On our way to Ayr, we stopped once again at one of my favorite roadside attractions. Literally situated on the side of the road in Buffalo, North Dakota, is a spectacular display of lawn ornaments. So grand, it is the sort of thing which makes me yell, “Oh my gawd - turn the van around now!”

Just as this is no ordinary lawn but a farm, this display is no ordinary lawn kitsch (or even a less typical lawn decoration scheme) but a huge collection of even larger cement animals, each weighing hundreds of pounds. The traditional Midwestern deer stand near their wolf predators, a rooster towers at the same height as a rhino. There are elk, cows, emu, bears… a giraffe. There’s even a boulder painted to look like a panda.

And then there are the vignettes: a chimp sits on a tombstone slab surrounded by squirrels & assorted poultry, a totem pole has all sorts of critters climbing on it, folks ride in wagons, make-shift riders on the horse and the donkey, and a family fishes in a small pond with even smaller polar bears in attendance.

Each animal is lined up to face the street, and bolted to stone or cement bases to secure them. At first this seemed rather silly to me — who could walk off with such heavy things? — but it’s winter, with it’s heavy snows and bulldozing winds, who is more likely to move or damage the mish-mosh herd.

This time, after we poured out of the van and once again marveled at the awesome display, the owner of the collection drove up on his riding lawn mower. He was only too happy to talk about his large collection of concrete animals.

Bud Beilke started buying the animals in 1993 or 1994, after his wife said ‘no’ to getting animals. His first purchase was the magnificent metallic gold painted lion. The polar bear is an international purchase, from Canada and weighs over 600 pounds — which makes me think the shipping was the real ‘bear’. His last purchase was the mountain lion prowling down the rocks, which cost about $750.

This is no cheap, fly-by-night collection, but rather an expensive, drive-by-and-see-it-at-night collection (via an elaborate system of floodlights), arranged with love and care by the collector.

Bud and his wife, Alta, are selling the farm and moving to Fargo, and so all 45 animal statues are going on the auction block on July 14th. We plan on going, if only to say goodbye to the giant collection. I’m going to miss it terribly.

But before then, we must get back and see it under the stars and floodlights one night.

After all, Bud went through a lot of trouble for folks to see it like that; the least we can do is give it — and Bud — their due.

Historically, the ‘Malleus Maleficarum’, or ‘The Hammer of Witches’, was a book written in 1486 by a pair of ornery witch hunters, during the height of the persecution of these perceived ‘witches’. The invention of the printing press around this time allowed the book to spread far and wide, despite being banned by the Catholic Church as ‘unethical’. It’s a very interesting read, with entire chapters dedicated to things like “What do you do if you’ve been physically emasculated by a witch?”, which seemed to be a fairly major concern. That, and witchcraft being an affront to God, of course - but mostly, there was a lot of terror about strange vanishings in trouser town, all written in an anecdotal style akin to ‘one time I heard about this guy and this thing TOTALLY happened to him.’

The book also addresses the fact that witches can turn men into beasts, though they rarely seem to turn other females into lesser forms. By extension, these witches also had the power to make themselves ridiculously seductive, so that barely any magic was needed against whichever male they sought to ruin - just purely biological sex appeal. This is the complicated premise of the eleventh and latest set of Demons Chronicle gashapon, created by Yanoman in Japan.

I’ve always loved this ongoing collection for just how bizarre and obscure the premises for each set of surreal creatures has been. Because everything is written in Japanese, I know very little about the origins of each specific, diverse figure, but every time I obtain a new set (always ordered directly from Japan, as there’s no real market for them in the US), it’s always a fun game of detection and discovery, trying to glean the purpose of everything - looking up Japanese mythology, piecing together hiragana phrases, and eventually coming up with not a lot, but learning interesting things nonetheless. The creatures inspire new paintings from me, and it’s worth the nervous wait as a box of these things makes its untrackable way from overseas.

