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CACHE SLASH FEST 2007 (page)

THIRD ANNUAL CACHE SLASH FEST

SATURDAY OCTOBER 20th, 2007

This annual event is located in Sumner, Illinois and is being hosted by King of Halloween, Wolf Pack 359, STP10 & Knttrgrl, Mike Anderson 1492 & Whistlin in the dark and friends.

We would like to welcome Geocachers from all over to Cache Slash Fest 2007. We will have prizes, giveaways, and a Murder Mystery Cache with a grand prize. Again this year we hope to have several donations from area businesses. We hope to have something for all attendees. There will be several permenant caches in the area that will be activated the day of the event and will be loggable. There will also be a night cache trip, just for a scare. So bring your flashlight.

We will have a bonfire for roasting hotdogs which will be provided. Ice tea, coffee, hot chocolate and chips will also be provided. Bring a covered dish, drinks of your choice, and lawnchairs. Bring your kids too because we will have ours and there will be stuff for them to do.

The start time of this event hasn't been offically set but we plan to eat around 4 pm. Come and meet with fellow cachers and check out why the stretch of road between Wolf Pack 359 and The King of Halloween's house is by far the scarest in the county and possibly all of Southern Illinois.

Decorations provided by King of Halloween, Wolf Creek Cemetery & Ravenwood Hollow.

The T-Shirts will be available again this year and here is the design. If you are not familiar with the design it is a variation on a design by Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies. He was the artist in the opening credits for the PBS show MYSTERY. I thought it would be fitting with the theme of the event. The pricing and ordering information is also in the works. Keep checking back for further details.

Please post if you plan to come and what you plan to bring as a covered dish. We would like to know if you plan to attend as soon as you know so that we can have a head count to help with planning. Last year we had alittle over 100 attendees and would like to beat that. We also had attendees from several states and are always thrilled to add more states to the list.

If you would like to see how much fun we had the last couple of years please visit these links:

Cache Slash Fest 2005

Cache Slash Fest 2006

Camping: There is Red Hills State Park available for people who would like to camp nearby. Heres the link for information about the park : Red Hills State Park

Whats the weather like in Sumner, Il. : Click here

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It's Down!

The Xmas tree is down thanks to Needles working on it while I was at work. I have to admit that I am surprised that it wasn't knocked over at least once by our furry housemates. Tomorrow we are leaving for the promise land and hopefully a nice visit with Cynical and Ragged while we are down there. We will return on the first of the new year, so this will be my final post of 2006. Goodbye 2006. I can't say that I am gonna miss you because you sucked. The year has seemed to be plagued with family members having health issues. I hope that 2007 is much better. See ya next year.

PS. 2006 don't let the door hit ya in the back side...

I'm Seeing 20/20.

I have been going to the Optometrist the last 3 weeks for eye exam, glasses, and contacts. The first visit was an eye exam , fit for contacts and pick out frames. The second visit was a 1 week check on contacts followed by another pair of contacts and wait another week. Today I had went in for the final visit which consisted of dilation of eyes and ordering my new contacts. My total for new glasses, 4 boxes of contacts and a very thorough eye exam....with insurance $290.00. I am not sure if I am seeing a whole lot better but my wallet is a bit lighter. As some has lsited there Xmas talley, so here it goes.

Gun cabinet

2 wheeled furniture dolly

Motorcycle lighter

Star Wars ornament

Mug and saucer

Curious George stuffed animal

Candys and cookies

Gift cards (Borders, Appleby's, Bass Pro, Wal-Mart)

Camoflauge fleece blanket

Spice rack

Battery checker

2 geocoins

Money soap

Scratch off lottery tickets

Really I wasn't that good this year. I think Santa got his naughty and nice books mixed up.

On Christmas Day, On Christmas Day.

Today is Christmas and we have returned from Needles Moms and from Rudy's family. I made out like a bandit down at L's house. We ate like kings. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans and squash pie........heavenly. Let's just say after two helpings I was miserable, but miserable in a good way. We returned home to find out that our 2 fuzzy prisoners broke out of their prison of the back room. Tugger nestled under the Christmas tree and Cooper was hemmed up behind the recliner. I vow that when we go to the promise land next weekend.....They will NOT get out! After we returned from L's house and went to Rudy's to see all the stuff that Santa left for them. When we left there the neighbors down the street left a platter full of fudge and cookies in our truck which we quickly went home and started in on the yummy delights. I ate half of the pecan log as soon as I walked in the door and chased it with a glass of milk. I am now miserable again in a good way. I need a nap. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays!

