scarecrow 2009

Cameron Alex Jokey 2009

I guess I told a little white lie. In my last post I told myself and y'all that I was through with projects for a while. I had already made a fall wreath and put out my fall/Halloween decorations. I don't do much, just a few things here and there. This year I put out mostly things that will go all the way to Thanksgiving. Not too much Halloween stuff, but I must confess, I love Halloween. When I'd think oh, I'm just going to put out a couple of spooky things, I'd find something else I like and put it out too. Oh, well.

I guess we've had a scarecrow nearly every year we've lived here. Cam used to love to help me make the scarecrow. He named it Cameron Alex Jokey. That tells you how long ago that was. He didn't even know that his name is Alex Cameron Kelly instead of Cameron Alex.

This year I just wasn't "feeling" it. I thought this would be the first year we'd be without a scarecrow. I didn't feel like going to Goodwill and looking for the perfect clothes. I wasn't up for dealing with finding a good, round thing for the head. I only had one bale of wheat straw and on and on and on. Last year every time it would rain or the wind blew, something would fall off or blow down the road.

We had an absolutely beautiful Saturday here. The sun was out. It was warm, but not hot. The air wasn't humid. It was just gorgeous. But. . . I had a migraine headache the size of Texas. And it would NOT go away. I felt awful, but also felt so guilty for lying around on such a beautiful fall afternoon.

I decided that I would get up and make my list of things I needed to make our scarecrow. Surely in all the clothes in our closet there was something I could use and save myself a trip to Goodwill. And sure enough, I found everything I needed.

A milk jug for the head. Not round, but close enough. I covered it with a cream-colored dish towel. Just pinned it together so it wouldn't flop around.

Then I went in the woods and found two sticks for the body. One kinda long stick and one a little shorter. In the laundry room I found a brand-new pair of suit pants, still with the tag on. Don't worry, though, they were cheap ones and I had intended on giving them to Goodwill anyway. In my closet I found my old Bulldog number 47, David Pollock jersey. Grabbed a Georgia hat from Cam's room. He only has about a hundred to choose from. Plastic shopping bags, scissors, twine, lots of safety pins and gloves (which I didn't use).

Took the sticks and made a cross. Secured them together with the twine. The shorter stick is for the shoulders of the scarecrow.

Next I put his clothes on and pinned the shirt to the pants. I stuffed him with the plastic shopping bags. He's not stuffed super tight because I ran out of bags. At his feet and his arms I stuffed some of the wheat straw to make it look like he was completely stuffed with straw. Then I took the twine and tied it around his pants legs and the sleeves, leaving some of the straw hanging out.

My stick was a little bigger than the hole in the milk jug, so I cut the jug just a little to make it fit on the stick. Now the head and the body are together. But wait. He needs a face. I used permanent Sharpie marker and some orange and green paint and made a pretty cute face. Put some hair (straw) on top of his head and secured his cap with safety pins.

Next, I took a stroll through the basement looking for things to go alongside him on the straw. Found some flowers and some fake pumpkins. Now, those fake pumpkins are light as a feather and will blow away. I know because I've chased them down the hill in our yard before. So. I made a hole in the pumpkin and stuck a stick in it. Then I stuck the stick down in the straw. Nice and secure. The flowers are pretty light too. Found a brick and put it in the flower basket. To secure Cameron Alex to the tree, I tied his neck to the tree with twine. Don't worry, I was very gentle. By this time he's smiling at me constantly.

As much as your scarecrow will feel like a member of your family, y'all, he doesn't have to be perfect. No one else is, so why should he? In fact, the more you look at him the more you want to do. Just get him done and leave him alone.

We've had almost two inches of rain since last night and this morning, he's still sitting on his wheat straw looking cute as a button.

It wouldn't be fall at our house without him. After I was done, I took something for my headache and went back to bed. With visions of scarecrows dancing in my head.

Till tomorrow. Have a great Monday!