research.

Today, we went on a research mission with regards to my new goal to disguise the well with a piece of yard art. Oh, you didn't know I was serious?

This serpent is like the one our neighbors have.

Like I said, I want a gargoyle. Maybe it was last year's trip to France, or maybe I watched a lot of that Disney Afternoon show in my formative years, but to have a gargoyle seemed like something I could mark off my life's list. They ward off evil spirits, you know. Maybe that's why the trees have been taking out our Toyotas. Evil spirits.

This Chinese dragon came in a pair.  You can't really tell from the picture, but there are pretty intricate lines on him.

As soon as I mentioned the gargoyle idea to Josh, he decided he wanted a lion. And I have to admit, a lion would be pretty good; we could call it Aslan. Josh says that then everyone would know that we were Gryffindors.

Our preferred lion was like this one, but in a darker shade

We drove out to the garden center across from the farmer's market. It has a name, but I'm pretty sure most people just refer to it as That Place With the Statues. I took some pictures for your amusement (and my own recollection). There were lots of other things that I did not photograph, because while they were interesting, I wasn't going to buy them. So you'll just have to imagine the cement Yoda, saints, Easter Island heads, and palm trees.

This guy's pretty nuts, right?  Not sure what the cultural influence is, but I bet he could get rid of some spirits.  He was sadly a little small for our needs.

The statues were predictably kind of expensive. Or maybe they were about right for giant cement statues. The lion that Josh picked out was $150, and the gargoyle that we agreed was superior was $175. While my desire for a well statue is strong, my patience is great. I have seen statues at estate sales, but they are usually bird baths and occasionally an angel or a cat. Either the kind of people who buy yardgoyles are few and far between, or they live forever due to being protected from evil spirits and therefore never have estate sales. Now that we have an idea of what is out there and what kind of price to expect, our next step is to look online. And maybe I'll put out a swear jar or something where we can start a statue fund.

Some other fine fictional beasts.

One of the guys running the shop came up to us a couple of times to see if we needed assistance in fulfilling our yard art needs. I guess he could tell we more than just browers, as we had covered the whole area, and then kept going back and forth between the lions and the gargoyles. He said, "Narrowing it down? Maybe not sure where you could put it?" I assured him that we had just the spot, which he seemed to find surprising. I think that's when he decided we were the kind of customers that know what we want from life.

Our preferred gargoyle - large and scary, but not nightmarish

So, nothing to report just yet.  I assure you, I will keep you updated.