Halloween 2009

We had less kids than 2007 (65 vs 100+) but it was a successful night.
My new witch Selma did a great job!
One time she whipped open the door and barked "What!?!" at the punkasses, which left them speechless.
The magic words "Trick or Treat" totally left their brains.
After some "Uhhh....Mmmm..." action, witch Josie said "Well??? Are you going to say Trick or Treat, or don't you know what you're doing?"
We laughed our asses off!

Only one or 2 kids got TacoBell sauce instead of a handful of candy this year, which is an improvement.
Hey--if your costume blows or you don't say the 3 simple words, you get tricked instead of treated.
I didn't write the rules, I just enforce them.


When they come near our house, scary noises coming from a speaker behind the headstone attract them rather nicely unless they are with one of those parents who's small mind is locked into only ringing doorbells if the porchlight is on.
I mean, don't they think the spinning light on the mailbox (not to mention flames) mean we might be playing Halloween? Yet numerous morons walk right past our house every year.

When kids run up our driveway, the blast of a 500 watt shoplight through my garage window always freezes their asses in place.
That's when we sometimes hear such gems as "Is that real fire?" or "I better not touch that or I'll get burned".
Well...duh.

Then they see a biker zombie pushing his skeleton victim into the flames of hell.
Strobe on zombie and a red bulb + amber strobe + smoke machine in the black box of doom under the skeleton.
This is my new scene for this year, and it looked pretty cool in action.

If they are brave enough to make it onto our porch, the simple yet effective trick of hiding sheets of big bubble wrap under a rug gives the little weiners a final scare.


For the future: More automation so I can actually see the kids instead of spending all my time pushing buttons to activate everything. And if I could be in a scary costume wandering around our yard, there's no limit to the mayhem.

I'm designing a mechanical Jack'O'Lantern that's chewing on Elmo.

From bands past I have some experience building and using dry ice fog effects on the cheap, so there's some more ideas floating around.

But as long as one new thing gets added each year, I'm happy.
The leftover candy is good, too.

Easter Sunday 2009

Hope yours was swell.

A game I started a few years ago at family feasts is "What's your first bite?"
Now we even talk about it while waiting for dinner to be served.

Some people are stuffing 1st no matter what.
Others are into the mixed forkful, to get the essence of the meal all at once.
I'm all over the place, sometimes it's the corn but by the next Thanksgiving I might be needing some ham or turkey first.
What about you?


Don't worry--this plate may look sparse but I just prefer having some room to work.
Another slab of ham, more turkey and stuffing, and two flaky biscuits found their way into my belly before too long, plus two brownies with Cool Whip and sliced strawberries on top.



After our fabulous home cooked meal, the only true adult left the room and within 3 minutes the rest of us were in trouble.

All Is Quiet On New Year's Day

Step 1: Wake up
Step 2: No really--wake up!
Step 3: Never leave the house before a nice hot shower
Step 4: Something good to eat

This was Step 4.
Thanks to Dave for reminding us that Jim's is better than Denny's in every way, we returned to the relatively new Loop 410 and Blanco location for some breakfast.
I got 2 eggs scrambled, sausage, hash brown's and toast, plus a side of bacon. You can never have too much pig.
Also a Dr. Pepper.
Sylvia ordered huevos rancheros (over easy, and sauce on the side, please) and a water.
Can't say much more than YUM!
JUST what we needed.
A real Tasty Treat™.
Syl had a burger last time and swears it was one of the best ever, especially at such a low price.

Brandi, our server, was quick and efficient considering how packed the place was.
She had a little drama the night before. As designated driver for her friends on New Year's Eve (how sweet!) she was taking them home when one girl started feeling a little poorly. "Are you going to be sick? I can pull over". "No, I'm Fine. Raaalllfff!!!".
She pulled into a gas station and made the "friend" clean up as best she could, then had her take the car to be professionally cleaned and detailed the next day.

The guy that looked like Dave Matthew's younger and gayer brother at the table next to us was a non-stop source of entertainment.
BlahBlahLispBlahBlahBlah was all I heard because I was concentrating on my food, but Sylvia was cracking up.

While waiting to pay Syl noticed that their Christmas tree's lights were footswitch activated, so of course the tree blinked off a couple of times.

We did some shopping at Target, then some serious napping.
(Please refer to Zzakk's Garage for details on the shopping).


That night we sat on the patio and enjoyed our new chiminea.

I think that instead of covering our little valley lemon tree whenever it drops below freezing, I'll just put this thing next to it and dash out into the cold every hour or so to drop in another piece of firewood.
I stay up until dawn most nights anyway.
Most times it gets back up into the 40s once the sun comes up.

What did YOU do on the first day of 2009?