Bott's Dots
I have a Bott's Dot:
I don't know why, but sometimes odd things amuse me. We have these in the road around here because it doesn't snow much. We use them to drive by the braille method. Recently it did snow and we were all completely flummoxed by 3 inches of the white stuff. So snow plows were used and many of Bott's Dots were pried up off the road by these plows. Oopsie! The Mister heard me talking about them and surmised that i desired one, so we pulled over on a side road that had an after-the-snow Bott's Dot graveyard and picked through them until we found this lovely specimen.
It makes a lousy coaster.
But it is fun to hold in my hand and i like having it. I bet that someone clever with found art would find something wonderful to do with it. They could also use all the rusty hardware from beach detritus that i also can't seem to throw away.
Anyone need some cool nuts and bolts and nails? You can't have my Bott's Dot though.
38 comments:
This is weird... I was listening to Elvis' version of "Fever" while reading your post. I am going to bed now. Too much synchronicity for me!
The only souvenirs my daughter J brought home from the Mount St. Helen's trip were three pieces of yellow paint from the lines in the middle of the road, about the size of dimes, picked up at the side of the road when I made my husband stop the car so I could go take a picture of a waterfall. I love the Bott's Dot, and it does make a lousy coaster, but the fact that you tried it, and photographed it and blogged it amused and delighted me to no end - and then, rusty nuts and bolts and nails too?? Treasure, plain and simple, and quite obviously the beginning of some kind of metal sculpture. Just think, you could find a good half-dead tree and pound the nails in and hang all the flotsam and jetsam (I love those words for some reason, though I can never remember which is which, isn't one lost and one tossed?) that washes up on your shore.
Funny. At first I thought it was an orange!
"It makes a lousy coaster."
I was ROARING with laughter at that! You're a very funny lady, my friend!
I thought it was an orange, too, at first. It snows all the freaking time where I live, so we don't have anything like that on our roads. This time of year, come to think of it, we barely have ROADS....
Still patches...preoccupied while typing will burn you every time. There was a time when Missus Chica was condemned to typesetting a bunch of medical forms. She was so doing the Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz ("There's no place like home, there's no place like home) and she typed "yes" after sex instead of setting that nice ruled line for "male" or "female".
The beauty of the Bott's Dot is its lack of functionality when stripped from its natural habitat. But, (sigh) if it must have a use, squeeze it like one of those stress balls, use as a lid for elvis, or wreck havoc with the house pets and roll it down the hall.
BTW, I could always use some "cool nuts" . Ihaven't been the same since the operation...
a) who knew those were called Bott's Dots; learn something new everyday
b) get out black paint, add two dots and a arc: one smiley face.
Oh. The second mug shot just loaded. You know what you just invented? Weebles Wobble Coffee. Sell the rights to Starbucks and you've got your second retirement fund in the bag. (Can I apply for a grant?)
Loved your photos - had me laughing. Weird stuff is fun to keep. As long you don't start collecting them - ha ha.
You reminded me of this site I saw where this guy takes found shopping carts, cleans up the metal and then makes art from it. It is here Shopping Cart Art...it's really cool.
Can you throw them safely indoors?? I want some Bott's Dots!
If for nothing else than to ping of my husbands head while we are calmly sitting side by side at our puters. Just sayin. It would make me laugh.
caro, Elvis is everywhere! Em brought this mug back from one of her travels.
shara, the rusty stuff is treasure, that's why i can't throw it away. I just wish i had the talent to do something with them. Flotsam is just floating stuff that washes up, jetsam is deliberately "jettisoned" from a ship.
alphawoman, After the freeze in California, it may be the only orange i see for a while.
mrs.chili, Glad to give you a laugh this morning! It amused me too.
patches, did you get a lot of extra attention after that? I will save the nuts for you, but they will make you clank when you walk.
amusing, i had a necklace when i was much younger made of plastic smiley face beads. Maybe a retro large version to waer to my next black tie event? You know someone would sue because they used their Weebles Wobbler and spilled hot coffee on themselves and as a result are unable to perform in bed.
maggie, thanks for the link, those are truly amazing. Bet he would know what to do with my rusty stuff.
ttq, they are pretty hard plastic. You might give someone an unintended black eye. But if you intended to give someone a black eye, or facial stitches, these are your weapon.
Oh the Bott's dots are lovely. Who would thought of using them the way you did.
I also read your colours poem. It's beautiful, esp the color of dead dreams.
Thanks, but I already have a collection of rusty nuts and bolts. Not sure what I will do with them, but I am sure they will come in handy someday.
Bott's Dots? Now that is a collection, I'd like to start but we don't have them here and you seem kind of possessive about yours:)
I want a Botts Dot! I used to have a Traffic Cone, but lost it in a move somewhere....
I'll bet that Botts Dot would make lovely pasties on a mermaid mural...if you were to paint one....
I have never heard of these Bott's dots of which you speak. I am not certain that I desire one, and yet the idea that something is on the road with a very specific name sort of strikes me as cool. Something that most of us (?) overlook regularly.
*and I always wanted to tell you how much I love that you comment back to commenters!
You should go to art school. Seriously.
Very cool, Meno. We just got 8 inches of snow on Saturday. I guess that's why we don't get Botts Dots here in Ontario.