We are leaving for Needles Moms tomorrow and wont be back until Christmas day, so I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

IT"S A XMAS MIRACLE!

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Flora, a pregnant Komodo dragon living in a British zoo, is expecting eight babies in what scientists said on Wednesday could be a Christmas virgin birth.
Flora has never mated, or even mixed, with a male dragon, and fertilized all the eggs herself, a process culminating in parthenogenesis, or virgin birth. Other lizards do this, but scientists only recently found that Komodo dragons do too.
"Nobody in their wildest dreams expected this. But you have a female dragon on her own. She produces a clutch of eggs and those eggs turn out to be fertile. It is nature finding a way," Kevin Buley of Chester Zoo in England said in an interview.
He said the incubating eggs could hatch around Christmas.
Parthenogenesis has occurred in other lizard species, but Buley and his team said this was the first time it has been shown in Komodo dragons -- the world's largest lizards.
Scientists at Liverpool University in northern England discovered Flora had had no male help after doing genetic tests on three eggs that collapsed after being put in an incubator.
The tests on the embryos and on Flora, her sister and other dragons confirmed that Komodo dragons can reproduce through self-fertilization.
"Those genetic tests confirmed absolutely that Flora was both the mother and the father of the embryos. It completely blew us away because it (parthenogenesis) has never been seen in such a large species," Buley explained.
A Komodo dragon at London Zoo gave birth earlier this year after being separated from males for more than two years.
Scientists thought she had been able to store sperm from her earlier encounter with a male but, after hearing about Flora's eggs, researchers conducted tests which showed her eggs were also produced without male help.
"You have two institutions within a few short months of each other having a previously unheard of event. It is really quite unprecedented," said Buley.
The scientists, reporting the discovery in the science journal Nature, said it could help them understand how reptiles colonize new areas. A female dragon could, for instance, swim to another island and establish a new colony on her own.
"The genetics of self-fertilization in lizards means that all her hatchlings would have to be male. These would grow up to mate with their own mother and therefore, within one generation, there would potentially be a population able to reproduce normally on the new island," Buley added.

Thats not right......Mate with your mother.....Maybe not such a miracle....

Christmas Tradition.

Tonight Needles is at a work related get together so I am home alone. This gave me the prefect opportunity to watch one of my favorite Xmas shows. A Christmas Story. Its is possibly the best Xmas show ever created. I know of no other show that best taps into the psyche of a young boy getting close to Xmas time. It takes me back to simpler times of all you worried about was school grades and what you were getting for Xmas. I have to say I never had to bite the soap but god knows I probably should have a few thousand times. It just goes to show that no matter what kinda catastrophe happens over the holidays that just being together is a gift.

I will leave you with a few memorable quotes from the movie.

1.Flick says he saw some grizzly bears near Pulaski's candy store!

2.Oooh fuuudge! Only I didn't say "Fudge." I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!

3.Scut Farkus! What a rotten name! There he stood, between us and the alley. Scut Farkus staring out at us with his yellow eyes. He had yellow eyes! So, help me, God! Yellow eyes!

4.Sons of bitches! Bumpuses!

DONE.....FINISHED!

We just finished Weffriddles. I know I stated that I was going to take a break for a few days but it's Needles fault. We finished all 58 brain bustin riddles and I hope to be done with them for a while. Good Luck if anyone who want's to attempt them.

The above words will make no sense to you unless you undertake the riddles and even then they still may not make much sense.

I DARE YOU!

As you may have read on Needles Blog about what we did yesterday. We managed to spend about OH......Let me see... 12 (twelve) hours working on Weffriddles. The best way to describe it is computer savvy meets code breaking means agonizing yet addictive torture. Kind like Blogger beta.......but blogger beta isn't as fun... We managed to get to batch 4 yesterday, that is until my brain turned to pudding and ran out of my ears. Yummy pudding. Anyway I don't feel as I have fully recovered from yesterday marathon riddle solving so if I can hold off the addiction for a few days and hit it fresh.

