B-Square Ranch is weird. In a good way. But really weird. The place is up near Farmington, New Mexico, and it’s got two museums on it – ”museums” being a slightly grand term for what is really just two collections amassed by what appear to be obsessive people. The elder Bolack, Tom, was lieutenant governor for a while, and then took over as governor for a couple of months; he died in 1998. The younger Bolack, Tommy, shoots off fireworks and does a radio show with his country-music 45s every Sunday, 4-7pm, on the local radio station.

I think I saw Bolack the Younger snoozing in a chair in the museum when I first showed up, which somehow seemed fitting, what with all the peacocks strutting around and cawing. Something about the sound of peacocks just says “dissipation in progress.”

So, after I went to the bathroom, which had a big B-Square Ranch logo in the tile on the wall, I set out for the guided tour of the Electromechanical Museum, where “electromechanical” covered everything from vintage farm equipment to one of Elvis’s Cadillacs to tape carts from local radio stations. Oh, and some syrup left over from the drive-in movie theater after it closed.

And everything is in massive amounts.

Insulators:

Electric meters:

Power plant control boards:

Then I got into the elder Bolack’s museum, which is basically every hunting trophy he ever scored. Photos cannot convey how completely boggling it is.

See more photos here, in my Flickr set. If you’re up that way, you should go–although you might come out feeling a little crazy yourself. Entrance is free, but you need to call ahead to reserve a spot on a tour. Info is here.

New Mexico #1: Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn
New Mexico #2: A Tale of Two Stews
Flickr sets here and here