US40 Chair US 40 Chair


Big
Objects


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I like this section a lot.  I guess I find myself saying that about a lot of these pages. 
Big Objects are all around us, all we have to do is open our eyes. In my list of bird dog 
sightings I have more Big Objects than any other Big Thing.  I have boots, paperclips, hats, 
you name it. But I'm always on the lookout for more. Just 
let me know. 
If you want to see the Big Things already reported go to
my "Bird Dog Tips" page.

Colorado was a surprising cornucopia of Big Things. Right after finding the big so-called "Adirondack" chair just below, we happened upon this giant guitar. As you can see it is a pretty nice find, and unexpected. I was wondering if we would get to the park after finding the chair and also a rooster and heron (on the Big Animals page.) If you haven't been to Estes Park, go. And take US-34 into town. It's spectacular. I was there a few years ago when I was "working" and knew I had to get back. Colorado Guitar

Colorado Chair An unexpected treat was finding this large Adirondack Chair on our way to Estes Park, Colorado, a gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. It is on Eisenhower Blvd. (US-34) in Loveland, Colorado. In the background you can see a little of the Rist Benson Reservoir. Kind of ironic to have an "Adirondack" chair in the Rocky Mountains, don't you think? Maybe a "Rocking" chair would be more appropriate.

Appropriately in a town that calls itself the Klown Kapital of Nebraska - Plainview is home to a Klown Museum right on US-20. There are 4,800 Klown Dolls in this small museum. I'm, pretty sure they could bill themselves as the Klown Capital of the world. I'm sorry we were there on a Sunday when the museum was closed they offer free tours and bottled water which we could have used, it was 99 degrees. This image is "Stumpy the Klown" and is the museum mascot which stands out front (stumpy since it was carved from a tree trunk - get it?) Iowa Doll Museum

Iowa Pitchfork A pitchfork like this is something you would expect to find in Iowa. And it's a beauty. Created by Clarence Martin in 2003 it stands next to the Custom Steel Service building. If you look closely you can see the strings of lights wrapping about the sculpture. I was there in the daylight and don't know is it is light up at night or only for special occassions. If anyone from Ames, Iowa knows, send me a note.

Imagine growing up in Iowa City. Wouldn't you think that this Big Nickel would be something that you knew about? It is right on Dubuque Street on the way out of town. Not the case, as I can personally attest. When I told Dan (Iowa City born) about this sight he knew nothing about this, nor did his buds who he consulted. Just shows what we can miss in front of our eyes. Iowa City Nickel

Spine from tree This 20 foot tall spine is carved from a tree trunk. Appropriately it is located in the backyard of the Rexroth Chiropractic Clinic in West Burlington, Iowa. We took this photo while accompanied by new Bird Doggers Ann, Beth and Jerry. It was Ann's suggestion that I take my shirt off to "make a better photo!"

The Indianapolis Home Show is the first event that I associate with ending Winter and looking forward to Spring even though some years we attend in the snow. We see some of the same vendors each year making it somewhat comforting to attend. This year we found this booth for a cabinetmaker that had this Big Guitar. Turns out me made this guitar just for fun. Imagine owning a 16 ft. guitar. He made this in only a couple of weeks. Pretty cool! Indy Guitar

Indy Salt Bag This is an inflatable and as you probably know I am not particularily enamored of them. However, since I am a Big Thing addict I can't help but stop and get my photo taken. This one was local, in front of Sullivan Hardware on Keystone Avenue in Indy.

The Colts made it into the playoffs as a Wild Card after a pretty awful season (by Colts standards) due to most of their key players being injured most of the season. We hadn't seen a live gave during the regular season but tickets became available at the last minute so we scored a couple for the game with the stinkin' New York Jets. The Colts lost but I did get this Big Colts Helmut. Not much of a consolitation. Colt Playoff Cap

DC Mall Eraser We made a trip out to DC the last week in October with Jerry, Beth and Greg for the Jon Stewart "Rally to Restore Sanity" on the Mall. Not only were we able to add our presence to the turnout but as an added benefit I was able to get this Big Eraser. There's another Big Eraser like this in Las Vegas which you can see on the Bird Dog page. I think they are the same size.

