Calendar of Quirk: You never Sauvignon such sights as this week’s set of oddities

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##Dayton’s place in wine country is rock solid, as evidenced by the silo bottles just outside the city.

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##Vin-loving avians “CLINK” glasses in this Dixie Jewett sculpture, visible from Highway 18 near Dayton.

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##McMinnville’s affection for aliens and UFOs is on display all year in the poster nook at Vortex Records.

Kirby Neumann-Rea/News-Register##Arrows seem to point to nowhere on Keck Drive between Albertsons and the Linfield campus.

Calendar of Quirk moves between backroom black-light and a prominent tribute to Wine Country you might never have seen, though it stands two stories tall next to a highway.

Feb. 19 Sand and gravel silos at the Dayton Highway exchange are painted with multi-story-tall wine bottles. (It’s a Knife River facility, though one bottle bears the name of the former owner, Baker Rock Resources.) You might never have noticed them; I’ve talked to long-time locals who did not know what I meant when I spoke of it — but where else are you going to find a Sauvignon on a gravel silo? There is a special breed of quirk, that which we are so used to seeing it becomes as if invisible.

Feb. 20 A mile west, at Erratic Mammoth Tree Farm, many have likely seen the metal moose statue near the fence along Highway 18. In the trees about 100 feet away is the sculpture of two birds drinking wine, each with a bottle in one wing, raised glass in the other. Both sculptures are by Dixie Jewett. The birds at first glance look like eagles but on closer inspection I believe they are turkey vultures. Harder yet to see in the sculpture is the word “CLINK” between the glasses.

Feb. 21 Old movies, cartoons and other pop culture videos often shown in the window of Vortex Records, downtown on Third Street. You can’t hear Dio or early “Rock ‘n‘ Roll High School” through the glass, but you can watch.

Feb. 22 The rock-and-roll posters, objects and general pop culture memorabilia on the shelves and walls at Vortex.

Feb. 23 The poster nook, including the black-light variety, in the back of Vortex. (A personal favorite is the iconic “Zappa crappa” poster, c. 1970.)

Feb. 24 The only boat ramp within McMinnville city limits is the abandoned one in Joe Dancer Park. It’s just below the Three Mile Lane Bridge.

Feb. 25 Turn arrows to nowhere in back of Albertsons, on the Keck Drive on the curve nearing Linfield campus. No driveways adjacent, just a pair of arrows pointing to the curbs.

Have you seen something that’s an example of quirk — an oddity that adds to the joy of life in Yamhill County? Email Kirby Neumann-Rea at kirby@newsregister.com.