The story...
A frying pan on a pedestal may seem an unlikely garden ornament to some, but it is important to personalize one's garden. Actually, my frying pan decoration is a monument to stress, short temper, and keeping one's sense of humor.
Back in January 2002 someone in our household (I won't mention names…see rebuttal below) had difficulty frying some eggs without the yolks breaking. Since the frying pan was obviously to blame and not the cook, an opinion was expressed that perhaps we should get rid of the frying pan. My offhand response was, "Suit yourself."
And so the frying pan went flying out the back door (some 53 feet, it turns out). There it lay until late in spring, serving as a measuring device ("Has the snow melted yet?" "Well, I can't see the frying pan, so it must still be deeper than 3 inches…"). It had already killed the grass where it landed so, as a joke, I used some spare paving stones to construct the pedestal for the frying pan.
I'm not sure it will be a permanent feature, but I've seen birds take advantage of the rainwater that accumulates in it, so it will stay for a while.
Rebuttal: I, the husband, threw the frying pan out the back door. The pan was supposed to be the non-stick variety but the coating had worn off, so my over-easy eggs turned into scrambled. That's when I said "First thing you should do is pitch this .... pan". She said "suit yourself". So I did. The throw was remeasured on 10/06/02 and turned out to be 60 feet not 53. It works much better as a rain guage and a bird bath than it did as a frying pan.
