There is really no such thing as junk or trash.
a) it don’t matter, it’s all matter, but if we ‘no matter’, it will only affect us. a comfort.
b) don’t want to be trite but he don’t make junk.
c) reduce, re-use, recycle. -Jack Johnson
d) beauty is in the eye of the camera holder
But, at the XIT Ranch, all the “matter” currently waiting for a new life (scrap iron, old steel fenceposts, etc. etc.) is neatly organized in front of the shop. And, if it grows too large for the ranch to use, it gets hauled off and is “cash in can.” Not a lot, not really to be handed over to me for a little weekend New Mexico sojourn, but it all counts as going in the kitty.
Cash for scrap metal.
I was driving to Weckworth Manufacturing on South Seneca from Wichita down to Haysville at 7:15 am a few weeks ago and had to stop when I saw these signs.
Kansas Can Sign. S. Seneca between Wichita and Haysville.
I do believe that “Kansas Can” and I am a sucker for great signs so I had to pull over. How could I not? Signage in the “new” manmade suburban landscape post 1970 is so standardized, codified, and controlled in an effort to be homogenized and tasteful? that as a few good people stated:
“There is no there there” (Gertrude Stein)…
in the “geography of nowhere.” (James Howard Kunstler)
So this is an area of town where we can still have a unique iconic sign to sell the goods. Uniqueness and creativity pays back to the owner, in cans. And cans pay back to the consumer, in cash.
And, Gigantism has been, for so many purchased items, the current status of our shopping culture. So signs must often follow suit in scale and uniformity to be consistent with the structures.
This is not to say that there are not very wonderful creative signs being made today, because there are. Hutchinson is home to the best signmaker in the region, Luminous Neon, Inc. with origins in Kansas of 84 years linking cities of Kansas City, Dodge City, and Hutchinson through ownership.
And, sometimes interesting signs must be grandfathered in and protected when there is actually an old building left upon which it hangs. But that generally happens when the business behind the sign has not also become obsolete. Everything changes…
This is not a judgment, blame, or lack of understanding about how that works. It’s understandable and creates order in an ever-more-complicated world. It’s just a comment about when, where, and why I am actually interested enough to stop. I think these are treasured places.
So, I will stop here but these are a few photos from my stop.
Aluminum corrugated siding used as privacy fence.
Beware of dog. Privacy fence required with value in material behind it.
I could use a good ladder.
what's inside to west?
Peephole.
Reveals holy un-cola.
There. It’s in the can.
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