Update

Thanks Jodi (another honorary waymarker in the making...)

From Fox 59 News:

A living legacy built over the course of nearly three decades was ravaged by a fire within hours on Saturday afternoon.

The “For Bare Feet” warehouse in Helmsburg, Indiana is well known for making all kinds of socks and selling them around the world.

The fire collapsed the roof and damaged sewing equipment and merchandise inside the building. Two people were working inside, but no one was hurt.

Founder and owner Sharon Rivenbark built the store 27 years ago when she found out her son Tim was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Rivenbark wanted to give her son something to do with the life he had left.

n 1987, Tim passed away, but the homegrown business was booming and eventually Rivenbark opened stores around the world. She said the family business had become her son’s legacy.

“This is what we have left of Tim. And it’s a growing, breathing, living entity that’s him,” she said in a 2009 interview with Fox59.

Now that tribute is covered in ash and the loss is estimated in the millions of dollars.

“It’s a terrible tragedy,” said Rivenbark. “All of the knitting machines are gone and it looks as though there’s a great deal of smoke damage to the inventory.”

What is not damaged, however, is Rivenbark’s drive and determination to pull through. She plans to rebuild.

“We’ll make it bigger and better and stronger,” she said. “We will definitely pull ourselves up and we’ll just get it going again.

Fire investigators did not have a cause for the fire, but believe it started in the back of the building near the generator and compressor.

Again, I don't need socks, but I hear these are really popular among the humans. So sorry this happened...hopefully the rebuilding will happen soon and folks can take the factory tour.

Honorary Waymarkers

Nothing gets people more interested in doing things than actually doing it. This was an odd weekend for the Philbert Phlock. Rick and Diane spent the weekend in different parts of the state and the Phlock was divided as well. Diane was in Brown County, Indiana at a church retreat. She had baby Philbert with her, along with me, the Philbert original. She went with her friend Michelle and Michelle became my personal assistant. Before going to the retreat itself, Michelle and Diane stopped in Nashville, Indiana for a little shopping. Rumor has it there are more phlamingos to be added to the phlock, including....be still my beating little wings....a "Philberta". Surprisingly, there is very little in the town of Nashville that has been waymarked! For those of you not from the great Hoosier state, you should know that Nashville is an "artists' colony" in the beautiful hills of southern Indiana. Thousands of tourists visit this community every year. There are some waymarks posted in the nearby state park, but you know what happens when two girls get together...it's not very likely they will go to the state park.

At any rate, Michelle quickly learned the difference between posting a new waymark and visiting. She was quick to suggest new poses for little baby Philbert. Diane was pointing out a veritable plethora of new categories. So exciting! I may be seen in places I've never been seen before.

The excitement of the day came when heading to the actual retreat center. In the small community of Helmsburg, Indiana, is a sock factory. For those of us acquainted with Indiana, this factory would qualify as an "iconic factory", but outside of Indiana this is a little more unclear. I'm off my flight plan here, though. The point of mentioning the sock factory is not to bemoan that it will probably not be accepted into waymarking.com, but that it was on FIRE!  Lots and lots of smoke was billowing out of the factory, and it wasn't smog. Two tankers were seen filling up near the local general store. There were lots and lots and lots of trucks at the location itself.  On the way home on Sunday, the crowd had cleared and it looked as if the sock factory is A-OK.  Diane will do some digging to see what she can learn. It's not the phlamingos wear socks, but when it comes to winter in Indiana, they become a necessity for those humans.

No pictures have been uploaded as yet, but be on the lookout. They will be coming! Oh...and thanks to the Waycross folks in Morgantown, Indiana for their gracious hosting abilities. The retreat was wonderful and renewing. Who knows?  There just might be a waymark from their facility...

Finding the unexpected--Shrimp Farming in Indiana

Diane posted on Saturday about a shrimp harvest in Indiana. There was really and truly a shrimp harvest in Indiana. I should know...shrimp are a staple of a phlamingo diet! The more we eat the pinker we get. But it was a strange sight to see...Eddy Lynn's Shrimp Farm in Coatesville, Indiana.  I was under the impression they had planted shrimp seeds, but that was not the case.  Eddy has ponds...five of them. And in May, he put in lots and lots of little shrimp (approximately 50,000) into the ponds. They get them from Ohio, Texas and Kentucky.  (Popular states for shrimp!)  The eggs don't fertilize in fresh water, so they have to get babies. At any rate, as long as the water temperatures stay 55 degrees and above, the shrimp grow and grow. So for the last few years on Labor Day weekend, the harvest begins. The ponds are drained and the big shrimp go into a shrimp chute...a wooden box the water leaks through but not the shrimp! From there...well...let's just say things don't fare too well for the shrimp.

The atmosphere at the shrimp fest was quite cheery. Buck Creek Winery had a tasting tent. Beer was available for a "donation"...(something about a liquor license being needed...but that's more than my bird brain understands) and human food was available too. There was face painting for the kiddies and fresh shrimp for sale.

Sadly, a fellow water critter was caught in the muck. A big snapping turtle ended up in a bucket, and rumor had it that something called turtle soup was coming later. That didn't sound good for the turtle. It was a good thing Diane and Rick's turtle named Oscar was tucked safely in his traveling pond in the back of the car.

There were lots and lots of human kids there. They got to enjoy the muck. I'm kind of jealous...mud feels good between the toes!

And no shrimp harvest would be complete without the shrimp boat. Eddy has a shrimp boat. This boat is a Hurricane Katrina victim and was given to Eddy for transportation costs only. Check out www.indianashrimpfarming.com and click on the video link for the whole story. Pretty amazing...made me a little homesick for warmer climates and seeing shrimp boats in their natural habitats...

Hopefully this experience will make it into waymarking.com under the festivals category. Too much fun for me!