In the past month or so, I’ve discovered that one of the downsides to the wooden floors is that as the temperatures drop, wood isn’t nearly as warm as carpet. This makes getting out of bed just that much more difficult. (Wylie’s perspective is that because it’s more slippery, wood floors make it more difficult to launch yourself onto the bed. He gets stuck halfway about once a week.)
Last night, instead of dancing, I stayed home, and after some minor prep work, touched up the paint in two of the bedrooms. (When I took down the masking tape a few months ago, some of the new paint came with it.)
This afternoon, with the paint dry, I put the furniture back, and at long last put down my first area rug.
I think it looks pretty darn good, but now I’ll have to find a new excuse for oversleeping.
Coming Attractions
From the mind that brought you an Interesting Afternoon and The Legend of Bunny Foo Foo comes a new story. A tale of friendship; a tale of adventure; a tale of a time when happiness was a warm puppy.
Wylie’s Tale
The heart-warming adventures of a young dog whose exploits thrilled a nation.
Coming this Christmas.
Grocery Shopping with the Undead
As mentioned a few days ago, I attended a Halloween party in The Kentlands this year as a zombie. It was my homage to the Frederick Jaycees’ Haunted Hayride.
One of the fun things to do after working at the hayride was once things were over for the evening, a group would usually go out for dinner, still in makeup. When a group of a dozen more zombies walks into a restaurant, it never fails to get the attention of the other diners and frequently led to opportunities to promote the Haunted Hayride or (better yet) the Jaycees.
I had no sooner mentioned this then Julie spoke the fateful words, “I dare you to go over to Whole Foods dressed like that.”
Get into mischief? Me? 🙂
Well there was no point in a zombie going shopping without an audience. You have to a few people going along to witness the silliness and (of course) take a few photos. So after seeking out a few people dressed in what passed for everyday street clothes, Julie, Melissa, Stephanie and I set out for our little adventure.
I don’t know how she managed to capture a photo of them (I didn’t even see them myself) but during the walk to the store, Stephanie managed to capture an image of what I can only describe as ghosts.
The person working at the meat counter left right before I got there, so I couldn’t ask him about any fresh brains. But don’t you think that stuff behind the glass looks rather cerebral?
There was someone working at the fish counter though. She took it completely in stride when I asked, “Do you have any fresh brains?”
“No.” she replied with a laugh, “Maybe next week.”
“Damn, just my rotten luck.” (On the other hand, can you imagine if she’d said yes??!!)
Most of the other shoppers in the store seemed to be oblivious to the dead guy walking the aisles with them. It makes me wonder, at 8:30 pm on a Saturday, is it possible that the other shoppers were the real zombies?
When I walked into the produce department, one of the stockers was unloading a box of some sort of melons. At first I didn’t think he saw me looking over the papayas on the other side of the display, then the woman at the fish counter got his attention and trying not to laugh he called back to her, “Yeah, I see him.”
With not quite a week to go until Halloween, of course there was an endcap full of Halloween candy. What a perfect place for a zombie to stop and try to blend in!
And over in the chips aisle, there was another ghost!
The few shoppers who did notice me in the store tended to look at me very strangely. (I don’t understand why.) It wasn’t until arriving at the checkout that any of the other shoppers was willing to make eye contact. Along with the cashier and the bagger, she was clearly entertained. But again, most of the shoppers zombies in the other checkout lanes were oblivious. (It somewhat reminded me of a scene from Dawn of the Dead with the zombies returning to the mall, unaware of their own demise.)
Many thanks to:
Julie: For suggesting this escapade.
Stephanie: For taking on the role of photographer.
Melissa: For a complete lack of adult supervision.
I wonder what sort of mischief I can get into next year?
Is It Over Yet?
I’m getting ready for bed a little later than I should. Very late considering that I was up around 6:20 AM so I could stop to vote on my to work.
It occurs to me though, I don’t know who won the election.
I’ve been pretty deliberately taking it easy this evening. Reading a book, watching a movie, and just generally avoiding any sort of media outlet. After all the political ads the past few weeks, and all the pundits punditing, I’m very happy to take a break from it.