The picture above is Brain pudding. ;)

I HATE BLOGGER BETA!

I WANT MY OLD LOGIN BACK!!!!!!!!

If I could I would change back to the old blogger. Get this. I log into my account and it asks me for my user name and password. I enter it. It asks for it again. I enter it again and then I am able to finally log in. Thats bad enough but when I comment on other peoples blog I type the word varification and the dumb thing just sets there like a turd. No....your comment has been posted or anything so I click on post comment again and it refreshes the comment page and gives me another word varification. SOOOOOoooo after commenting and not knowing if your comment actually went through or not, you find out that all of them went through and you commented the same thing half a dozen times. I have just about had it with them. I hope they get this idiotic things straightened up. Blogging seemed to be a kind of therapy to let me vent and unwind a bit but now it is getting frustrating and not fun. I am now on the fence as to continue or not......We will see how things go. Ramblin might just ramble on down the road.

Let the suffering end.

Its hard to be happy and in the holiday spirit when you know friends are suffering. Cynical and Ragged have a ailing housemate and things are touch and go for the moment. Please keep them in your thoughts and hope that everything works out for them. Hang in there Sammy.

Shopping is DONE!

Well 99% done. We still have a few little items to pick up but otherwise we are pretty much done. The last couple days have been good mail days. I received my ornament and Ragged's compilation Xmas CD. We got home and started wrapping our new purchases so I popped in the CD and we are now on our 2ND time around. We now are daunted at getting the Xmas cards done and sent out. Needles is working on printing out labels so that I don't have to address each and every envelope. She is so smart. We are currently basking the light of the Xmas tree and sipping on coffee to relax just before we get to the cards.














Last night we went out to eat with Rudy, Brando, Yuri and Yin. We went to the Chinese place in Olney. After eating until my tongue pooked out we drove through the City Park with all of its lights. Of course no camera = no pictures. We then went to OP and sipped coffee until I think my metabolism got all Jacked up in order to burn off the Chinese. It was at this time that we parted ways and said goodbye to Rudy , Brando and the young ens as bed time was fast approaching. As for us we decided to drop in on Jenny from the Blog. We stood on her front porch and called her to let us in. We visited and laughed until it was time for us to leave and let her get back to homework. YUCK! Anyway so far it has been a nice weekend.

Pictured above is the Xmas tree in day light and Raggeds Xmas CD. Thanks Ragged.

Its beginning to look alot like Xmas. Rown Here!

Yep as the perv comments keep coming in I see that most of you have seen that I managed to get "it" up. Yes, Yes the kittys have smelled and nibbled "it" a few times but all in all "it" hasn't been knocked over......yet! A couple of "its" ornaments have been knocked off while I wasn't looking and was batted around the room but "it" has been a better experience than I expected. I figured I'd be putting the "it" back up every evening. Maybe sometimes twice a day, that sounds like a lot of work. I hope that "it" would make it through the rest of the month, standing erect , straight and proud. We have managed to put a few present under "it" but we need to buy a few more because they are hard to see them in the shadow of such a monstrosity. I know that just the presence of "it"makes me feel a little more festive. I think everyone needs one standing in their living room so that even the neighbors can see "it" from the street. Hell go crazy and throw a few light on the "it". Have a Merry Xmas everyone.

P.S. The picture above is of my Xmas balls. Don't laugh it is perfectly normal for one to hang lower than the other.

IT"S UP!

Needles and I put the tree up today. We have been guarding it from Copper that has never seen a Xmas tree before. This is our first Xmas with him and with his special kitty ways, I think we are in for an interesting month. I will keep you posted. If you remember last year we had Tuggers first Xmas and we had a few problems with ornaments being knocked off but not too bad. Tomorrow we are going down to Needle's mom to see if the uncle's had any luck in the second deer season. We have had a rather pleasant few days off staying inside where it is warm. Looks like we are in for a cold week, but no snow and that is a good thing seeing what just west of us is going through.

Happy Birthday Momma.

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday Mom. I love you very much.

Long Weekend.

Needles and I took Friday off so we are going to enjoy our long weekend with coffee, vegetable soup and sleeping in. Nothing is on our agenda and that is how we like it.

Back from T'giving Part 2.