I didn't know they had a name, either. The Oracle of Wiki says they've been around for 40 years.
sanjay, But my use of them is not exactly a success, although i did get a good laugh out of it, so that's worth something. Thank you for your kind words on my poem.
tracy, back away from my Bott's Dot and no one will get hurt! We'll have to combine our rusty stuff someday and make a sculpture.
mona, i'll see what i can do for you. Pasties on a mermaid, i like it, except for the me painting part, we'll need to find someone else for that.
liv, they are everywhere here, and i always wanted one. This proved to be my chance. I answer my commenters because it's what i like when i comment, to be acknowledged. Plus to me, blogging is all about the interactions.
bo, i used to take little community college art glasses with a friend, but they were all drawing and water color, no sculpting with bits of rusty shit. Check out the link maggie left above, it's cool.
gordo, they wouldn't last one year up there. Isn't wiki cool? I'll bet your snow is pretty.
An orange??? I thought you were holding a grapefruit! Hope no one falls asleep on the road, since they won't have the Bott's dots to keep them awake. If you happen to like the color blue, look on the side of the road near fire hydrants, after the snow plows have been through...the blue ones mark fire hydrants! Good luck in you continued quest to search for "treasures".
I've never heard of those. Are they heavy? You could paint a scene on them and use them as paperweights! (Well, not me, but an artist could!)
We also got a huge dump of snow and wind last night...all the schol buses were cancelled!
Me again...by the way, did I mention that it was almost 90 degrees yesterday, and today it cooled down to 85 degrees? No snow plows for me...maybe I'll have to bribe, I mean pay, you for a botts dot! That is, if you happen to find an extra one on the side of the road:~)
Oh it just dawned on me what they are! Those bumpy things on the road that you run over when you swerve outta your lane. They look soft and musy from the pictures..I wouldn't throw these, you could put an eye out.
Are they a little squishy? What the hell do you do with stuff you're always collecting?
I so miss the dots here in Wisconsin. Not for the driving by Braille, more because you can't see a thing on the road here when it rains. Especially at night.
lynn, they aren't all scraped off the road, just some, not even most. We have blue things too, but they aren't the dots, they are refelective square things. And thanks SO MUCH for that weather report. I'll look for more dots.
MOI, they are hard plastic so they aren't too heavy. I wish we had snow more often, but then we wouldn't have our dots.
ttq, exactly. But i'll bet they would go a long way if you did throw them.
u-u, They are not squishy at all. I don't really collect anything, just the one dot. That rusty stuff is from the beach and it's there because i've been too lazy to pick it up.
qt, i noticed that when we have visited back east that you can't see the lanes at night very well. Scary for us out-of-towners.
BAHAHAHAHHAA!! You stole a Bott's Dot!
I have nothing pithy to say. I'm all pithied out.
I envy you your Bott's Dot. Not so much on the rusty hardware. I hope your tetanus shot is updated.
Could you use it for a cat toy? Or maybe burn a hole through it and add a string. Then line it with peanut butter and seeds - instant bird feeder. Then take photos and show us the results! Though not the one of the cat eating the bird (now THAT's a cat toy.)
man, i remember those from when i lived in texas...they drove me crazy!!!
I wish I had one now to cherish and love.
--RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
The reflective blue things are square ??? ...I guess that's what they are here too. (Although I think our Botts Dots are white, but don't quote me on that!). Clearly I haven't taken the time to stop in the middle of the road, get out of the car, and look at one (I know, you and your dh pulled to the SIDE of the road, but since we don't have snow plows here there is little chance of finding one on side of the road. (boo hoo). Thanks so much for the info...now I can cross one more item off my "list of things to do". LOL
A rocking coaster could provide some needed distraction on a desk, when daydreaming fails.
nancy, you've been busy, it's okay to be pithied out.
I, i am one of those people who always has an updated tetanus shot. I'm always doing something dumb.
mamap, i'll put it down with some catnip and see what happens. My cats bring me enough dead things, so i don't have a bird feeder. Seems like that would be mean.
rc, you kind of get used to them after a while don't you?
lynn, some dots are white, some are orange. It depends what kind of line they are depicting. You could always sneak out in the middle of the night and pry one up!
ac, it is kind of soothing, but only after the liquid gets down far enough so that it isn't sloshing over the side.
YOU are so funny!! I love it!
Ideas for the Bott's dot...
- Snow saucer for a mouse to go sledding
- All-weather yarmulke
- Cover for drinks in the summer, to keep the flies off
- Paper-clip holder
...but sadly not a coaster.
I wanna Bott's Dot! I'll put it on a chain and wear it out, like a low-income version of Flava Flav.
By the way, and this is bothering me...How do I pronounce you? Is it "meeno"? Or, "minnow" (that's what I've been using)? Or, "mayno?"
Or "Bolivia"?
I would be SO tempted to stick it to my wall... If for nothing else than the questions it would spark when people entered my house.
sari, glad you enjoyed! I must admit the coaster picture make me tgiggle a bit too.
lucia, oh, i like these. The mouse smow saucer idea would certainly interest my cats. Maybe i will use it in the summer as i am tired of the extra protein provided gnats that land in my wine.
jeremiah, well get out there and hustle one up. It's pronounced none of those ways. It's Men? NO! OR Meh. Know? Like meno in menopause. Close to Bolivia.
tink, i just might do that, i like it.
that is hilarious. i have a tactile thing - i need to hold and play with a slinky (the plastic kind, get your head out of the gutter, meno) all the time, feeling the curves.
i'd hold onto that dot thing. i'd keep it warm.
Have you used it as a hat yet?
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