Our Hidden Happy Camper

Our Hidden Happy Camper is a gag man type of Dummy I guess would be the best description, Dimples and myself made him so he could sit on our property in the bush, under a large Sumac tree in the middle of a paddock, viewable to the road. 

He will be particularly noticeable in Summer and Autumn when the leaves on the tree go from Orange to Red, its the only tree like this in the middle of a very green bush so it stands out as you drive past anyway but now we have something more fun that will catch peoples eye.

Strange?  I know, but I like to think that passes by and visitors get a laugh or are totally confused as to why a man is sitting all on his lonesome in the middle of a paddock with his beer (especially if it happened to be raining at the time).

We threw him together over the weekend, it took me a couple of hours with the help of Dimples.

First we hammered his farm together out of scrap wood.

Using old stockings we stuffed his legs with foam, put some old jeans on him.

Then I used an old towels to wrap around his torso, taped it up and threw on an old shirt, more foam stuffing and a flannelet shirt on top.

Dimples had to cuddle him and sit on his lap at this point, he was quite cuddly.

His hands are simply washing up gloves turned insides out and with wire through them, then stuffed with foam. The wire worked well to turn his fingers into a wave and so we could tie the other around his beer bottle.

Then a old pair of boots tied around the stockings tight and we took him and his head for a drive out to the farm.

There were some strange looks as people seen a random body waving in the back of the Ute.

We used an old dummy head that hair dressers used but you could use one of those kids doll hair play heads or make a scare crow type head with a drawn on face.  Add a hat, a BBQ and a table for his beers to sit on and there you have it. A happy camper.

We sat him in the paddock, he is far enough from the road that you can see him clearly but not well enough to see the details that he is a doll.

He is positioned in a spot so that passers by will see him sitting there but only for a few seconds before they continue on into the bush so they wont have time to turn around and have a good look.  We plan on making a girl in the future. maybe swinging in the tree?

Happy Adventures :)