This eleventh series is composed entirely of female figures in mythical animal forms. They’re about 2 inches tall, with an additional heavy base for each figure, and they all come disassembled into about six or seven pieces each, which must be put together very delicately. Every figure comes in two different color schemes - a painted, full-color version, and a beige, statuesque version. New to this series is the option to display each figure with a human head, or an alternate scary animal head - revealing the duality of the nature of these shapely witches. Don’t be fooled, guys - it’s no fun to make out with a bird skull.

Since these do come from overseas, where the attitude towards the nude human form is more relaxed, many of the Demons Chronicle figures might be considered risqué. Still, it isn’t without reason. A witch in a baggy sweater isn’t going to be quite as effective as a naked one. Combining female forms with animal forms is also nothing new for Japanese toys - but most of the examples of this also wouldn’t be appropriate for a PG blog.

The most bizarre figure in the series is the rotund Elephant Woman, who comes with a pachyderm head, and clutching a giant fork and knife - which strikes me as a strangely malicious depiction of the overweight. I can always enjoy a good succubus hanging off of a church steeple, a frog faerie, and an Egyptian-themed depiction of a female Grim Reaper with an alternate skull head. I enjoy them because they’re such a large step away from what we usually see in figural form in our own mass toy market. I can only take so many iterations of Spider-Man before I stop being interested and need a break.

There are ten different witches in the series, with a rare eleventh mystery figure. You can see nine of them in our Community Section, at the end of my Demons Chronicle collection.

As mentioned, we stopped at Georgine’s on our way home from Wisconsin on Sunday. What we didn’t tell you was that at Georgine’s I got a pheasant. Not a live one, but a dead one. A taxedermy, mounted pheasant.

I spotted him immediately, what with his vibrant colors and all, and studied him as long and hard as his (presumably) glass eyes studied me. A tag ’round his foot said he was priced at $95 at the estate sale, not that the tag means much at Georgine’s, and as my dad would say, “It didn’t sell for that now, did it.” But such a large price tag scared me off a bit. What did I know about taxidermy? Nothing. And then too, there was the matter of his broken-off tail. Could that be repaired? If so, how much? I made myself walk away.

But I was enthralled. I felt him staring at me from across the warehouse. Not in a creepy “eyes following you everywhere” sort of a way, but a compelling way. Like a doll, the pheasant seemed to be saying, “Give me a home, please.” I tired to resist, really. But by the time we were done, and he’d been rejected by the fifth interested shopper, I finally placed him on top of one of our other boxes and admitted I had to have him. (Georgine charged me $4 for him and told me how to lift him gently off his piece of driftwoof, removing his wire ‘peg legs’ from the drilled holes so that I could make sure he traveled safely.)

The kids were a bit spooked. Hunter, the youngest, said it was scary and that he “didn’t want dead things in his room.” I comforted him that it was dead, but preserved so it wasn’t rotting or anything and that it wouldn’t go in his room.

Once home with Alfie (short for Alphalpha for his three quirky head feathers), my homework began.

Since I knew nothing about taxidermy I wasn’t sure what I’d discover. Would my $4 find need a $100 repair and turn out to be a bird-brained idea?

Searching the Internet I first discovered the horrors behind collecting taxidermy animals. Most horrific were the potential bug problems. Once I verified that Alfie was clean and I stopped itching (and Derek stopped sneaking up behind me to tickle my neck — the meanie), I continued to research for the tail feather repair.

I discovered that all I need to do to re-attach his tail was use fine insect pins and super glue to splice them back together. That sounds both doable and affordable.

Delighted to discover that Alfie is ‘healthy’ and that I can return him to full glory, I was excited to learn more about taxidermy collecting.

In reading the history of taxidermy I learned that while taxidermy dates back to the 16th century, it was in Victorian times, heavily influenced by the works of Charles Darwin, that the practice flourished. In fact, many of the animals and birds you see in museums today date back to Victorian times.

Victorians, with their love of travel and fascination with souvenirs, undoubtedly saw the preservation of exotic animals in their natural habitats as both charming and educational. Many animals and birds were not merely mounted, but put in elaborate cases with realistic environments with painted backgrounds.