On the East Coast in June for Kelly and Dan's wedding. Nice affair outside Baltimore, had a lot of fun there. On Sunday I traveled with the Chief Photographer along with Julia and Dan up to DC to attend a Nationals game which was my Fathers Day gift. It was super hot but it didn't spoil my first visit to Nationals Park to see Strasburg pitch. If you're not a baseball fan, Stephen Strasburg is a phenom that's taken DC by storm. On the metro to the stadium there were more Strasburg jerseys than you could count. Outside the fan store was this Big Nats Cap. DC NatsCap

Big Shoe of Shoes The Brown Shoe company in Saint Louis has this Big Shoe made up of shoes sculpture in front of their headquarters. The Big Shoe of Shoes, sounds like an Ed Sullivan introduction, of course you have to be a Baby Boomer to understand that.

On the same trip to St Louis for Thanksgiving we were in Kirkwood to hang out and do a little shopping when eagle-eyed Deb spotted this sculpture of chairs. Luckily she had her camera handy and we were able to capture this image. Chair Sculpture

Big Eyeball The trip to Saint Louis was rich in Big Photo opportunities. Catherine and Dale took us to the Laumeier Sculpture Park to see this Big Object. Quite something. Created by the artist Tony Tasset this sculpture titled appropriately "Eye, 2007" is one of many of his artworks found in public areas. In fact, another eyeball like this can be found in Pritzker Park near the Loop in Chicago.

This muffler was a "found" Big Object we ran across on our way out of Vandalia, IN. It's on US-40 west of town near Exit 61 on I-70. We stopped in Vandalia to see the historic marker designating the terminus of the "National Road." The National Road ran from Cumberland, MD and was planned to continue to St. Louis, however funding ran out in 1838 when the road reached Vandalia. The National Road was the first major road to use the new macadam road surface. The interesting things you know when married to an historian. Muffler

Large Cross This is billed as the World's Largest Cross and I can believe it. Standing 198 feet tall with a 113 foot cross bar it is larger than the cross in Indian River, Michigan which was one of my early Big Photos and can be seen very near the bottom of this page. This cross is between exits 157 and 159 on I-55 in Effingham, IL. There is a great restaurant in Effingham named the Firefly Grill. Highly recommended if you are passing through near lunch or dinner time.

I like to "find" Big Things. Usually I have researched and charted my targets. However this chair was an unexpected treat. We were cutting cross country in Ohio, north of Dayton, just west of I-75 and spotted this chair in Piqua. It's out front of Town & Country Furniture on W. Water Street, corner or S. Wayne. If you are so inclined Xtreme Tattoos is right across the street. I was thinking of a nice dragon but was overruled. Chair

Big Wrench We were on our way back from Terra Haute and Emily's graduation party and just hit I-465. It was Sunday morning and we had a little free time when we spotted this wrench sign. We jumped off on the Executive Parkway (aka Sam Jones) and wound our way through the industrial park until we found the the sign. It was in front of the Allisonville Transmission facility next to the Comfort Suites. Also home to UAW Local 933. "Go Union" (I grew up in Detroit!)

Andy gave me this Big Pencil for Christmas a few years ago. I had a photo from Christmas morning but cannot find it. Since then it's been in my office. Here I was working on the details of this web site when this photo was snapped. I like it when someone askes me for a pencil to write down a note! Pencil

Columbus Gavel Birddog Steve Harper called this one in from Columbus, Ohio in December, just in time for us to stop on the way to Philadelphia for Christmas. This was harder to get than it looks. The gavel is in a reflecting pond and or course since it is winter there is no water. However the floor of the pond is very slick. I jumped in from the edge and nearly went topsy turvy.

Even though Steve didn't spot this, the Big Thing professional in me was able to make the stop in Columbus a double dip with this big Mortarboard hanging over the middle of the street on the campus of Franklin University near the Frasch Hall parking lot F. Check it out. Mortarboard

Quarter This Big Quarter is out front of the Down River Golf Course just east of Everett, Pennsylvania. We stopped by on the way back from Philadelphia for Christmas. Looks pretty cold and it was. Maybe next time we visit when it's warm I'll take my golf clulbs and play 18.

