Where is Ace Jackalope? (episode 29)

Somebody wrote on Ace's shield today, but he doesn't mind a bit. Where is Ace Jackalope?

Titanic Roadside Architecture

On this 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, I am reminded of the half-scale facade of the Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri. Though icebergs will never endanger this structure, I do hope it can avoid tornadoes.

2012 MCC sale this weekend

The annual Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) sale is underway at Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson. See their schedule. The video above is one I shot at a previous sale. It's actually my most popular video on You Tube, with over 64,00 views, though I'm puzzled as to why.

I had supper at the sale last night, and will head out to drink in this Kansas tradition in a few minutes before severe storms - another Kansas tradition - move in this afternoon.

See extensive photos of the MCC sale in 2009, 2007 and 2006. Their website is here.

Happy Easter 2012

In 2006 I went a little crazy and used dozens of Peeps and chocolate bunnies in a table top epic, starring Ace Jackalope. It was also a great way to reuse my childhood G.I. Joe jeep. The result was Lope of the Peeps. Many peeps and bunnies were injured, but they would have been eaten anyway.



Yes, someone actually named their mini-golf course after the hill upon which Christ was crucified. Visit Golgotha Fun Park..



Easter - a time of Spring and renewal...what a lovely time to think about death. Read about Doña Sebastiana in Death Cart. Better yet, go visit her at the Hutchinson Art Center.



Please enjoy this Easter egg tree in Joplin, Missouri. The house at which these trees reside was heavily damaged, but survived the 2011 tornado.



Two years ago, Ace journeyed to Brazil and Argentina with film-maker Steve Holmes. Among other things, they encountered the delicious prize-filled chocolate Kinder Surprise eggs that are sold in many countries but not the United States because they have a "non-nutritive object" - a toy, inside. See Ace's travels in Ace Does South America and read more about Kinder eggs here. (photo by Steve Holmes)



One of my hobbies is documenting animated store window holiday displays. Here are a few motorized Easter automations.



It's been a tradition here to run photos of Easter Island moai on Easter. Please enjoy Happy Easter Island and More Easter Stuff.



One of Hutchinson's cooler Easter traditions is Doggone Easter Egg Hunt at the Hutchinson Dog Park, 1501 South Severence. Here's 2009's event.



The folks on the northwest corner of 30th and Adams streets in Hutchinson, Kansas, often decorate their metal buffalo for holidays. This is their 2009 Easter Bison.



I hope your Easter eggs coloring went better than did Ace's.

And now, some images for the more religious aspects of the holiday...



This is an early 17th century German (probably Bavarian) ivory crucifix in the Phoenix Art Museum. The artist is unknown and the cross and nails are modern.



Chapman, Kansas



Groom, Texas, above and below





The city of Fredonia, Kansas, has an illuminated framework on a hill that can be used as a star at Christmas or a cross at Easter.



Highgate Cemetery, London, England



Bernal, New Mexico



Joplin, Missouri



Hamel, Illinois



Here is a detail from a window of St Teresa Catholic Church in Hutchinson, Kansas.



Three Easters ago, I was greatly relieved at the news that Patsy Terrell did not have cancer. She'd been hospitalized in Wichita's Via Christi hospital, which has a wondrous chapel at its core. I stayed with her in the hospital and visited the Chapel of the Sorrowful Mother often during that anxious time. Happy Easter, and please enjoy the hidden chapel.

Vernal Equinox 2012

Though it's cool and rainy now, Spring has seemed to arrive early in Central Kansas. These daffodils in front of Patsy Terrell's house were blooming on March 5. This picture, by the way, shows the usefulness of an articulated LCD viewfinder. The camera, a Canon SX1, has its back on the ground and I am able to look down into the pivoted and upturned LCD. Happy Spring!

St Patrick's Day, 2011

I'm sorry to report that since last year's St Pat's post, Murphy's Pub in Joplin, Missouri, was destroyed by the May 22, 2011, tornado. The neon sign had previously been damaged when some idiot jumped up tried to hang off of it.



In 2010 showed you a vintage automated leprechaun.



A statue of St Patrick in Great Bend, Kansas starred in our 2009 post.



In 2008 we saw Tulsa's Blue Dome district and met a couple of Doxies, as well as looking at Shamrock, Texas.





2007 saw our biggest St Pat's salute, Ace Jackalope's St Patrick's Day Megapost which covered:



Shamrock, Texas, on Route 66, complete with green neon on the Art Deco service station that inspired a building in Pixar's Cars and a slice of the Blarney stone...



Celtic crosses in London's Highgate Cemetery...



and a pre-tornado look at the Irish heritage town of Chapman, Kansas. Tornados don't like Irish-inspired things, but then, they don't like much of anything.



Our 2006 post started out with a rather good account of the historical figure of St. Patrick but then lapsed into Blarney.



Top of the mornin' to ya!

Celtic Nights at the Stiefel Theatre

What could evoke the spirit of St Patrick's Day more than a bonny lass holding a Jackalope that's wearin' the green?



Irish song and dance troupe, Celtic Nights, performed at the Stiefel Theatre in Salina, Kansas, this past February 19.








For some songs, members of the group sat on the edge of the Stiefel stage.






Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.

To see what's coming up at the Stiefel, check their website.

Pi Day 2012

It's Pi day - the day on which we celebrate both the Greek letter π (pronounced "pi"), which denotes the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, as well as the delicious round treat. The number π, to two decimal places, is 3.14, hence the connection to March 14 (3-14).

