My Town Monday -- The Road Does Not End

If ever there was a day I couldn't afford to lose an hour it was this one.

I curse you Daylight Savings Time!

Within the first ten minutes this morning I'd stubbed both of my pinky toes. I blame the unbalance created by the shift in time.

I double curse you Daylight Savings Time!

Next week is spring break and I plan to make a break south with my family, so there will be no My Town Monday from me, but feel free to carry on in my absence and if someone wished to take up my slack and post links to all participants let me know and I'll pass that info along in a post later this week.

Now for My Town Monday part II of about Amarillo's eccentric millionaire, Stanley March 3. Part one is here.

Stanley refers to his residence as Toad HALL and this is a shot of the sign near his gate.

This sign is posted along the western ridge line of his residence. Why he felt compelled to erect this is anyone's guess. The letters are probably fifteen or twenty foot high.

Last week I posted a picture of some strange looking legs. These concrete legs now have an addition to them - SOCKS. Here is a pic I took only this week.

Yes, this is another of Stanley's creations, though it often spawns confusion since he went as far as to include a historical marker that mirrors the appearance of those used by the state of Texas. Here is a shot of the plaque, but I'm not sure if y'all will be able to read it.

The gist is that this is the remains of a great statue called OZYMANDIAS. The plaque claims that Mary Wollstone (the author of Frankenstein) and her husband Percy Shelly discovered the statue in 1819. The small print at the bottom goes on to say the top of the statue was destroyed by kids from Lubbock, Texas after losing to an Amarillo team in a sports competition.

But the legs only appeared in the last ten or so years.

Another recent activity of Stanley's is a project he calls, The Dynamite Museum. Basically the Dynamite museum is a bunch of crazy works of art and saying that resemble road signs. Like the one I showed last week that said ROAD DOES NOT END. Here are a few more.

Like I said, last week , Stanly also has his share of critics and he has had a few scrapes with the law. He once interrupted a weather channel live broadcast about an ice storm that blew through the area. Stanly dressed up as an old mountain man complete with a coyote carcass draped across his head and he did some kind of Native American snow dance behind the weather channel reporter. They asked him to leave several times but eventually the police had to be summonsed. Stanley was also was once charged with kidnapping after supposedly locking a teenager up in a chicken coup on his property. the boy came from another well-to-do Amarillo family and the case was settle out of court.

I would not say I know Stanley but her did come into the feedstore where I once worked, and while a bit different he was always entertaining and courteous. He also owned the local ABC affiliate for a while. Along with his wife, Wendy, who comes across much more straight-laced Mr. Marsh has donated to a variety of causes. Land for a Catholic Church and for a Private School and the Marsh's established an endowment at the Texas Tech School of Health.

Should you want to know more about Stanley Marsh 3 there is an award winning documentary titled, The Road Does Not End. Click here to visit that website.

Some hate him, others tolerate him, but either way you have to admit, Stanley Marsh is a true American original. In my opinion the world needs more people willing, or crazy enough, to break out of the pack and howl at the moon, or the sun, or simply the sky. Otherwise we'd all get bored.


As usual, leave me a comment if you post about your town and I'll link you below.

My Fellow -- My Town Monday -- Marauders

Tiggysmum70 -- Gets fancy with a video about Louisville, Ohio.

Word Vixen -- Blogs about a writer's conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lana Gramlich -- Paints a picture of Abita Springs, Louisiana's art scene.

Barrie Summy -- Take the plunge on San Diego, California's Big Dipper.

Debbie Lou -- Offers up a hot little number on Bishops Stortford, England.

Josephine Damian -- Shares the Paine of New Rochelle, New York. Thomas Paine that is.

Carleen Brice -- Spreads some love for her fellow Denver, Colorado area writers.

Britta Coleman -- Is making Al Gore proud in Fort Worth, Texas.

Patti Abbott -- Is away from Detroit and rubbing our noses with a a bit of Florida sand.

The Anti-Wife -- Looks at her idealistic childhood in Anna, Illinois.

Lyzzydee -- Drink in the water at Wellwyn Garden City, England.

Alex Keto -- Our resident globetrotter reminisces about his days as a foreign journalist in Amsterdam.

Debra -- Introduces us to Village of Peninsula nestled in Ohio's Cuyahoga Valley.