As with most collectibles, there are many big names in Victorian taxidermy collecting, such as Peter Spicer, Thomas Hall, and Henry Shaw.

But there was also another style. Anthropomorphic taxidermy caricature work, deemed macabre by many, was popularized in the Victorian era.

This style is typified by the work of one taxidermy master named Walter Potter.

Potter posed animals in very human situations, such as rats stealing wine, kittens at a wedding, a marching band of mice, and squirrels relaxing in a parlor (Interesting side note: While Walter Potter and Beatrix Potter may or may not have been related, they were contemporaries and some argue that her work was inspired by Walter’s taxidermy style.)

Walter Potter made many very large tableaus with fanciful details. Walter also seemed drawn to abnormalities, mounting two-headed animals and other freakish abworks He made so many of these oddities that he opened the Museum of Curiosities in 1861 in the village of Bramber in West Sussex. Eventually the whole collection was purchased in the 60’s by the Jamaica Inn in Cornwall. There they remained until 2003 when the entire collection was auctioned off in bits and pieces. The highest price of the sale, £23,500, was paid for ‘The Death and Burial of Cock Robin,’ Potter’s earliest and most well known tableau.

Now I was utterly smitten with taxidermy. Nothing against Alfie, but these strange dead animal vignettes have much more appeal for me than your standard mounted buck or howling coyote. And I am not alone.

Not only are old taxidermy collectibles popular, but there are new artists creating fantastic works. One such person is Tia Resleure.

Resleure bought her first piece of taxidermy at age 11 and has continued to do so for 37 years. In the past 12 years she’s become more serious about collecting, having paid as much as $5,000 or one piece. In 1981, she started using animal remains in assemblage pieces and nine years ago she trained at a taxidermy school in Wisconsin. From here Resleure went onto creating what she calls fancifully grotesque and anthropomorphic taxidermy.

She moves past Potter’s works, creating reliquaries, small caskets or shrines made out of vinyl-faced plush dolls into which she inserts the taxidermy. Completely creepy, compelling and captivating.

Resleure also makes ‘frisks,’ freaks of nature; monstrosities made from her mind — and dead animals. Her website is a must see for all her curiosities. (As well as for her well articulated thoughts on the ethics of taxidermy.)

Natural or strange, taxidermy collectibles are becoming quite hot. Along with brisk and big price sales in Victorian taxidermy, there’s the World Championships of Taxidermy (covered by ESPN no less).

Even kids are starting to practice taxidermy — like Amy Ritchie-Carter who began at the age of 13. In a re-use, recycle world, it makes sense to use all of the animal whether it be legally hunted, roadkill or die of natural causes.

Along with prices currently increasing in this area of collecting there are legal matters to consider. Since many animals are on the endangered lists, even if they’ve been killed years ago it may be illegal to transport and/or buy them.

As Resleure recalls, shipping alone can be problematic:

“I had a real tough time finding out the legality of having this shipped. I was calling customs and I was like, ‘OK, so what does it get reported as?’ And he goes, ‘Well, if it’s taxidermy, it’s fish and game.’ I said, ‘No, it’s not wildlife. It’s domestic.’

“And he’s like, ‘Oh, it’s food.’ And I’m like, ‘No this isn’t food, this is a scientific specimen.’ And he goes, ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘It’s a Cyclops piglet.’

“And he goes, ‘Why would anybody want that?’

“And I said, ‘I don’t know. Why would anybody want Beanie Babies?’”

After seeing all the possibilities of taxidermy collecting, I’m with Resleure. Why have a stuffed animal when you can have a mounted one?

On October 17, 2005 Steve King and Janet Rosso started Caboodle! Toys LLC., and exactly 16 months later their first container of Noah’s Pals (lovingly sculpted, beautifully hand-painted animal figures, built to 1:24 scale) shipped from overseas — they were officially in the collectibles business.

Just a few weeks after the February 2007 Toy Fair, where they presented Noah’s Pals to toy lovers, I caught up with Janet and Steve and asked them some questions about their new animal collectibles.