If you grew up in Detroit like I did, this stove was one of the more memorable landmarks in Detroit. For years it stood at the corner of Jefferson and E. Grand Blvd. near the Belle Isle Bridge. It was relocated to the Michigan State Fairgrounds where we finally tracked it down. Lindsey (a newbie to this site) and Andy were with us when we grabbed this opportunity for a photo. The Fairgrounds were "closed" but we managed to get the photo anyway. Thanks to "you know who." Stove

Joe Louis Fist At the foot of Woodward Avenue in Detroit, my hometown by the way, is a tribute to one of the Great Boxers - Joe Louis. From Detroit. He became the most notable boxer of his time - the Golden Age of boxing. I ask you, who can name the current Heavyweight Boxing Champion? Can you??.

I was at the Do-It-Best hardware seasonal show here in Indianapolis. We are a new vendor to Do-It-Best and this was a great experience for someone who likes walking around the hardware section of the store. In fact, Ben and I used to go to the hardware store just to walk around and look at the tools. A father son experience! Caulk

Shoe in Philly Debbie and I went to Philadelphia during her Spring Break. We had a great time, stopping at Nancy and Tony's cabin. We went from there to the Phillies game where they set a record, being the first professional team to lose 10,000 games. We made history! Anyway, there was this diversion for kids and seekers after of Big Things. This photo is the result.

Another Oldie but Goodie. I just rediscovered this shot in the archieves. A couple years ago Ben gave me tickets for an Indianapolis Indians game as a Father's Day present. Which, of course, meant he was coming in for a visit. Well, the tickets were for the same weekend as the NASCAR Brickyard race. Never having been to a NASCAR race I bought tickets. Long story short, this inflatable was in the lot outside outside the raceway. PS. Jimmie Johnson won there again. Cell Phone

Bid Bed in WI During our trip through Wisconsin we drove right past Papa Bears Northwood Store and would have missed this Big Bed. Lucky for us we stopped at Mark's Market, an open air vegetable market down the road. We grabbed a couple of Big Fruits and Vegetables and when talking with Mark he asked if we got the Big Bed. "You can't miss it," he said. We we had and backtracked to get this image. By the way, Papa Bears looked like a nice store. Stop in if you have the chance, south of the Wisconsin Dells on US-12 in Baraboo. Thanks for the tip, Mark.

Another shot taken at M. Schettl Sales outside Oshkosh. I have one image on Holiday but lots on Animals. I can't imagine how Mel acquired all these items but I'm glad he did. It made for a good find. Motorcycle

Grandfather Clock On the 2009 Wisconsin trip we stopped and grabbed this shot of the "World's Tallest Grandfather clock. The address was a little confusing to the GPS on my Blackberry and we had to backtrack a bit. The clock was in front of Geppetto's Top of the Hill Shop. Not sure they were in business or not, a little uncared for appearance though there were vehicles around. One extra benefit was the town of Pilsen was right down the road (9 miles or so) and being a 100% Czech I just had to have my photo taken with the town sign. Not much there, a dozen house, a church and auto repair shop. No bar? I thought that was strange.

The old lady that lived in a shoe could have lived here. However the Haines Shoe House was built by Col. Mahlon Haines, a big self promoter who had a string of shoe stores, go figure. Anyway we now enjoy his self-indulgence with this 25 ft high shoe house located coincidently on Shoe House Rd., off US Rte 30 in Hellam, PA., just East of historic York. Old Ladies Shoe

Menora in LA The Disney Center in Los Angeles, where the LA Symphony plays, celebrates the Holiday season. This menora was in the foyer for the Center. Of course I had to get my photo taken. Julia was working for the LA Phil when we were there for Christmas. There is a self-guided tour of the Disney Center which we enjoyed, well worth the price ($ free) and then Julia was able to get us backstage during a rehersal.

The car washes in Southwest Indiana have a lot of Big Thigs. These boots were out in front of one of the car washes in Vincennes. I probably could have spent more time there since, it seems, there may be a competition between car washes to see who can have the most, or better, Big Things. Car Wash Boot

China Bag This ia a planned shot for our trip to South Indiana. These feed storage bins shows that a sense of humor exists everywhere. This was not an easy image to capture and Hats Off to Debbie for her ability to climb through ditchs and up embankments in pursuit of the perfect image.

Andy and I were playing golf at a course near his North Wales, Pennsylvania place and wandered into the club house. When lo and behold, there was a Big Goff Ball. I just needed to get my photo taken and all I had was by Razor phone. Maybe not the best quality but you have to learn to sacrifice to get the shot when it presents itself. Pro Shop Golf Ball

China Bag I wa in Red China to visit some vendors and also went to a customers China sourcing office. As we entered the lobby of their building there was this large bag. I proceeded to get my photo taken, and just in time I might say, since shortly after this image was captured the building guard came running to tell me that we could not take a photo like this. Go figure, what's the harm?

