No Monkeys At The Monkey Ranch?

When Brad mentioned we were going to Alan Cooper's Monkey Ranch, the little girl in me screamed "Yupeeeee, I'm gonna play with monkeys!". To my great disappointment, there were no monkeys. Well, there was one -- a cat called "Monkey". She was less of a monkey and more of a panther or a dog.

Alan is remodeling one of the barns into a workshop/classroom space. The barn boasts with a couple of shit pumps from its early years. We came up with this brilliant idea -- once the space is remodeled, the shit pumps can be used to serve soft serve ice cream. A chocolate flavor perhaps, with some corn in it for texture.

Alan is a creative hands on guy. He made some of the wooden bowls we used during the picnic.

The tall barn was another interesting space that is begging for some areal artist to hang from the ceiling. 

I loved the look of this mobile home parked at the nearby lot.

On the left: Sue, the Monkey mom. On the right: Bloominating flowers (Al's words).

This baby cow had no interest to play with Brad. However, it was quite intrigued by Monkey, perhaps because Monkey looks like a toy cow.

This is Monkey. She has this ranch on the lockdown.

Alan is protecting Monkey from yet another bovine.

Monkey took us for a stroll around her ranch.

One match or we'll stay cold!

This is Sue with uncle Joe. When Joe saw the little disco-ball like reflections off my sequined sleeves, he got a flashback to a concert he attended in Chicago in 1942. 

Fresh eggs from a neighbor's farm.

Ready for a picnic!

Goodbye Monkey Ranch! See you in the summer!