FAKE FOWLS STILL NESTING ON LAWNS : PINK FLAMINGOS REACH 40TH YEAR.Byline: Carolyn Thompson Carolyn Thompson is a former Texas Tech basketball player, playing from 1980-1984. She was born in Hobbs, New Mexico. With a career total of 2,655 points, Thompson is the all-time leading scorer for the Texas Tech Lady Raiders and is ranked second in points per game with 21. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. One of the icons of the American landscape - no, not the bald eagle bald eagle Species of sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that occurs inland along rivers and large lakes. Strikingly handsome, it is the only eagle native solely to North America, and it has been the U.S. national bird since 1782. The adult, about 40 in. or the bison, but the plastic pink flamingo - is turning 40. And it's still not getting any respect. Despite its enduring appeal (15- to 20 million have been sold over the years), the lawn ornament Lawn ornaments are decorative objects placed in the grassy area of a property. Common lawn ornaments Bird bath - A structure designed to hold water for birds and bathe in or drink, generally supported upon a pedestal. can't seem to escape the T-word, a fate that ruffles For the plural of ruffle, see . Ruffles is the name of a brand of ruffled potato chips produced by Frito-Lay. Its current official product slogan is "R-R-R-Ruffles Have Ridges!".There is a lot of different kinds of chips. the feathers of flamingo fans. ``People say they're tacky, but all great art began as tacky,'' said Don Featherstone, the Union Products vice president and artist whose signature is molded in every flamingo body. ``Art Deco in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of was torn down. But now, they're putting it back up.'' Featherstone himself is a bit of a strange bird. A sculptor with a classical art background, he and his wife of 20 years dress alike every day. He attends many flamingo-themed social events sponsored by groups like the Society for the Preservation of the Plastic Lawn Flamingo. His plastic company's catalog pictures page after page of adornments suited for any gardener's fancy: a 22-inch black-and-white penguin, a blue-headed pheasant, a green-chested rooster rooster its crowing at dawn heralds each new day. [Western Folklore: Leach, 329] See : Dawn rooster symbol of maleness. [Folklore: Binder, 85] See : Virility . All nice. But just not the same thing. ``I tried to put some ducks out there because this is duck country,'' said Mary-Elizabeth Buckham, who has a flock of pink plastic birds on the lawn of her Victorian home in Centreville, Md. ``But nobody wanted to see what they were doing.'' Buckham dresses her 34 birds - curving pink necks, spindly spin·dly adj. spin·dli·er, spin·dli·est Slender and elongated, especially in a way that suggests weakness. spindly Adjective [-dlier, -dliest wire legs and seamed hollow bodies with molded feather detail - in homemade clothes and rearranges them every week for an adoring public. At Christmas there was a nativity scene with flamingo wise men and a flamingo baby Jesus. At Thanksgiving there was a ``flurkey flock,'' and at Halloween, flamingo ghosts. Even lawn jockeys aren't that versatile. The first pink flamingo ornaments, in 1952, were flat, made of plywood. They were made of foam a few years later, but dogs tended to eat them. They've been made of plastic since 1957. Some versions just didn't fly. A movable-leg model some years back was a flop. Half a million of the birds move off store shelves in America, Mexico and South America every year, at $9.95 a pair. With numbers like that, Featherstone says he'll suffer the sarcasm. ``As long as they keep buying them, I really don't care,'' he says with a smile. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Salesman Don Featherstone has a feel for ``tacky'' t urf ornaments. Associated Press |
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