Deb and I were on our way home after a real nice stay in Louisville where we went for our anniversary. We stayed at a hotel downtown in a suite with a tremondous view of the Ohio River. There are other images from this trip on the site. This was taken at a lumberyard in Ohio. Not exactly easy to find but when you are after Big Things you have to go after them. Don't wait for them to come to you, or oyou are in for disappointment. Scale in Lumberyard

Hong Kong Hat Here is the 3rd hat in the public square. I think we were on the way back from the Tailors where I was having a suit made. I never had a custom made suit, what an intereting experience. I also had 3 shirt custom tailored. I would do this again in a Hong Kong second.

Hong Kong Hat I was in Hong Kong staying at the Hotel Nikko, which was very nice. Good rooms, good location and a very pleassant experience. I was traveling with Milan who took these photos. We had to take these pretty late so the quality is not so great, one of the problems with for. World's Largest Rocking Chair

Sundial Leg Here's an intriguing image, not so much as to look at as to get. Seems like this Big Leg is part of a sundial at the Sun Aura Resort, which just happens to be a "Clothing Optional" resort -- and you know what that means. Well, I've been taking these photos for a long time and I wasn't going to be deterred from achieving my objective! (ps. if sun worship is your thing, Sun Aura as well as the Ponderosa Sun Club are about 3 miles west of I-65 off exit 230 in Indiana.) Can you believe it -- 2 nudist camps in Indiana? They must be coming down from Chicago.

Deb and I were on our way to see the Dalai Lama -- I needed to get my karma adjusted. We made a small side trip to get this chair, which I've been after for a while. It's in the Guinness Book and can be found on US-31 outside Long's Furniture in Amnity. The Dalai Lama was in Bloomington at Indiana University and this chair, while not on the way was close enough. By the way, we stopped for breakfast at Don and Dona's restaurant in downtown Franklin. Highly recommended! Friendly folks and great food. World's Largest Rocking Chair

Chest This 2 story chest of drawers makes up a rare two-fer. I wanted a photo of the World's Largest Rocking Chair, seen above, when "quell surprise," we got to Long's Furniture and found this beauty. I would usually stop in the store and drop off a "Jim's Big Things" business card and let the owner know that I took a photo there but we were short on time and I didn't want to keep the Dalai waiting.

Deb and I were on our way home on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and thought we would drop on and go down to Chambersburg for lunch. We took I-81 South and were cruising along when Debbie exclaimed, "look at that!" Certainly the largest paint can I've ever seen. Of course we had to travel another 4 miles before we could exit. We trekked back on secondary roads and finally found this big can of paint outside The Door Shop. Big Friggin' Can of Paint

Candle On Interstate 70 just as you pass into Indiana from Ohio is Warm Glow Candles. And or course what better way to advertise their business than this Large Candle. It looks to have grown from a small family business into a nice size business. If you like candles and knick knocks Warm Glow is your type of place.

Here's another I've found in the archieves from the trip to New Jersey last Christmas. Ben, my son, Bird Dogged this one for me. He was having lunch at the Telford Inn, in Mantua, NJ and when he walked out afterward he spotted this big tree tooth in front of a dentists office. There are many old inn's in New Jersey and most have pretty good food, but they don't all have a tooth like this one. Wooden Tooth

CVS Sunblock On our way to get a photo of the Hershey's Kissmobile we stopped at the CVS store where Debbie, the ever vigilant Bird Dog, had spotted this larger than life bottle of Sunblock. It was sitting right on the front counter so I asked the checkout gal if I could take my picture with it. She gave me a strange look (not a new experience in this pursuit) but I showed her a couple of photos from my travel book and then she said "go ahead."

Working again, this time at the Global Sourcing Electronics Fair in Hong Kong. Folks after my own heart, putting Big Things in their booth. Of course I had to stop and get my photo shot with these Big AA cells. Batteries

Kokomo Chair Lot's of folks told me about this chair and it took some time to go up and get it. On US-31, north of Kokomo is Grissom Air Force base. And just north of the base sits this Big Rocking Chair out in a field. If you go west on the road that forms the intersection you will find a farm that buys Black Walnuts. I stopped and chatted with the folks there, quite interesting. (I lost my notes or I would tell you the name of the farm.)

