not quite real vintage illustration of duck and flowers

Lame Duck Day

Today is Lame Duck Day.  While the day doesn’t celebrate the animal, there is a real lame duck (distant bird relative of the snipe).  We dug through Great-Grandpa’s library and came up with this sketchbook page highlighting the Lame Duck in the wild.  It’s like total proof.

not quite real vintage illustration of duck and flowers

wood groundhog toy

Don’t Look Down Groundhog!

wood groundhog toyTry this tongue twister:  How much ground could a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground?  Not as catchy and recognizable as: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?  It still works though.  Call him a groundhog, a woodchuck, even a whistlepig or land-beaver – this toy is fun.  Pick up one today from our online toy store.

 

superhero squirrel

Super Squirrel, Legend of the Trees

superhero squirrel

In honor of Squirrel Appreciation Day we give you Super Squirrel, Legend of the Trees.

Think of the furry legends of the trees and marvel at their daring branch to branch leaps and skittering dashes to find buried treasure! Sure, it would be fun to invite the little fellas inside (perhaps for a cup of acorn tea), but it’s best to leave the wild animals in their natural habitat.  Though, with our wooden squirrel toys you can play right along without the little guys making a mess of your fruit bowl.

woodland animal toy porcupine

Wooden Procupine

Everyone knows what a porcupine looks like.  All needles and gnarly sharpness.  You know, like this:

porucpine in the wild

source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:African_crested_Porcupine_-Hystrix_cristata-.jpg

Except (as I’m guessing is the case in real life), such a creature rendered in wood doesn’t make for such a smooth experience.  So in the interest of not making a 10 MOST DANGEROUS TOYS list, we smoothed out the spikes.  Which takes away the wooden porcupine most distinctive feature, but leaves the little guy open to more imaginative play.

 

wooden porcupine toy

And imaginative play is all right by us.  Call him a porcupine, a sloth, or a snarled up house-cat – just don’t call him spikey!  Cut from hickory wood, sanded extra-smooth, and finished with our own beeswax polish, you can find Happy Bungalow’s wooden porcupine toy in our online toy shop.

Buffalo – Fuzzy in Real Life, Fun as a Toy

Whatever you call it – buffalo or bison – this baby is A-dorable.  There’s a state park (Big Bone Lick) near the Bungalow that has, amongst other cool attractions, a herd of buffalo.  The Kids here love it.  In times past Big Bone Lick was a gathering spot for animals of all sizes.  Bison, mastodon, giant sloth, among them.  The area was mineral rich (like a natural salt lick – hence the lick).  Unfortunately for the larger creatures the ground was boggy and many of the animals sank into the ground and later died.  The bones of these large animals were later unearthed (hence Big Bone).

Happy-Bungalow-bison-buffalo-570We love the buffalo so much that we’ve rendered the bison in wood (walnut).  You can find them in our shop.

 

Happy-Bungalow-natural-wood-animal-child-safe-toy-beeswax-farm-wild-walnut-BISON-BUFFALO-alt001-570