You know I love the concept of animals (they’re cute, affordable, educational, and fun for generations), but why did you choose animals?

Steve: We started out by defining the things we’d like to see in a collection. We wanted it to be educational, optimistic, and non-violent. Then we decided to do some research by talking to collectors — but we never got to that point…

Janet: Steve asked me if I knew anybody that was really into collecting so we could interview them. I jokingly said, “Noah.” After all, he was the first and biggest collector of all time. And with that quick conversation, we decided on Noah’s Pals.

Steve: The beauty of the Noah’s Ark story, how it evokes the beauty in all animals, and its relevance to many of the popular religions in the world including Christianity, Judaism, and Islamism, it seemed like a natural.

It does inspire one to take stewardship of animals and the environment more seriously. But, I have to ask… Why isn’t there a Mrs. Noah?

Janet: Mrs. Noah is coming soon. We plan on introducing her in early 2008.

OK. I was afraid she had missed the ark! How many animals are currently on the ark — in the series?

Janet: Noah’s Pals is our premier collection. All forty pairs of animals, Noah with the doves, and the ark were released at the same time.

Just how does the collectability come into play? Will all 40 animal pair inventory just sell out and that’s that, or is there another plan?

Janet: We’ve noticed that some collectible companies suddenly ‘retire’ a product without warning. We find that this lacks integrity.

Steve: We think that it makes sense to fully disclose the quantity and availability of our collections. It’s the honest thing to do.

Janet: With Noah’s Pals, we’re creating limited editions of those animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. For example, five of our animal pairs are ‘endangered’ and we have decided to only make 10,000 editions. Another ten pairs are ‘vulnerable’ in the wild and we are making 20,000 editions of those. After we’ve produced all of those editions, they will officially become retired.

But there’s a reason to collect the non-endangered, not-so-limited animals too, right? You can register all/any animals to get that Caboodle! And I hear it involves some really rare animals…

Steve: The Caboodle! reward contains several great ‘bonus’ items for the avid Noah’s Pals collector. We decided to offer an ‘extinct’ species of animal with each series. For the first series of forty animals, the Caboodle! includes Derek + Delilah Dodo. They are not for sale, and the only way to earn the pair is to gather the rest of the collection.

So cool — you can only get the extinct species by saving the others. It’s like good karma!

Janet: The Caboodle! also includes a lunch box and a memory card matching game featuring our distinctive animal icons. Plus a few other special surprises too!

Please describe how the registration and reward system works, so folks know just how to get a Caboodle.

Steve: We’ve designed it to be simple as possible. Kids and parents need to first register as a member of Noah’s Crew on NOAHSPALS.com. After that, they just need to visit our online “Check-In Desk” and enter the full ID codes found on the back of their ID Cards. We also have an “offline” Redemption Form that comes with our Arks. Collectors can write the codes on a single sheet of paper and mail it to us to redeem their Caboodle!™

If folks register online, along with the interactive aspects of the website and earning the reward of a Caboodle!™ they can win prizes too. Will these items be limited in anyway and be collectibles themselves?

Janet: The raffle prizes are an extra thank you to our collectors, but they can also be purchased from our online shop. We would hope that the Caboodle! itself becomes a valued collectible.

And there’s interactive fun too — like games, downloads and animal information.

I know you’re still planning to expand the website for registered users… Any plans you can share?

Janet: We’ve compiled a long list of animals and it took us quite some time to decide on the first forty — we’d like to add twenty Noah’s Pals every year. We plan on working with our collectors to choose the animals that will be released in the next series.

Noah’s Pals are adorable and collectible, which I’m completely a fan of, but they are for children and well, kids will be kids… Are Noah’s Pals toys too? What are they made of? Are they fragile?

Janet: Yes, they are toys and meant to be enjoyed! They are made of PVC (stands for polyvinyl chloride), which is simply plastic in lay terms. Our plastic is hard, but not solid. Our products have been extensively tested and meet the safety standards of the United States, Canada, and Europe for children 3+.

I’m curious, what sort of feeback or comments did you receive at the Toy Fair?