It's almost embarassing to say this, but Indiana went on Daylight Savings Time last year, at least most of the counties. Some counties go on Central Daylight Time while some stay on Central Standard time (which as you know is the same as EDT). As a result you have to pay attention to the time in summer now. Boston Market had a promotion on the inaugural Sunday last year and gave away food or some such thing. I went to get a photo of this clock. Saving Daylight

Oscar's Shoe This shoe is dedicated to Oscar Robinson, Mr Basketball. He grew up in Indianapolis and is a pretty wonderful guy. A 12 time All Star, 11 time member of the All NBA team and season MVP winner. In respect the US Basketball Writers Association named their annual trophy for best College Player after him Oscar Robinson is a man to be respected. After basketball he returned to Insdianapolis and worked for the the African-American community. If you want to know more about him "click here,"

Here I am outside the Indianapolis Repretory Theater, maybe you could tell from the William Shakespeare painting on the shoe. I have a friend, Nan, who is very involved with the IRT, maybe you'll run into her down there some day. These four shoes ware taken during the NCAA Final Four Tournament here in Indy last year. Businesses and organizations around the city sponsored these shoes. Bill's Shoe

Another Shoe This is the third of the 4 Final Four shoes. I don't recall who sponsored this shoe, so I don't know what to say. Maybe it's an orthopedist, who else deals with bones in the foot. What do you think, any guesses? Let me know.

"Your in Good Hands with Allstate." Big deal. So, have you had enough with the shoes already. I know I have. Yet Another Shoe

Big Ten Shoe This shoe was made for the Big 10 Championship here in Indianapolis last year. Pretty darn big shoe out in front of Conseco Fieldhouse. A little farther down this page is an image of me and a Big Basketball inside the building.

Last summer (2006) when we went out to South Jersey for Sally's wedding. We visited with family and friends. Ben was excited to take us to Wegman's, a very upscale grocery store. If you haven't been to one you should given the opportunity. It's a great grocery and more. Anyway, on the mezzanine were these BIG pieces of silverware. Wegmans

Sears Toolbox This image and the next 3 are some older images that I just found. This image and the next were taken at the Sears HQ in Hoffman Estates, IL. We were there to meet with the buyer when we saw these advertising props set up in the lobby. Natch I had to get my photo taken but I only had an old film camera with me. After taking this photo Jai looked at the back of the camera and wondered where the image was. Like she had never seen a film camera before, right!

Here is the other image, excuse me, photo taken by Jai in the Sears lobby. This is another instance of a "twofer," (two objects in close proximity taken at the same time, for the uninitiated) not exactly real rare but uncommon nonetheless. Mixer

Minwa Offices HK When Ernie, Jack and I went to visit a vendor in their Hong Kong office overlooking the harbor I spotted this oversize battery charger. Jack snapped this image with his new camera, the one he bought as a closeout at WalMart, not in Hong Kong. Camera prices are not that good there.

On the way to Hong Kong where I got the charger above we changed planes in Minneapolis with enough time to go over to the Mall of America. We visited the Bose store in the Mall and found this big remote control. The fellows in the store were good enough to let us take a picture. Steve Class Ring

iPod Skins One of the benefits of my job is I had some input into our display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year. Of course, I recommended we have a BIG iPod package! So we did it and here's the result. Pretty cool, and it worked out well as part of the display too..

Gibson Guitar Right Of course I'm not the only one that thinks that Bigger is Better, Gibson Guitar obvoiously thinks so too. Flanking the entrance to their tent at CES they had two Big Guitars. While Steve was taking these pictures I heard a voice call out, "Hey, no Big Pictures here." It was Dick Valente coming to meet one of his customers. Gibson Guitar Left

Jigsaw Puzzle Ben and Annie spotted a lot of Big Things at Cherry Hill Mall last Christmas and told me we had to go there! Since Sears.com sent Ben an LCD telephone instead of the wrench set I ordered, I needed to make a trip to the mall anyway so I was able to get this image. Unfortunately, even though I wrote a pretty good letter, I still haven't received a response yet from Sears. Let that be a lesson.

