Ponderables

I see another Franklin Street shop getting into the holiday spirit! A plastic tree decorated with lady undies.

I stopped by the Guest House Museum the other day and talked to the docent minding the store. He seemed rather knowledgeable, if a bit braggadocio, as I ran my list of ponderables past him. First on my list was square telephone poles. We moved over to a panoramic shot of downtown Fort Bragg, taken in 1911 (if I remember right) and got our noses up close. Bingo! Square telephone poles up and down Main street! Actually they were power poles.

“The Union Lumber Company generated the electricity for the town by burning scrap wood and sawdust. Power lines were strung on square poles made at the mill. All but two are gone because of rot.”

I was told to look for the filled in square holes in the sidewalks for evidence of the ones that are gone.

Okay. My next ponderable. What is the only north and south street named after a tree? I figured I would stump him with that one.

“That street was not named after a tree. It was named after my Great Aunt Myrtle.”

Oops! Sorry.

******

Sure enough, here is the first missing square power pole I have found. Located at the Southwest corner of McPherson and Laurel.

One last ponderable. I spotted these this morning. A replica of the male scrotal sack hanging from a trailer hitch of a pickup.

Brass, you s’pose?

Fort Bragg. Ya gotta love it.