We got home from the promise land and had a good although short visit. After we returned home an seen that the cats had broke out of kitty prison. Luckily nothing was knocked off and or puked on this time. We will soon be putting a door in the back room to make sure the kitties don't break out. We did go out to see my brother Rudy and his family, since we haven't been able to see them in about 2 weeks. After catching up on goings on, we sipped coffee and sat on the sofa and rubbed our big bellies. Now that we are home for the night it is time to repair relationships with our furry house mates. Copper seems unfazed but Tugger however seems to be holding a grudge. Here kitty kitty kitty. I can see in his eyes he is saying F.U. buddy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We just returned from Needles moms and have full bellies and a dopey look across our face. The turkey has tranquilized us to the point of laziness and a sloth-like state. It was all very good and tomorrow I have to go to work and afterwards Needles and I are going to the promise land to spend time with my family for a belated holiday. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Successful weekend.

It was a very productive weekend for me and the deer season. I harvested a 2-3 year old doe yesterday and today I was lucky to get a 2-3 year old buck. The deer have been taken to the processor and we should have a full freezer in about 7 to 10 days. My legs are sore from walking back a forth to and from the woods in mud. Also my arms are sore form lifting and field dressing deer. One of Needles uncles got a small button buck and the deer died while crossing a large ditch full of water. The deer passed while in the water and just floated there making for a rather difficult retrieval. We were able to throw a rope over the animal and pull him to the edge where we roped him to pull over the bank. All in all it was a nice first season hunt and it was a lot of fun to see the uncles and enjoy the stories, the food, the outdoors and the hunt. Here is a few pictures from the hunt.
For those of you that don't like the thought of deer being slaughtered during the deer season just think of them a taking a nap with their eyes open. The doe decided to crawl in the back of Needles truck for a snooze. Oh and the blood on the bucks neck is from shaving.....He must have nicked himself. Hee hee.

Off to the Slaughter.

Needles and I are off to her mothers house for deer season part 1. I hope I have some luck and fill my tags the first season. I weather isn't the greatest and I feel like the ground blind pictured in the previous post is probably surrounded by water. Nothing else seems to be working the way I would like so why should deer season weather be any different. I will post if I have any success monday. Have a good weekend everyone.

Tis the Season

Tis the Season Again...For me to be here. This is where I plan to spend most of my weekend.Or here. Looking for the feller that left this.
There he is.While scouting I found this.
Take a closer look. This poor feller must have eatten way too much corn in preparation for winter. He couldn't even fit back in his den. As for Mr. Deer I hope to see you next weekend.

Cold Weekend.

Today Needles and I did some long needed grocery shopping. We did eat at Applebee's while we were out and it was very good. I haven't eaten at an Applebee's for years. I had the Sizzlin Fajitas and man were they sizzling. I think they sizzled for about 5 minutes after they got to our table. When we got finished with our meal we went to Wally World and picked up a few items. A quick stop by Ace hardware and then to another Wally World to get my hunting license for next weekends slaughter. I can't wait. Bambi here I come.

No Sun Day.

Today it is cloudy and gloomy. I think we are supposed to get some rain. All the Halloween decor is put away and awaiting next year. Needles and I did run into the BIG City yesterday and pick up a few odds and ends. We also knocked a couple of names off the Xmas list with some gift purchases. With all the activity for Halloween we procrastinated for Xmas. We usually have about 80% of the shopping done by Halloween but this year we are maybe 30% done. I think it is getting late and most of the shopping we have yet to do will be done over the internet, I suspect. I can stand shopping this time of year. The lines are long and the people are crazy.

Last night we visited Rudy, Brando, Yuri and Yin. We were entertained by Yin and Choc. Silk coffee until Yin went to bed and Yuri went to spend the night at his grand parents. We watched The Village. This is probably the 7th or 8th time I have seen it. I think it is one of the best movies in most aspects. The writing is good. The cinematography is excellent. The movie is suspenseful and gets the point across without computerized special effects. The concept is original and unique in the attempt to protect themselves from the evils of modern society. The scary entity for the young people of the village is the Monster cloaked in red which is a symbol of the evil of the outside world. The evil entity for the founders of the village is evils of modern society that has seemed to follow them into their utopian society. It just goes to show you can't hide from the inherent evil of mankind. Which is a scary thought.

Weekend.

