Happy Halloween!

The lights are up!

Decorations are out, both at the back . . .

. . . and front doors!

Burt was pretty pleased with his pumpkin haul this year and eager to start in on the carving!

My relationship with pumpkins is something I find completely mystifying. Every year I vow to give them the appropriate amount of time and care I believe should be invested in transforming vegetables into glowing lanterns but do I actually do it? Nope! Never happens. I always end up frantically scurrying to get them out on the porch and lit seconds before the first Trick or Treaters show up. 

I really admire those pumpkins carved with lovely silhouettes, like the ones with Jack Skellington and Sally dancing across that curvy thing in front of a crescent moon. Yeah, that doesn't happen here. Fangs and teeth break off and eyes need to be replaced with scraps and kept from falling out with toothpicks. Our jack o'lantern are kitchen knife jobs, but someday I will actually use my fancy Dremel cordless drill. It will be rescued from the basement and I'll sculpt a reasonable likeness of Boris Karloff as The Mummy into the pristine flesh of a ghost white pumpkin, but not today.    

Meanwhile, back in the real world Burt was hard at work! 

Ooooh, slimy punkin' innards!

Trick or treat?

Smell my feet!

Give me something good to eat!

Hope that's enough candy to get us through two hours! It's 36° F. with a 12 mile an hour wind out of the north and gusts to 43 mph, and so far we have had as many Trick or Treaters as usual. The most prevalent costume seems to be winter coats with scarves, hats and gloves. At least it's not snowing!

Thanks so much for visiting. Have a very Happy Halloween everyone!

Haunted Humpday X - Magical Gifts

Burt stopped by yesterday just as the Mail Carrier was delivering this fantastic parcel.

It was from Marfi at Incipient Wings!

How generous of her to not only host Haunted Humpday but to have such fabulous giveaways, too.   

I said it was the most magical Halloween package I had ever seen and Burt agreed. Even the back was decorated with a gorgeous raven. We quickly but carefully went to work opening it which was a little difficult since Burt was soooo excited! What did we discover inside?  

It was overflowing with all sorts of fun Halloween projects and decorations and

wrapped up in an orange and black polka dot ribbon we found a very mysterious crystal!

But what caught Burt's immediate attention was a long lost family wedding picture!

However did Marfi come across this photo nearly two thousand miles away?

While Burt found the perfect place for his family photo I started to imagine an upcoming Dia de los Muertos post. It's nice to have a special day devoted to honoring your departed loved ones and I can't pass up exploring such a great topic on my blog, especially when it was literally dropped in my lap!

Meanwhile, during the later hours of the evening Burt and Nick sat down to sample the Vicious Valarian Venom and investigate the mysterious crystal when suddenly they both began to glow!  Yikes!!! Well, the crystal and liquid were glowing, Burt and Nick being lit up came later.

So now what? How was this happening? Was it safe to drink? Has that ever stopped them?

Never one to shy away from a new experience, Nick took a sip.

Burt didn't want to put the crystal down because he liked how it tickled his hand,

but he too eventually gave in to the lure of glowing green liquid.

Which led to the inevitable. Hey guys, good movie?

A Happy Haunted Humpday X to everyone!

Thanks for stopping by, sorry we're out of Vicious Valarian Venom but there's always beer!

It appears that our Jack o'lantern's also been sampling the glowing green. It looks a bit hungover.

Thank you, Marfi for all the wonderful inspiration and for hosting The Haunted Humpdays of 2014!

It's been great to meet so many new people, thank you all so much for visiting. Nick has fixed most of my issues with my side bar and the gremlins in my comments section so I hope to catch up with the replies soon. Burt will continue his exploits here as I can't imagine what I ever blogged about before he showed up in my shopping cart. Have a Happy Halloween, see you soon!

A Halloween Divination Party

It's time to party!

Thank you Vanessa for hosting this wonderful event!

Many of our favorite Halloween activities rely on factors beyond our control, so we decided a Divination Party was in order. Knowing what is going to happen before it actually happens can be extremely useful. Our gathering to peer into the future included two witches, a Mad Hatter and a flashy but sage Samurai. Here's Spenser demonstrating his usual air of utter and complete disdain for the proceedings while Stewart declined the invitation preferring to hide in the basement.

We got right down to business and began looking for answers by examining the tea leaves.

Since I made the tea the responsibility of reading meaning into the dregs fell on my shoulders.

 I did not have a clue about how to "read" tea leaves.

 Ok, so what was this supposed to be? A bird, maybe?  So what do birds mean? Can't be too bad, there are lots of teacups decorated with birds. Maybe it was a dragon? That's not good, or is it? In some cultures they are protective or lucky but then there's Smaug! It was time for another approach.

Burt's Auntie Ruby came along to lend a professional element to our soiree.

Her specialty is Tarot Readings. His Madness was a bit skeptical.

When in doubt, have more wine. It always helps.

 The cards appeared to offer no clear insight either. Nope, none. Zip. Although Burt liked the cheese.

Next we were on to Burt's specialty, the Ouija Board! 

Yikes! Seriously, no one was touching it?

Terrifying stuff!

The chocolate interval!

Finally, the crystal ball, His Madness excelled at gazing into it's glowing depths.

Failing with the crystal ball it was time to bring out the secret weapon.

A true bowling ball divination trance.  Time for beer!

Well, we eventually came to the conclusion that if we really wanted to know the atmospheric conditions on Halloween we could just look it up on WeatherBug. They're not always correct but they have a better track record than the bowling ball. Besides, having extra candy is never a bad thing. 

Burt & The Fall Clean Up - Haunted Humpday IX

Looks like Burt has found a pumpkin patch. The squirrels destroyed all my poor seedlings

last spring so the hunt is on to fill up the front porch with potential jack o'lanterns.

Once again, Burt was nice enough to help out with some garden chores.

It's always fun to have company when raking up the leaves . . .

  

. . . and rolling in the piles!

Lots of crabapples around too, (in both green and um... brown?) thanks to our strange tree. 

Talk about the apple of your eye!

Filling the recyclable yard waste bags can be a challenge.

There is apparently some confusion about just what goes into the bags.

Later Burt picked the last of the peppers.

Wait, Burt! Are you sure you want to try that one?

Thank goodness for the garden hose!

So many leaves, so little time.

Don't worry Burt, your hat and scarf will be dry soon.

I'm joining Marfi and friends at Incipient Wings for Haunted Humpday IX!

Happy Haunted Humpday everyone!