This was on the field at the RCA Dome for fan day. We were able to walk around the stadium, look at available seats. Of course, as of Jan 27th, the Colts are in the Superbowl, so it is about ime to get this image on the site. Colt helmet

Steve Allford Shoe It seems that everyone in Indiana knows who Steve Allford is, a former star IU, Indiana University basketball star. Here's his big shoe. At any rate he has a motel in New Castle, Indiana. The lobby is a basketball museum, if you get the chance stop in.

I get a lot of calls from people I know saying, "Hey, you have to get to..." and then tell me about a Big Thing Sighting. This time it was Debbie at Fishers High School, the new school in the Hamilton Southeastern system. I left work an rushed over. We had to move some of the Herff-Jones set-up, they were very helpful as a matter of fact. Nothing like an unexpected find. Steve Class Ring

Potting Soil I was in Northwest Arkansas doing some retail audits when I say this big bag of potting soil. Naturally I had to get a photo, but no camera with me. Had to buy a disposable camera to get this.

We saw this giant basketball a long time ago on our "Explore Indy trip in January of 2002. Everyone on the bus that saw this got exicited. Unfortunately it took a while to get down to Conseco Fieldhouse for this photo for a while. Pacers Bball

Blue Jeans A while ago these Jeans were on the side of a building on Keystone Avenue in Indianapolis. They are not there any longer which just goes to prove that you need to "seize the moment," "strike when the iron is hot," "waste not, want not," or some other such old saying.

As long as we are dealing with clothing there also was this pair of shoes on the same building so I could double up with my photos. Gym Shoe

Sponge Girls I ran into these two very friendly young women outside the WalMart Grand opening. I lost their names but they were really nice to pose for a photo with me. I did give the a Jim's Big Things business card so maybe they can message me and I can add their names to this page.

Driving into Lowell Arkansas on the way to the canning factory my newest Bird Dog (Mike B) spotted this chair at a spot that I'd driven past many times in the past. He shouted "Hey, there's a BIG CHAIR." I immediately turned into a service station to get around to get this chair. Lowell Chair

WalMart Credit Card I don't suggest you go into debt but this inflatable credit card is a one of a kind. I'm glad I had the opportunity to get this image. I feel that I need to caution you on usage of any credit card. Only charge what you can expect to pay off in the short term. Do not extend your debt beyond your means.

Sometimes you turn a normal person into a super Bird Dog. Once again, Mike B spotted this large mailbox flower on the side of the road in front of Mae's Flowers (get it, I didn't until about 10 minutes ago. OK, I'm a slow learner.) At any rate this flower deserves a place in the large mailbox collection along with the Big Golf Balls and the Big Fish (usually Large Mouth Bass.) Mae's Flowers

Bowling Pin 1 There's a bowling alley in Indianapolis at I-465 at the first exit West of I70. There's 80 lanes of bowling and a couple of huge bowling pins. Here they are! Bowling Pin 2

Driving West on I-70 Debbie spotted this bowling pin quite a ways off the highway. We had to circle back and get this image at "The Bowler" in La Vale, Maryland at Exit 40 on I-68. Actually at Winchester Road and Route 40. We didn't stop for the pizza or subs but it sounded pretty good to me. Bowling Pin

Headquarters Here is the headquarters of Longaberger Baskets. What an enterprise, 7 stories high. I'm standing on Rt. 16 (the Woody English Parkway) just West of Hanover, Ohio and the building is in the background. I don't know if this really qualifies as a Big thing but it could.

When we were at the Longaberger headquarters they have several Big Things on the grounds. These bigh ceramic pitchers were outside the gift shop and a short bus trip from the parking lot. Ewers

Basket On our way back from Maryland we stopped in Dresden Ohio so Debbie could do a little shopping. There was a Hot Rod show on Main Street but I didn't see a '57 Plymouth which was my first car. This basket was at Main and 7th Street.

I think this is a classic Big Thing! Bigger than life, serving no useful purpose, and waiting for me to take it's image. This apple basket is 20 feet tall and filled with fake apples. Apple Basket

Now this is a Golf Ball! Here I am outside AA Pro Shop located in the Mastodon Mall on Ohio 79 a few miles South of Newark Ohio and 4.5 miles North of I-70. Thanks once again to Julia for spotting this one.

