Movie: "28 Weeks Later"

I haven't seen it, but the first in the series, "28 Days Later", was unquestionably the best British post-apocalypse inter-racial vampire cannibal zombie love story of that summer.

A.O. Scott reviews the latest offering in the NYTimes.

As Mr. Scott says: "It is brutal and almost exhaustingly terrifying, as any respectable zombie movie should be. It is also bracingly smart, both in its ideas and in its techniques."

What more could one ask for?

Mysterious Decoy from Lake Koshkonong, Wisconsin: Can you help?

This derelict canvasback decoy walked into the Edgerton (WI) Decoy Show two or three years ago, and no one who has seen it knows where it was made. Do you have any idea?

Click on the pic for a bigger version.

 

The body is thin -about 1 3/4 inches- and flat bottomed, like a wing duck. However, it has an early Koshkonong style ballast weight: a wrought iron bar, hammered into a point at one end and driven into the wood, while the other end is flattened and pierced for a screw.

 

There are distinct eye grooves, strongly defined jowls, and neck grooves. The eyes are metal tacks. The head is fastened on with a large screw driven in from the bottom, and two small nails in the front of the neck, driven in from the top.

There are no brands or other marks, and as you can see, precious little paint.

 

Everyone I have shown it to thinks it is from somewhere else, largely because "it is too nice to be early Wisconsin." They may be correct, but knowledgable people from elsewhere all deny that it was made in their area: Illinois, Ohio, Susquehanna Flats, Delaware River. Early members of the 19th century hunting clubs on Lake Koshkonong came from or hunted all of those places and more, so it could have come from anywhere.

None of the Wisconsin collectors who have seen it recognize it, but it could be a sole survivor. It is pretty fragile for the heavy use Koshkonong hunters gave their decoys, but that doesn't mean it wasn't made in the area. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated

UPDATE 25 September 2014: There is now a FaceBook page for people interested in Koshkonong decoys.

Click here.

Saturday night carport cookout...

...a while back.

 

Zack is back...

...from the kitty hospital after two days in intensive care. He got re-hydrated (hence his red bandage), x-rayed, blood tested, and medicated. He seems better, but we aren't sure what the underlying problem was or is. Kaiser's Family Plan doesn't cover kitties. This seems like a major oversight on the part of the teachers' union.

 

If only Europe were doing the same

Europa rising.

It's a Cool Space Pic of the Day.

MDCA: National Antique Decoy Show

This year's national decoy show in St. Charles, Illinois, sponsored by the Midwest Decoy Collectors Association, is now history. Forthwith a few pics.

For a larger version, just click on the picture.


Merle Glick and Laura Gharst of the Lakeview Museum in Peoria staff the museum's table at the National Decoy Show.

Bill Rigsbee and Ken Trayer checking in decoys for the MDCA exhibit on pre-1930 factory decoys.

 

Getting ready for the show.

Kristin & Bob Lehmkuhl's exhibit on the relationship between 19th century Susquehanna Flats decoys and those of Wisconsin's Lake Koshkonong drew viewers throughout the show.

Bob Lehmkuhl discusses the exhibit.

Two 19th century canvasback decoys from the Lehmkuhls' exhibit.

Bill Rigsbee with a couple of his offerings.

Dick McIntyre showed some fine shorebirds again this year.

Noted collector Mark Smith discusses a shorebird with dealer Stephen B. O'Brien, Jr, and an assistant.

As usual, there was something for everyone.

One of two unusually fine canvasbacks by Gus Moak which were offered by a Wisconsin collector.

 

Slowing down?: One prominent Wisconsin collector didn't wear out much shoe leather in search of the Ultimate Decoy.