Yesterday I was dead but I am feeling much better today. The weekend is wide open for things to do but I am hoping for a nice slow weekend to enjoy at my leisure. Oh Yeah, there a few Halloween decor things that needs to be stowed away. Have a good weekend.

Home Sick.

Today I had to call in sick. This is the second time in a year I have had to do so. This is unusual as in my past jobs and over 10 years or so I think I may have missed one or 2 days due to sickness. This bug hit me hard last night at about 6pm and finally let up a bit this morning around 9:30. I feel weak, tired and have a headache. I was thinking I was getting some better but it seems the bug is hanging on. I hope I don't have to call in tomorrow also. I have been well tended to by my furry housemates. They are quick to take advantange of a hand hanging off the side of the couch and of course when I am in the restroom, that is perfect time to pester me for rubbins. I hope to get feeling better as the evening goes on. Fingers crossed.

Halloween Pics.

The Front Yard

Ghouls and Graves

Betty

Coffin

Headless

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has come and gone. We got everything up and everything down. Our final tally was 65 T or T'ers. Not bad but we have had better. My dogs are a barkin and I am drag butt tired. Will post more later.

Scary Movie Weekend.

Needles and I made a run to the Big city to pick up a few items. We also found more Halloween items 50% off. We did get our candy for Halloween. Almost couldn't fit it in our witch's cauldron. To continue with the scary movies viewed this Halloween Season.

1. Children of the Corn
2. Silent Hill
3. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
4. Lost Boys
5. An American Werewolf in London
6. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
7. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
8. Nightmare on Elm Street
9. Friday the 13th Part 2
10. Friday the 13th Part 4

I am sure there will be others but this is the list so far. I am glad we got to cleans our pallet on some good old slasher movies. I was beginning to think that some of the older movies were not as scary as I remembered. Although some of them has lost their luster for horror, Friday the 13th (the early ones) still has some moments. I remember the first scary movie that made me loose sleep. It was A Nightmare on Elm Street. I didn't sleep for 3 days. We watched it today an it was hard for me to stay awake. I guess my idea of scary has changed since I was 11 years old.

Cheese Factor 8.

Tonight's entertainment is Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. It started off abit far fetched an then moved to near idiotic and just plan cheesy. Dennis Hopper crazy with a chainsaw. I am watching these movies because I missed them when I was a kid. I felt like a portion of the scare factor in my up bringing might be missing because these classic horror movies were missed. I was wrong. Oh Well what else are you going to watch on a Friday night. So the list of scary movies grow.

1. Children of the Corn
2. Silent Hill
3. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
4. Lost Boys
5. An American Werewolf in London
6. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
7. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

I am glad it is the weekend. Have a good weekend everyone.

Somewhat disappointing.

We watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre tonight. I think the grainy aged look of the movie made it look somewhat of a home video of some psychotic family but other than that the movie just sucked. Maybe because I watched it on T.V. some of the parts were probably cut, but I saw a lot of potential in the movie and the idea, but was wasted on cheesy props and lots and I mean lots of screaming. By the time the movie was over I wanted to kill the blonde just to make her shut the hell up. I also watched Lost Boys the other night. I have probably watched this cheesy 80's movie about 5 or 6 times. The other night I was treated to one of my favorite scary werewolf movies. An American Werewolf in London. Good plot, good effects and just enough quirkyness to make you think the director is insane. This is by far the best transformation sequence from man to werewolf in any and I mean any movie, pre and post computer age. The one quirky thing that always comes to mind when I think about this movie is when he is writhing and screaming in the floor in pain during is final full moon transformation, the picture cuts to a figurine of Mickey Mouse figurine setting on a table in the living room. If you have any more good and scary movie to watch send them my way. I already want to see the "old" Omen that was suggested already. Have a frightfully scary evening.

Scary Movies

Tis the season for scary movies. Scary movies we have watched this month.

1. Children of the Corn
2. Silent Hill
3. Dawn of the Dead (2004)

We have yet to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Sci-Fi will be airing Pumkin Head : Ashes to Ashes later in the month. I love the old scary movies.

