Simon's New Pet

"Fearing the worst, Simon's friends were content to admire his new pet from a distance"

In September I received a very interesting phone call inviting me to be a part of an experiment to raise money for a local charity. I was curious and immediately said yes. The goal was to take an ordinary privy (outhouse) and design it for the public to view.

Now, I have seen outhouses, I have smelled outhouses, I have even used my fair share of outhouses, but design one? Never. This was a project I was excited to tackle. We were given no boundaries, call us when you are done with it was the only instruction.

Immediately I knew what I would do. Simply painting it was not an option. I had to take this thing to the next level. The hardest part would not be what to do but rather when to find the time to do it. My project would be called Simon's New Pet.

The structure is made of pine and is simple in design, 4 sides and a shingled roof with a seat inside. I cut up some old barn wood that was laying around at a friends house and secured it to the door and wrapped it around it.

I scribbled my thoughts into the my sketchbook, added a bit of color, a well places gourd and some other ideas that would not make the final piece and off I went.

The final privy took approximately 2-3 weeks to finish and it will be on display at the Cherry Valley Greenhouse until the end of October. For those who live nearby, the privy's can be viewed and voted on for another few weeks. It will cost you $1 per vote and all proceeds go to benefit "Living Laura's Hope"