Janet: We had several zoo buyers inspect our animals and they just loved the little details we added through sculpting and painting. For example, on our zebra, we added a shadow stripe on their hind quarters to distinguish the plains zebra from other species. They also loved our ID Cards and the educational focus of our line.

Steve: We found that everyone appreciates the “built to scale” aspect of the collection. We’re not the first company to offer animal figures, but apparently we’re one of the first to maintain scale across the animal kingdom.

They sure are beautiful — and I wish you much success!

Janet: We hope Noah’s Pals becomes popular in the collecting community so that we can continue to work together on Noah’s Pals and entirely brand new collections too.

Along with the links included in this interview, Noah’s Pals are found at specialty toy stores, gift boutiques, and zoo shops. If you can’t find them at your local store, contact Steve and Janet at their website and ask them to help you locate a retailer near you.

Just about two years ago Janet Rosso and Steve King, friends since college, were walking by a gift shop when they saw a window full of collectible toys which said, “Collect Them All!” (guess what toys those were Ha!) and Steve and Janet had a conversation which went a little something like this:

Steve: “So, if you ‘Collect Them All,’ what happens?”

Janet: “Nothing.”

Then the two began talking about the nature of collecting — how collectors put time and money into their collections, but to their knowledge, no company did anything special for collectors to reward them.

If you do in fact get them all, your satisfaction is your own and only reward — no one gives you something once you complete it.

Admittedly, satisfaction isn’t a small thing, but the two friends thought collectors deserved ’something’ rather than nothing from the companies which collectors support. Just several months later, both Steve and Janet quit their jobs and became Caboodle! Toys LLC, the first and only company to reward collectors. (Get the whole ‘kit’ and earn ‘caboodles!’)

It’s not just a clever name, folks; it’s a real company that rewards collectors!

Caboodle! Toys LLC. makes Noah’s Pals, a collection of animal toys which are not only cute but educational.

Sold in pairs, as one would expect with the whole ‘ark’ theme, these toys come complete with a collector ID card which provides animal facts — facts which have been confirmed by their philanthropic partner, the Wildlife Conservation Society (the organization receives 5% of net profits).

Noah’s Pals are true collectibles as well because there are limited quantity offerings.

The limited edition Noah’s Pals are of those animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. For example, only 10,000 endangered animal pairs and 20,000 vulnerable animal pairs are being made. Once they’ve produced all of those editions, those animals will officially become retired.

It’s a lesson for collectors to get them while they can, and another all-too-real lesson in our vanishing wildlife.

If you don’t think ‘educational’ is enough of a turn-on for your kids, how does online registration sound?

On the back of each animal’s ID Card, there’s a unique scratch-off code that can be used for online registration at their website which not only allows collectors to create a ‘boarding list’ of all their animals (proof of purchases to earn the free reward Caboodle!™), but the website also allows members to play a game, download a coloring book, and learn more about the animals.

Registered members are also eligible to win prizes. Anyone who registers a Noah’s Pal during a given month, gets a ‘virtual ticket’ in the raffle and becomes eligible for prizes in that month’s drawing. (Currently prizes include some of the goodies from the accessories shop.)

The company and its website are very new (the first toys have just been shipped to retailers) but the company has plans to add more interactivity — similar in addictive concept to Webkinz one imagines.

What I really like about this whole concept, aside from the free rewards (who doesn’t like free stuff?), is the fact that these are real animal toys.

I love that this sort of collecting can be shared by generations — as a mom I know that when I’ve tried to explain to grandparents what the kids want it’s a confusing mess. Grandparents and others can buy animals better because they understand — and can pronounce — ‘bear’ better than some Pokemon or Anime character. It makes for more fun too because everyone can talk about and understand animals and be involved in the collection itself & the collecting process.

And, these collectible animals are affordable — prices range from just $2 to $20 a pair. Now that’s a collection a child (and mom & dad) can afford.

Smitten with this whole idea of a company making collectible animals that engage and educate children and adults alike, I spoke with both Steve and Janet — but you’ll have to wait until Monday for that. *wink*