Cache Slash Fest 2006

We had a great turn out for the Cache Slash Fest 2006. I think the head count was around 80 or so. Everything went well, although we did have a couple of snags. We did have one of the cachers flip his car. He and his girlfriend wasn't hurt other than a few bumps and bruises but the car was totaled. We also had such an interest in the paranormal presentation at the graveyard that the hayride there was overloaded. The hitch for the trailer was setting on the ground and the trailer wouldn't move. We had to unload a few of the riders and take several vehicles to get everyone to the presentation site. We did experience a few sprinkles on the way back from the cemetery but other than that the weather was perfect. We gave away around 120 prizes and had enough food for an army. I think everyone had a good time and that is the main thing. Needles and I were glad to have Bucky and Half-Pint as guests over the weekend. They participated in the events at the caching party and although I wish we could have spent more time together, but the event kept me hopping. We did however have one casualty of the Cache Slash Fest. Needles and I went to Rudy's house to bring home some of the props. On the way home I took it nice and slow and everything was going fine. As we encountered an intersection and was only about 200 Ft from the driveway a gust of wing kicked up and carried the guillotine over the side of the truck and smashed it in the road. I wasn't upset about the loss of the prop but I was mad that when the prop went over the side of the truck it left some nice scratches down the side of the truck. Not just small scratches. Through the paint and into the metal scratches. I guess it could have been worse. We could have meet and car and it damage it too. Well I guess all in all it was a good time but I seem to be paying for it now. My sore body is telling me I over did it.

The picture above is the Alien Autopsy Prop that we used to draw for prizes.

Takes Me Back.

Man lives in the sunlit world of

what he believes to be reality.

But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld,

a place that is just as real,

but not as brightly lit

...A DARKSIDE.

This month with Halloween just around the corner, we have been watching scary movies and shows. Last week and this week the SCI-FI Channel has been showing a marathon of a show that takes me back to when I was a boy. The show is called Tales from the Dark Side. It had quirky 30 minute episodes. Some better than others. I would say out of the 90 episodes that were produced over the 4 year run that there was only a handful that we good and that I remember. We have been watching them for an think back to when I actually thought this show was scary and well written. Today they have lost their luster and appear more like hasty written and for the most part bad acting and shoddy special effects. It is still entertaining but in a whole new way. Last night we rented Silent Hill. Although not the best scary movie I have seen, it did have some interesting concepts on what is scary. This month we are enjoying the programming of the SCI-FI Channel and the 13 days of Halloween. We are in heaven. Let's keep them coming.

The darkside is always there,

waiting for us to enter,

waiting to enter us.

So until next time,

try to enjoy the daylight.

Halloween is almost here.

Another weekend has gone by and I think we got alot accomplished. Yesterday Needles and I placed caches for the event. I finished putting the duct work for the gas chamber victim. Today while Needles made a huge pot of vegetable soup I went with Rudy and Ed for a dry run of the caches to hopefully work out the bugs that we had last year. I think everything should go smooth. The cache run took us about an hour and a half and that was with us knowing where the caches are. Factor in looking and driving around time and that will probably add thirty minutes to an hour to it. We were hopeing to keep people busy for around 3 hours. It seemed like yesterday that we were ordering things for this event and that was almost 6 months ago. Now it's almost here and we still feel like we aren't ready yet. I am sure things will come together in the last couple days. We are alot better off than we were this time last year.

TGIF again.

It's friday again and I am glad the work week is over. This week was nice up until Wed. and then it went to pot. I am just glad it is over. I was so exhaused last night I decided to take a nap at 7:30pm. I awoke at 10:30pm....Needles comment to me. "That was some nap." I guess my body needed it. We went to sleep around 11:30pm and I slept until 5am, when my eyes popped open. I struggled to stay in the warm bed and wait until the alarm. Today went smooth for a friday and I am glad my boss will be back next Mon. although it will be at a limited status. It is just nice to have her around to bounce questions off of.
One of the major projects that Ed was working on is now Gone with the Wind. He was making a dot room for his Halloween Projects , just imagine a carport made of 2" PVC pipe and covered with a tarp. The wind demollished it yesterday. It was pretty much a total loss, busted pipe and torn tarp. I know he is disappointed at the work we had put into it and now have nothing to show for it. I think it is too late to recover with all the other things needed to be done so maybe next year. Undaunted we shall continue without you Dot Room.

Went to the BIG CITY.