While not the largest "Big Thing" on this site by far, this teed up golf ball is a worthy addition. Debbie and I were on a "Big Thing Trek" when we saw this Golf Ball on SR13 just south of I-69 in Indiana. The mailbox is for a house across from the Gravel Lawn Cemetary. Golf Ball

Water Can Down in Staughton, VA at intersection of US-11 and US-250 is this watering can. I found this myself when looking through the travel section of the Sunday paper. You never know where or when you will find big things.

These pots make up a two-fer along with the watering can above. I didn't expect to find these pots but they were on the other side of the C&O viaduct. These images were taken October 13, 2001. As you can see, unity in our country is everywhere. Flower Pots

Mattress Pulling out of the Kmart lot and turning right both Ben and I let out a cheer of excitement when we saw this unexpected inflatable infront of the Mattress Warehouse store on Route 33 in Harrisonburg.

I noted these chairs outside another branch of Surfside Casual in Somers Point, NJ last summer. Never made it back until this Spring. I got 'em and I'm glad. They bear an amazing similiarity to the two chairs just below on the way to Long Beach Island. 2 Chairs

Surge Here is a work related Big Thing. We had this built for the Consumer Electronics Show when we introduced our line of surge suppressors. This baby could probably take some big hits.

Went down to the protests on Sunday afternoon before the Republican Convention. Probably the last place that I would have imagined a Big Thing. I figured some big promises from the Republicans but not this. A great day in the sun and everything was peaceful. Liberty

Tape Wow! Talk about close to home! Here's a Big Videotape! My company is not anti-Big Things as evidenced by this oversize video tape. Sometimes I wonder how I miss things so close to home.

Hey Romeo, here's to my Italian bird dog. He gave me info on these chairs, this one and the next, a while ago. I just never made it to LBI. Now I'm glad I did. Cool chair. Wicker

Chair 5 The wicker chair above and this one were both in front of Surfside Casual Furniture on Rt. 72 just east of US-9. Could be easy to miss if you weren't looking for them.

This is a Big Clay Pot (actually a Big Plastic Pot) that I got on US-322/US-1 near Concordville, PA. Since we took this image I have seen a lot of these big pots around laying on their sides with flowers or some such thing growing out of them. A cornucopia of plants. Pot

Baskets Here I am in Dresden, Ohio at the Longaberger Factory. Big baskets all around. You can take a factory tour, make your own basket, it's quite the place. They even have bus tours here for the fanatical amongst us. I'm not the fan in my house but I appreciate the operation from a business standpoint. What a money-maker!

This may one of the sorriest of inflatables that I have ever seen. Dirty, underinflated, what a mess. The only good thing is that it is new to this page. Soon I will move it to the bottom of the page where it belongs. Pot

Trowel On our way to drop Andy off at college last summer I was looking for a pair of Big Boots that I could have sworn was on US-31 north of Indianapolis. Well I didn't find the boots but check out this trowel. Of course it was in a garden center.

Lookin' pretty good outside Skippers. I would guess they had seafood as a speciality. Notice the dress, I was working (ha, ha!). I've been back but neither Skippers nor the anchor is no longer there. Things may be Big but that does not mean they are permanent. Skippers

cross In Indian River, Michigan you can find this inspiring site. Services are held outside here weather permitting. I knew about this Big Cross for a long time but didn't realize how I would impact me.

People from Philadelphia are familiar with this Big Clothes Pin since it located across from City Hall at Broad and Market. My sister Irene took the image with great aplomb. Afterward we had lunch at Cafe Warsaw and had elegant Polish food. (No kidding, it's a great place.) Clothes Pin

Swatch The Swatch Shop in The Fashion Show Mall, an upscale shopping center, on "The Strip" in Las Vegas. We were on our way to eat lunch at the Dive Shop located right outside the mall. I liked eating there and will probably go back next time I'm sent to Las Vegas. I don't understand the people that go there willingly.

A pretty good quality Big Chair. It's not always outside, note the casters on the bottom of the legs. I got this image courtesy of my Bird Dog Jan. She has a pretty good sense of humor even though she she works in HR. (That might be a mistake, poking fun at HR, but we (me) Big Picture Takers live close to the edge.) Chair

US40 Chair See, another Bird Dog shot thanks to Sue. On US-40 between Malaga and Elmer. This was a last chance shot since the furniture store where this chair was located was closing soon. Sue told me about this chair but I put it off until I heard the store was closing. Kind of feel like Lily Tomlin.

OK, enough already, Beam me up

Newest photos placed here August 23, 2011.