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Saturday, August 20, 2016

Wilbur Flies Again

Years ago, Bob found a vintage flamingo whirligig in an antique shop for $6.00. He named it "Wilbur" and Wilbur has been with us for the many trials and tribulations since then.

Wilbur was first installed on the balcony of our apartment:


Here's Wilbur decked out with a Christmas Bow with Bob

Wilbur then went on to become the mascot of my antique mall booth which was called "Diane's Florida Room":



And Bob even made him this (now rather faded) promotional sign:


After I closed my mall booth, Wilbur became an "inside bird" mounted in the bathroom of our old bungalow.  Unfortunately, he suffered many mishaps along the way, including on our move here-- yet another broken wing (the other wing had been broken, Bob had repaired it before):


Which try as I might, I could not seem to repair....

Then, I found a guy on e-bay who makes whirligigs and after a few emails back and forth, he offered to make Wilbur a new set of wings, which I just got this week.

Though unfortunately in the process of trying to install Wilbur on the porch, he suffered a severe fall and was decapitated.Yikes! ( I didn't take a picture of this -- it was too awful --- sorry)

I thought all was lost, but I finally managed to perform a successful neckectomy and glue him back together and also glue him to the post that Bob had made for him (had to do this because weirdly he didn't seem to fit anymore which is why he fell head-first on the deck) then got him all connected with the swivel gizmo that Bob concocted, into which the post fits, and found a clamp to secure him to the deck rail and now,Wilbur ("Our Guardian Flamingo Whirlygig") once again flies at The Pink House!


Wilbur's new wings! On our deck at the new Pink House

Bob would be pleased. And so am I.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

A great big WOW for Wilbur,
What a journey.
Glad he is home

Mary Ann K. said...

Old friends are great!! Fly Wilbur!

Rebecca Dutton said...

What a lovely story. You made me laugh.

J.L. Murphey said...

Great story. Glad Wilbur is flying well in his new home.

Jenn said...

This guy is GREAT! - so's the flamingo! Lol - Did he fair well in the storm?