Haunted Humpday IV - Better Haunts & Gardens

Are you ready for Haunted Humpday IV? Burt and Ivy are joining Marfi at Incipient Wings for some scary fun leading up to Halloween. The skeleton crew has been very lazy this week!

Now that October is finally here, you would think that Burt and Ivy would be totally excited and ready to get into the spirit of the season. Unfortunately, that's not been the case. It's been unseasonably warm here and although that's nice, it's been very hard to get them to take their Halloween roles seriously. It's also very frightening to realize our nice weather is probably due to the devastating effects of climate change but that's a different kind of scary story for another time!

  

It seems like all they want to do is hang out on the patio with the kitties, doing nothing and enjoying the balmy weather. No late night walks through the cemetery or leering out of the windows at people walking their dogs for those two. They don't wander too far during the evenings since the temperatures haven't been cold enough to wipe out the mosquito population, which has become more blood thirsty than ever. Nope, there is not so much as a hint of spookiness from either of them!

All this rain and heat has produced a bumper crop of dahlias. There was a huge selection on display at the Farmers' Market and Ivy couldn't resist bringing home an armful last weekend. So she's given up rattling around in the dead of night, moaning loudly and slamming doors for creating flower arrangements and finding places to show them off. The house does look a little like a funeral parlor.

She even decided to spruce up the patio with some autumn leaves. While she got to work adorning the mirror, Spenser was busy creating a tangled mess. At least he didn't knock over the flowers.

  Lazy bones Burt snoozed through it all.

Sometimes it's a struggle to give up on summer and embrace autumn, mostly because in our part of the country there's a long, deep freeze on the heels of all those pretty red and yellow leaves. It also doesn't help that most of our late flowering perennials bloom in summery colors of pink and purple.

Not that anyone actually seems to mind, especially the butterflies!

Burt did finally decided to wake up and tackle a couple gardening projects. Those fall flowers won't plant themselves, usually. Hey Burt, how about putting a little effort into digging that hole!

 Apparently he decided it was easier just to ask someone else to do it while he went to get some potting mix for Ivy's new rose. Good thing His Madness was there to help out.

Although he will never admit it, Burt avoids setting foot in our creepy garage because of all the spiders and he's not very fond of their cobwebs either. He also doesn't care much for bats and other creatures of the night. There's even a rumor going around that he's frightened of his own shadow! To be fair he's always cheerful and happy to lend a helping hand or shoulder a heavy load.

Until he slips up! Oops, our rainy September apparently left things a bit slick. He'll be fine.

Maybe sitting around, enjoying a few lazy days and arranging flowers isn't such a bad idea after all. As the nights grow longer and the temperatures plunge, eventually a cold rain will lash at the windows and Burt and Ivy will return to their usual business of haunting the neighborhood.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Haunted Humpday!