It's not every day we look in bins but when we were on our way to Pack the Paramount the other day, Mama Rutland drew Rut Girl's attention to something glistening in the sun.
Moseying on over to the Center Street bin we saw all the usual things, namely cigarettes (filthy habit Rutters, give it up), a soup cup and other indiscriminate rubbish.
But what really caught our eye was the tin of partially eaten olives. If you look closely enough, you'll actually see olives from the can amongst the rubbish. Tin olives, really? Each to their own we suppose.
First of all apologies for the intermittent blogging. Poor health, the weather and a job that pays the bills have conspired against Rut Girl and eaten into her spare time, but this week she'll be back in full force.
Seeing as how we're in such a good mood, we thought we'd share a sign we spied in Rutneyland during a nighttime drive with Mama Rutland.
It is planted outside local drinking establishment The Red Moon Saloon. 'Take Safety Home With You'.....what kind of message is that to send to prospective patrons?!
Admittedly, we haven't been to the Red Moon Saloon. To be honest, we haven't heard great things....although according to the Rutland Herald, The Red Moon put the Vegas in RutVegas!
We also love their Facebook page, in particular the reference to transport in the area. Taxis and limos? Apart from the fact that we have never seen a limo in Rutland, the Friday night we were in the Red Moon parking lot, there was not a car to be seen. In fact, it was dark, desolate and all we could see were a couple of eyes peering through the darkness, watching our every move! In fact it looked closed.
So we did some preliminary digging online and found the minutes from the Board of Alderman meeting in October last year. Seems there was a motion to suspend the Red Moon's 'entertainment permit' because the place is a giant fire trap waiting to happen (our words, not theirs).
We also found a couple of awesome reviews online - one referred to the Red Moon as a 'place for toothless, lower class people' and another mentioned they nearly got into trouble when they emptied their bladder on someone's car.... you don't say?! So maybe the sign is in fact an appropriate public message from Red Moon's management; we're thankful for the warning.
We've got a birthday coming up in April, we may just take a chance and find out for ourselves.
On a recent drive back from New York, Rut Girl was amused to see this billboard for the Diamond Run Mall, which basically positions the mall as a Rutland attraction (closer than you think!). What we loved more was the 'over 50 top name stores claim'. We also love that the 'you' has been abbreviated to a 'u'. Farewell English language, you are officially dead.
Rut Girl has had frequent occasion to visit the mall and to be honest when she moved here, she was just glad there was a mall, because at that stage the movie theater was still closed and entertainment prospects were looking pretty slim.
We were willing to consider that the sign may have been old, after all, there's still a Pickle Barrel billboard on that road promoting a Bret Michaels concert that happened a year ago. But then when we went to the mall Friday, we saw this banner strung up.
Yes, even indoors at the mall, the claim is that there are over 50 stores, and even more amusingly, an invitation to 'rediscover the NEW Diamond Run Mall'. Rut Girl would hate to see what the old mall was like.
Rut Girl couldn't fathom the idea that there were over 50 stores under the mall roof so with pen and paper in hand, she dutifully made her way around the mall, carefully counting the stores, stopping only for something to eat at Orientaste, which she knew would be a mistake but goddamn it she loves Asian food. The results speak for themselves (and we're not talking about the boneless pork and rice). For authenticity, we present Rut Girl's notes:
So as you can see, the list of stores comes in at 44 (Kay Toys Bee and Steak Out were shuttered). Now Rut Girl is of the opinion that you can't really count hair and nail salons or food court/restaurants as stores, so if you take those out of the equation, the number is more like 37.
Actually, make that 36, we just noticed we hadn't asterisked Regis Hairstylists. We don't think phone providers like AT&T count either but in the interest of fairness, we'll count them. We also think 'top name stores' is a bit of a stretch, no offense Rock'n Willy's or Novelty Tees.
And while we make light about the inconsistencies of the marketing campaign, the disappearance of stores, whether it be recession based or other, is cause for concern particularly as the people of Rutneyland themselves dismiss the mall.
Since Rut Girl moved here, pretty much everyone has labeled Rutland's mall as a joke. I countered with Mama Rutland today that it seemed a little unfair and how could one expect big name stores to stay if not even the local folk support them. Her response was resounding 'it's simply a joke; it's not a mall and if I want to go shopping I'd rather drive to Lake George or Burlington.' Harsh words indeed!
To prove her point, Mama Rutland drove Rut Girl to Wilton Mall. I saw lots of similarities - Victoria's Secret, Kays, Old Navy and Sears were all there. Then there was all the stores that we don't have - H&M, Banana Republic, Forever 21 and the list goes on. Wilton was also bright, airy and playing current music, something you definitely don't encounter upon a visit to the Diamond Run Mall.
I tried to rationalize it, thinking to myself, Wilton must have a bigger population. So, here are the results from the US Census Bureau's website:
On a brighter note, in honor of Bret Michael's debut on Celebrity Apprentice tonight, we thought we'd throw in some footage we found from his gig at the Pickle Barrel. Enjoy.
Mama Rutland alerted Rut Girl's attention to a cool photo on the Rutland Herald's website this week. It was a fire that took place alongside the parking lot at Walmart on Wednesday.
Intrigued, Rut Girl perused the Herald's site for some kind of story about said fire but turned up nothing. We got in touch with Lalena Conklin who posted the video and accompanying photo to see what she had heard.
We were hoping for an exciting story about a pyromaniac on the loose (not that Rut Girl condones intentionally setting fires; just hoping for a good yarn is all) but sadly that wasn't to be.
According to the very helpful Lalena, the fire was caused by faulty wiring in the outlets located underneath the bushes. Fortunately Rutland's finest were there to put the fire out before things got out of control. We love the bit at the end where you can hear a bystander remark 'that bush is hot'. Aaah another Rutter telling it like it is.
Anyway, Lalena, a photographer, also has some pretty cool photos. Friend her on MySpace to see them (Rut Girl especially likes her ice photos).
For whatever reason we can't watch the video without humming our localized version of Talking Heads' Burning Down The House.
'Hold tight, we're in for nasty weather. There has got to be a way, burning down The Rut'. Catchy.
It's not every day we look in bins but when we were on our way to Pack the Paramount the other day, Mama Rutland drew Rut Girl's attention to something glistening in the sun.
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