In honor of April's seemingly never-ending rain showers:

The Morton's Salt Girl doesn't have a name. They just call her "Umbrella Girl." I went ahead and named mine April Showers, although in hindsight, I think that sounds like a pornstar name. Maybe that's why Morton's never named her.

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I have a new painting by my mailbox for Saint Patrick's Day:

I'd been wanting to incorporate light into one of these for a while, and Green Lantern made the perfect test case.

It's not entirely clear in the image above, but the green glow comes from a string of green Christmas lights attached to the frame. It took four tries to get the ring working just the way I liked it. The successful version you see here was carved from the end of a 2x4. So I'm a sculptor now!

I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

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This guy has been waiting impatiently in my basement since Georgia lost the SEC Championship.

Now that UGA has finally won their first National Championship since 1980, I think it's finally time to put him out on the curb... immediately after the game ended at midnight.

Beware of the Dawgs!

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Say hello to this year's post-Thanksgiving yard sign, Speedy Alka-Seltzer:

Speedy Alka-Seltzer was a 1950s advertising character. I don't know how many people will recognize him today. (The original Speedy was a stop-motion stick puppet, but this painting is based on a 3-foot talking doll made for mid-century promotion in pharmacies. You might have seen a surviving model on Antiques Roadshow.)

Mom was enthusiastic — it was actually her idea — so he'll be out by the mailbox for at least the next week reminding people not to party too hardy.

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May I present this year's Thanksgiving yard sign, Poppin' Fresh (aka the Pillsbury Doughboy):

For reference for this piece, I bought a Pillsbury™ Moist Supreme® Chocolate Premium Cake Mix. I'm typically a make-it-from-scratch cake guy, but I have to admit, it paired quite well with Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® White Frosting.

Hoo Hoo!

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Found in my mailbox today:

Thanks, Meyer. I'm rather partial to the chokLit bunny myself.

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What with plywood going for $85 a 4-by-8 sheet these days coupled with the bad mildewing of last year's Kool-Aid Man (who now has a permanent home screwed to the wall of the garage), I hadn't planned to do any new lawn art this summer.

Then while watching the preliminary Olympic softball games, I got an idea. Finding a leftover scrap of plywood, I put this fella together in world record time (three days from idea to placement):

It's been 25 years since the Atlanta games, and not once in the past decades have I thought to myself "I wonder what Izzy is doing these days?" He's the New Coke of Olympic mascots: remembered mostly for what a terrible mistake it was.

But he'll always remind us of the summer of '96.

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It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...

...Doc Shaner! (Twitter.com)

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This. Is. A. Painting.

Hey, if someone — in this particular case, artist Eliza Donze (Twitter.com) — can do *this* with a digital paintbrush, maybe a man *can* fly.

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A new visitor showed up at my mailbox today. He sure looks like a happy little fella.

Pokemon are all the rage right now, so it seemed like the perfect time to create a Pikachu. I can't imagine for the life of me why he is so popular unless it has something to do with those chubby cheeks, that cheerful smile, those friendly eyes, or the welcoming gesture. It'd take a detective to figure out that mystery.

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