I’ll hear the election results in the car on the way to work tomorrow. But for now, I’m just going to enjoy the silence. There’s only six weeks or so left until they start the next round of campaigns.
Kerrections
When friends ask me to edit stuff for them, I do my best. But still, if I had a nickel for every time I was proofreading my own stuff and didn’t notice I’d a word or two out…
Halloween Costume
A few days ago, I promised a photo of my costume from last weekend’s Halloween party.
This get up is, of course, very similar to how I was made up last year when I was chasing people through the cornfields, and that was quite deliberate. The Frederick Jaycees didn’t run their Haunted Hayride project this year, so this was my “Tribute Costume.” (You can’t tell from this photo, but the shirt is a Haunted Hayride “Event Staff” shirt from the 2006 season.)
There is also a series of photos from an adventure I went on during the party, but those will have to wait until at least this evening.
Carving the Meta-Lantern
The original plan was to draw a rabbit on it and carve the lantern so you could see the rabbit. There were a couple reasons for this, one was that everyone carves faces or ghosts or (if you’re really good) a witch on their Jack-o-lantern. So I was going to draw a rabbit.
The other part of the plan was to take a photo of the Jack-O-Lantern (with the rabbit on it) and put it on the Shore Leave web site for Halloween. (The convention is named for the Star Trek episode titled “Shore Leave.” The episode includes a brief appearance by the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, so the convention adopted the rabbit as a mascot.)
Carving a drawing of a rabbit onto a pumpkin was definitely ambitious, but I thought it was doable. I’ve been drawing rabbits and putting them on the convention web site for the past several years. This was just a new medium is all.
Reading Bunny |
Ze Artisté |
Costumer Bunny |
Security Bunny |
It was easy enough to draw a rabbit on the pumpkin. It was an unfamiliar medium, but aside from a little extra waviness in the whiskers, it was pretty straight forward. That’s when I realized how much detail is involved in those rabbits. The teeth, the whiskers, the noses, ears, and so on. I’ve been getting better at carving pumpkins, but that amount of detail was going to take most of the night. (Note to self: It might be a good idea to start carving the jack-o-lantern a little earlier than 10:45pm on the night before Halloween.)
So, it was clearly time for Plan B:
Yes. That’s right. I carved a jack-o-lantern with a jack-o-lantern on it. I call it the “Meta-Lantern.”
Those with a sharp eye may have noticed something amiss though. There’s a figure lurking in the shadows off to the meta-lantern’s left. What the heck could that be? Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Could that be…? Let’s turn up the lights and see if that’s who I think it is….
Oh no! It’s a Captain Jack O-Lantern!!!
Temptation
Halloween is next Friday. It’s one of my favorite holidays.
Target is selling an adult-sized gorilla costume for $69.95.
I only have to be strong for a few more days. Then they’ll (hopefully) be out of stock.
Gold
The past few nights have been hovering just a few degrees above freezing, with day time highs in the upper 50s to just barely 60s. So far, the plants are holding their own. The marigolds still look gorgeous.
Date Changes
When Tom commented recently that his schedule makes last-minute date changes difficult, it occurred to me that this could cause him serious difficulties.
Several folks (Hi Z! Hi SueP!) have taken me to task because I’m oftentimes awake when the date changes. This does leave me a bit sleepy from time to time, but it does put me in the position to make the occasional scientific observation. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but what I’ve observed is that date changes almost always take place not merely at the last minute of the day, but at the absolute end of the very last second of the last minute.
The sole exception I’ve noticed to this rule has been the occasional incident of a “leap second” in between years. At that point there’s no date whatsoever and you end up with not just the single transition between dates, but instead a transition from December 31 to no date at all, and then a second transition when January 1 finally arrives.
It would be remiss of me to ignore the fact that things would have gone quite badly for Indy midway through the first movie if Sallah hadn’t noticed that the dates had changed from tasty to deadly. That sort of date change is a problem for us all.