Dollar General swimming pool?

Nov. 24, 2019

This interesting swimming pool-sized excavation at the Dollar General construction site has me puzzled. Wouldn't it be great if it was going to be a public indoor swimming pool, y'know, for kids?

Wedding cake at the VFW

Sept. 15, 2019

Wedding cake at the VFW.

Ley Lines?

July 13, 2019

Has some pseudoscience mower has been cutting strange paths in the fields next to the VFW Hall and Rainbow Park with a purpose in mind?

VFW Podium

July 13, 2019

Bingo

July 13, 2019

VFW Hall.

VFW quick fix

Apr. 2, 2019
Another victim from the snowfall this winter.

Snow slide

Feb. 9, 2019

Steampunk Sax

Sept. 9, 2018.

Jay Larson occasionally can be seen playing his saxophone at the NW corner of the VFW Hall usually to an audience numbering zero. He's at it just for fun, no hat on the sidewalk waiting for the coin of the realm.

And, he's really good.

His saxophone was rescued from a junkyard in Wyoming and has obviously been brought back to life with loving care, giving it a really wonderful steampunk appearance.

Vote Here

Aug. 7, 2018

Voting by mail has killed off the voting booth and the social ritual of filling out your ballot on the spot.

I poked my head in the door of the VFW Hall on Primary Day 2018 only to see a vast empty room save for two dour senior citizens sitting at a forlorn table with a big box on the surface in which voters could place their ballots. I felt like I had disturbed their nap and they were rather cross about it.

Munching on apples in the shadow of Simpson

Aug. 7, 2018

A young deer enjoys a breakfast of apples under a lone tree next to the VFW Hall right across the street from the Simpson complex.

Public Hearing on Zoning

May 16, 2017. Public hearing on zoning held in the VFW Hall.

Quonset curve

Oct. 10, 2010. VFW Hall facing Summit Rd.

Scoop was here

Oct. 10, 2010. The site of many community events. U.S. Sen. Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson held a press conference here while eating dinner at the same time in the late 1950s, I think. Scoop was a presidential candidate in 1972 and 1976.

The Pig Lot

July 4, 2011

This body of water behind the Simpson Plant has been known as the "Pig Lot" for decades. The water itself is created by a dam and for years some locals used the large pond as a fishing hole. Today the area has a "No Trespassing" sign.

The name "Pig Lot" originated back in the 1920s when John Wesley Porter, the operator of the Porter Hotel, used the area for keeping his pigs before the animals were converted to bacon and ham for the guests. The Porter Hotel stood in the the little strip mall across from City Hall, where the pizza place recently closed. The hotel, which was intended for working people, grew so big it expanded into an annex across 3rd street. When the annex was demolished in the 1950s, much of the recycled lumber went into building the present VFW Hall.

Porter's son, Norman, later became the editor of The McCleary Stimulator in the 1950s and one of the people who started the tradition of serving bear meat on an annual basis since 1959 in McCleary.

Quonset rust

VFW Hall, Apr. 8, 2012

VFW Hall in the snow

McCleary VFW Hall roofline and wire, Jan. 15, 2012