Paul was gone (travelling around Europe on his honeymoon) for so long that corn started growing in his office!  He came back this week to find a scarecrow, Paul Jr., had taken his place.

All said and done, this project was pretty inexpensive with a quick trip to Home Depot and a Feed store.  One bale of straw was more than enough to cover the 10×11′ floor (about 6 inches high, in fact).