I can think of no more appropriate way to celebrate than with the song "Pi" by the Alferd Packer Memorial String Band:





The band was my favorite free entertainment at the Kansas State Fair last year. Here, luthior (maker of stringed instruments) Steve Mason (left) shows Ace the Kansas-shaped end of his guitar. That's Jim Brothers at right. (more pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

The band's website is here.

Fred and Red's in Joplin to Close

Like a beacon it draws us - we, the expatriates of Joplin, Missouri - when we leave our houses, our diets, and go home to that Spaghetti Red...oh, and to our families.

Alas, it seems the beacon will soon grow dark and the chili congeal in our veins no more. It looks as if Fred and Red's survived last year's horrific tornado only to close this year due to retirement. Amber Wilcoxson Tankersley, daughter of Fred and Red's owner Larry Wilcoxon, had this to say on a facebook page for the restaurant today:

"...I am posting the official announcement regarding Fred & Red's. Fred & Red's has been a fixture in the Joplin community since 1923 and and important part of our family. Larry has decided that it is time to hang up his grease stained chili apron and try his hand at retirement. Fred & Red's will close its doors as near to April 15 as possible. My mom and dad appreciate all the comments and feel privileged to have been a party of the Joplin community for so long. Thank you so much for loving Fred & Red's as much as we have!"

Larry Wilcoxon, who has worked at the restaurant for about 56 years, since he was 13, has been trying to sell the business for a few years. Will there be last minute reprieve from a buyer? Who knows.



The distinctive U-shaped counter at Fred and Red's has 23 stools arranged around it. This was shot at closing time (9pm). During peak hours it's quite busy and those who finish their meals yet still occupy a stool to fix their makeup or play on their phones can draw rueful stares from those standing against the wall, waiting to be seated.



And here is a plate of my favorite Fred and Red's offering: Spaghetti Red (yes, I capitalized it). It's their chili poured over...nay, caressing a plate of spaghetti. Over this, I always lay a generous blanket of dill pickles. Some people like onions on their spaghetti red; others like cheese. To each his own, but I favor the delicate alchemy that takes place when pickle juice and chili spices form a two-layer treat for my tongue.

How healthy is it? Well, this is what I tell myself: the grease lubricates your veins and arteries like water in a water slide. Your red blood cells (which actually kinda look like inflatable pool rings, you know) are thus able to slide through with ease. That's my reality. Don't challenge it.



"Those gracious ladies in white" - the ladies of Fred and Red's used to always wear white, as referenced in a line from a Dan Daughty poem that was once printed on the backs of guest checks. Somewhere I've got one of those checks; if I find it, I'll scan and add it. (another photo)



A few years back they switched to black uniforms. Now I tell them they look like chili ninjas.



I always enjoyed photographing the restaurant and its distinctive neon sign when the pavement was wet and reflective.



Fred and Red's closes every August for vacation of the owner and employees. It's probably a good time to do so, as Missourians think it's hot there in August. (I live in Kansas and can tell them what hot really is.) Sometimes August begins at the end of July if they run out of chili and don't want to make a big batch. Here, my brother, Steve, expresses his dismay...


...and his grief to the Gods of greasy spoons upon discovering the temple is closed for a month.



During the August chili hiatus, some people order bricks of chili and freeze them. I've even heard of it being shipped overseas. Personally, I think there's an energy field in the restaurant proper that keeps the stuff fluid and tasty. When taken outside of that field, the magic fades and the stuff congeals. Really, it can still do that when you're eating in the restaurant if you take too long and your plate cools. If you eat it when it's too cool, it can form a film on the roof of your mouth. This offers a chance to test whether Coke can dissolve anything. I can tell you it can and does dissolve that chili film.

Quite a few years back, Wilcoxon switched from Pepsi products to Coke and sold me a Pepsi wall clock that had been in Fred and Red's for years. It still hums away on my kitchen wall and reminds me of Joplin and Fred and Red's.



My mom seldom looks happier than when awaiting a bowl of chili. Really, I should take offense, but I know how good it is.



As to the name, though perhaps properly known as "Fred and Red", locals tend to call the place "Fred and Red's."

The business was started in 1923 by Fred Herring in a building that I believe still stands on the NW corner of 10th and Main streets. It moved to its current spot at 1719 South Main Street in 1943. William "Red" Wilcoxson, a butcher who had been supplying meat for the chili, bought half of the restaurant in 1956 and it became Fred and Red's. Herring retired in 1973 and died in 1975, the same year Red Wilcoxon retired, leaving the operation of the business to his son, Larry.



Every town should have such a culinary mecca - not haute cuisine, mind you, but the place people go for comfort food with their own local twist.

As I travel, here's how I find that place in any given town. Walk up to someone who is obviously local at a convenience store (police are good for this) and ask: "If you moved out of town and came back after ten years, where would you go first to eat?"

Here's the text from the back of the old customer tickets:

I was hungry and tired,
And dead on my feet.
Been looking all over,
For a good place to eat.

When some 'fellers' went by,
I heard what they said.
They had one of those specials,
With Fred and Red.

I sauntered on down,
To the place they had been.
I looked the place over,
An then I went in.

They were standing in line
With a smile on their face.
So I knew at a glance,
I was in the right place.

It was clean as a hound's tooth,
The old timer would say.
That was nothing unusual,
They just keep it that way.

The food was delicious,
An the best of its kind.
I've looked for some better,
But none I could find.

Those gracious ladies in white,
That serve us our spread.
Are a wonderful 'barg'in',
For Fred and Red.

- Dan Daughty

You can find Fred and Red's at 1719 South Main Street in Joplin, Missouri. Normal business hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 11am - 9pm. They are closed Sunday and Monday. There is no listed phone number and it's a cash-only business.

Remember to put pickles on your Spaghetti Red. You'll thank me for it.