Yesterday Needles and I went to the Big City to do some shopping. We ventured to Menards because they have Halloween stuff and you know we need more Halloween stuff. NOT! But like a alzheimers patient buying their 3 gallon of milk when the first one isn't even opened I made purchases and have no clue where to put the stuff. In the previous years frenzy of putting things out, I have opted for larger and less items than smaller more plentiful items as it is quicker although more labor to but up. I have leaned away from cutesy and in for more of the gore of the Holiday. I am not sure but with all the expense of the Projects and several new props for the yard I think I could have made 2 house payments with it. All this for just one night. I know most would think this is nuts but seeing the kids come to the house eyes open wide soaking it all in. You know in several years and Halloween rolls around they will still remember the spooky house that used to go overboard on Halloween. It makes it all worth it. I know that there are some out there that get religion mixed up in Halloween and think it is the work of the Debil (Water boy reference), but the one and only reason we do this is for the kids and for the shear fun of it. We are not doing satanic rituals in a "fake" graveyard or trying to turn kids over to "the dark side". If we were I think flyers and a bake sale would be in order and for this I would think there would be more appropriate locals. Not my front yard. All in all I hope everyone has a great week and Halloween is fast approaching.

Jury Duty.

Last month I received a notice that I was called for jury selection. The first date I had to call and was notified that it was cancelled. The second date I called and CRAP! It was still on. I arrived at the court house last Monday and prepared myself for what seemed like endless setting and waiting. The first group was called and questioned to see if there were anyone who would be a good juror or not. After a brief intermission only 4 of the 14 was chosen and 4 held just incase. I was the last to be called into the second group. I was ready to get it over with as I had been setting for a couple hours and any chance to get up and stretch my legs was welcome. I sat as the questions was posed to my group. I desperately wanted a question that I could raise my hand to. They asked questions like. Have any of you associated with the plaintiff, witnesses, atornees or defendant? Have you had any legal training? Do you have training in insurance billing? I was hoping ,Do any of you have brown hair? Would be asked and my hand would have shot up and I would have been out the door but no luck. We found out that the suit was regarding insurance fraud. My fellow prospective jurors and I was finished being questioned and sat for another brief intermission. The attorneys came out and said that they have their jurors selected and read the names allowed. My name was called as the last juror and then the 2 alternates were called. The rest of the people in the courtroom was dismissed. I cringed a little and sucumed to the inevitable. We were release for lunch to return at 1:30pm. I figured we would be told what to do and return tomorrow for jury duty but we went right into the trial and evidence. By the time we went through the witnesses for the day my head was splitting with a headache. I just wanted to be home. As I walked down the many stairs of the courthouse, my legs felt like they were going to give way. I just thought, If I can just make it to the truck I will be fine. I returned home and went to bed. After about an hour nap I was fine. I guess I had a migraine. I have only had 2 or 3 of them in my life so I wasn't sure what it was. I thought for sure when I got home I would have had a fever, but it was normal. I felt hot, nauseated, dizzy, weak and trimbely, muscle aches and blurred vision. I wasn't sure what it was but I was glad when it was gone. The next day I arrived at the courthouse at 8:30am. Little did I know that it would be 10 am before we got into the courtroom. After hearing more evidence and witnesses we broke for lunch at 11:30am. We returned from lunch around 1pm and sat in the jury room for about 30 minutes. When we went back out the the courtroom we were informed that they had come to a settlement and that we were FREE to go. I am glad that I didn't have to make a decision as I believe both sides were lieing their ass off. I think the truth was in there somewhere but it was mixed up amongst the other crap that deciphering it was murky at best. I was also glad that I got called in this civil case as on the 23rd of this month there is a criminal case and my time is served. I can't be called for 2 years. I am just glad it is over.

Grand Opening!

This weekend Needles and I ventured down to the promise land to visit family and be there for my Cousin's grand opening of his new shop. I tried to help out by drumming up some business. Some friends and I walked around the front of the shop dressed up in Halloween costumes to draw all kinds of attention by passers by. From the honks, howls, screams and hand waves I think we did a good job. We had a great weekend visiting with my family. Tomorrow I have to go to jury selection. This is a great time for this as my boss is off recovering from surgery and another co workers grandfather passed away last week. We are short staffed and with this our work force is cut in half. I just want to get this over with.

That is me in the gray Creature Reacher outfit called Howler. I think some people were born for certain rolls in life. I think I became Howler if only for a day.