DollsArtCats

So I was walking around the marine department at Bass Pro shops, as you do, and I spotted a tiny, bjd head-sized deer head. It's actually a Hitch Ball Cover, the little plastic or rubber part that people put over the hitch ball on the back of their pickup truck, when it's not in use, so it doesn't get dirty and rusty and make it harder to pop your boat trailer or whatever on there when summer comes around. The hitch cover was all of seven dollars, and made of soft rubbery plastic, just like a mask. It's one of a series, there are Rubbery Bass you can stick on there too. Here is what it looks like underneath: I'm going to stitch it to a collar of a sort of vest so it will stay put on a doll body--the head won't turn, but it will still be mad fun. Look at the nice detail on the head!

My relatives came to visit over Memorial Day and we went to Bass Pro Outdoor World, among other things!

Yes, we went to check out Santa at the Bass Pro shop, and he and the decorations did not disappoint. Though I think that it is important to "know your deer" because if you shoot a reindeer at Christmas you are very likely to get a coal in your stocking, even though you may be up on your target practice: You are a lot safer hunting gators. I found this stuffed gator very tempting, though he was the wrong scale for the dolls: Did you buy a boat for your cat for Christmas? Bass Pro has all the stuff you need to keep your boat clean, especially if it is cat sized. (I can't really see washing the USS John F. Kennedy with just a bottle or two of these: I would love to have this in my stocking at Christmas, but it wasn't for sale and I doubt Santa could get it down the chimney, even if I had one: I did find two doll-sized shirts and a stocking stuffer or two for J, and we headed home. The gingerbread house looks even more ramshackle today...I think it's going to b...

We went back to Bass Pro shops on Sunday because J needed a firearm license to shoot on a range, and I needed gloves. The wait time for the license is now 2-3 months, which didn't bother J, and we picked up the paperwork and went off to see what Christmas displays Bass Pro had put up. We were not disappointed. Where the Boat World section use to be, it was now Santaland, complete with a deer carousel, a nerf gun shooting range for plastic ducks and a laser gun range for animated deer, and Santa himself, ready for Christmas wishes for things that go bang. I could see some awkward conversations with children about the taxidermy deer heads, as the kids would worry that it was Santa's crew decorating the walls. I would hope that the parents already had hunting and fishing as part of the culture at home before they brought very small children. On the other hand, children are practical. When I lived in Idaho, my next-door neighbor would use the kid's swing set on the front law...

From Bass Pro Shops..antler tips, apparently are the decorating hotness--the front of the store is covered with them, and yes, we went back there last week to buy doll hair, aka fly tying fur. Around here, Fu Bai the Sphaler is in fashion with his gold-tipped antlers:

Could there possibly be anyplace more fun than "Das Otterhaus"? I don't think so. (Swiped from the dailyotter.org site.) Then again, you could have gambler otters: (which are really big, ugly rubber lures in the shape of fat leeches, I have no idea why the maker calls them that).

Another photo taken inside Bass Pro Shops. you could almost imagine there was a real flight of ducks going on there, if it wasn't for the "being stuffed" and the fishing line holding them to the ceiling. All this is above the Waterfall/Mountain Goat/MuleDeer/Fishing Pond display. In the back by the glass elevators there is a mannequin in a tent, unaware that stuffed raccoons are sneaking up on him. Luckily for him they are very slow. There is also a table I covet in the shoe department: The bench is cool-looking but trust me, it's bony to sit on..like a bag of antlers.