What are you doing for Halloween?
So what is everyone up to for Halloween?
Judging by the ever larger areas set aside to sell costumes for kids and boxes of sweets, I guess we will get plenty of kids around going "trick or treat". Sometimes living in a flat was easy, because I didn't have to worry about it and we certainly were not going to let them through the main entrance.
Also, anyone have any good stories about Halloween or any real horror stories?
In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.
We have already gone to one party last weekend and have more on Friday and Saturday. It's going to be a lot to deal with logistically and alcohol wise, but I'm a trooper. I just have to time my temporary tattoos right so that I can pull them off two days in a row.
Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.
I'm going to my sister's house. While my eldest niece takes the younger children out trick-or-treating, my sister and I shall drink chai lattés and I'll read her Tarot cards. Then on Sunday morning, everybody is going to gather at my mother's house for a big breakfast and there will be a "candy tax" on all of goodies.
I don't remember who suggested the candy tax idea first, but that is a brilliant idea.
Bugger all. I was meant to be going to a family party but it was cancelled.
I'm taking my nine year old son and his best friend trick-or-treating in a neighborhood of our town which is known for being good treating territory.
I will be taking my kids out trick or treating. My daughter is going as a pirate. We made a very nice wooden sword for her to carry.
My son decided to go as Legolas. It was a bit of a surprise. He got the costume but needed a bow, so I am making a bow out of a cedar branch that needed to be trimmed down any way. I have had it drying in bow shape for about 5 days now. I will be cleaning it up tonight.
Halloween night I have an invite to a party but this is up against the Yankees at Philly for game 3 of the World Series (Baseball finals)
That's really cool, Jim. Is your son heavily into LOTR or was this your influence?
(I'd love to see pictures of the bow you made him!)
Nothing. I'm lame. The sad thing is, Halloween is my favorite holiday, but I'm such an anti-social loner that there are no parties to go to. I don't have kids for trick or treating. I don't have any excuse to even think about putting together a costume. I guess I'll have to drink a lot.
I'm still swimming in harmony. I'm still dreaming of flight. I'm still lost in the waves night after night...
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I'm taking Friday off so I can go to my daughter's school parade and party, and on Saturday I will take them trick or treating. No one ever comes to our house (we live on a bad block for it), so I think my husband will come with us since there's no need for anyone to be home to answer the door.
He really loves the movies and my wife read him the Hobbit. It is as partially on his own. I would not have recommended Legolas actually. Gimli, one of the Hobbits, Aragorn or even Gandalf, but not Legolas.Originally posted by Zuul
That's really cool, Jim. Is your son heavily into LOTR or was this your influence?
(I'd love to see pictures of the bow you made him!)
My daughter's Pine & Pretzel Bucket Sword and my Son's Fresh Cedar Elven Bow
Oh, those are great, Jim. Your kids are really lucky. Way, way cooler than silly plastic props.
Maybe you can get him to be Gimli next year.
Seconding Zuul's comment. You're the cool dad!
They weren't singing....they were just honking.
Glee 2009
Snow camping.
Which means I won't be home to bribe the neighborhood doodlehums with candy so the little shits won't egg my house. Hell, I just hope my car is still in one peice.
I blame society.
Why snow camping? This is probably the very last thing I would decide to do. Is it fun? Please tell me about snow camping.
They weren't singing....they were just honking.
Glee 2009
I'll be visiting some friends, and the plan for now is a horror movie marathon.
This kind of snow camping includes a 4x4 pickup full of warm stuff and camping gear. Actual neandertal snow camping involves a backpack and a snow cave. It'll take a lot more cabin fever to make that sound like fun. Figure sometime in mid January.
But right now it's elk season. And that means a five alarm potlatch up at elk camp. I don't hunt but I always stop by a couple of camps. They're at the end of nameless logging roads under a foot of fluffy fresh powder right about now. No directions; locals only.
The logging roads aren't plowed so the first part of the evening's entertainment is getting there. I run a stock suspension with a rear locker, and usually chain up all four tires to churn through the last five or ten miles. If I can't make it at least I'll have a good time trying, and then probly none of the other guys will get there either. In that case I will check a few alternate spots, but we usually don't find each other and I end up camping solo. That's a cool trip too but not likely this time.
Follow gravel roads up big steep winding canyons carpeted with sugar frosted evergreens. Overcast skies, highs around 40 F, lows around 20, seriously pine scented breeze, occasional mixed snow/drizzle. Under a thousand foot cloud deck there's a gentle clear light that is soothing to eye and mind. Take a break at a clearing and hear the wind whisper through the trees to pat your face with icy catspaws. If you've ever wondered where all the fresh air in the world comes from this, is the place. Take a lap around the meadow and scope out the tracks. Amazing what you can find.
I'll roll in to camp a couple hours before sunset. The gang will already be there around the bonfire. I'll probly get smacked with a snowball before I even get my first beer open. We'll catch up on all the news and gossip, then it's time to fire up the BBQ. Pepprocinis, chips, pico de gallo, guacamole, and a goodly supply of yuppie beer for appetizers. Dinner takes a good couple hours and then we settle down with moonshine and cigars.
Much later in the evening I'll peel off for a walk under a waxing moon. There's a place called Devil's Canyon I like to wander through on Halloween. Everything will be frozen solid with waist high ground mist so thick it curls in my wake. I drift through the night to an old stump with a view down a steep wooded mountainside to a wide river valley painted in a thousand shades of black and silver. There I will kick back and blow smoke rings up at my old friend Orion.
Back at camp the hunters will stir around 4 AM. I will roll over and give a loud sigh as I snuggle deeper in my pile of blankets. My buddies will quietly curse my blackened soul and then silently march down to their blind at the edge of the draw. I usually camp where the rising sun wakes me at a civilized hour. By then the first wave of hunters returns and gratefully guzzles the gallon of coffee I offer. I'll linger over breakfast and then say my goodbyes before rolling out for the next camp.
Last year I got suckered into hiking up a 7800 ft ridge to help haul out an elk. This year I don't care who shoots what, I'm staying behind to help sort the empties! I usually end up getting home way late on Sunday night in spite of my best planning. It's pretty much like one long back rub.
I envision a busy night in the blood bank.
Jaglavak, that sounds wonderful - I would never do it myself as I hate cold, but I completely understand the appeal.
I am hosting a Halloween sleepover party for my son and 5 of his friends. We did it last year so we've got the drill down pat: first, as a substitute for trick-or-treating, we have a candy hunt throughout the house and yard. Each child is given a numbered bag and all the hidden candy is numbered - you only get to keep the candy with your bag's number on it. This way, they all get the same haul, just as they would if they were trick-or-treating together.
Then we carve jack-o-lanterns, decorate "monster cakes" (which is what you get when you give sixth grade boys unfrosted cakes and a selection of gloppy frosting in various colors), and have pizza for dinner.
After dark we do our "Night of a thousand glowsticks." We put tiki torches around our swimming pool and break out a zillion glow sticks - the boys go swimming and have fun tossing the glow sticks (which float) around in the dark.
The boys then spread out their sleeping bags in the living room and watch "The Mummy" or similar fare until they fall asleep.
Next morning, we serve pancakes and the boys trade their candies. Parents pick kids up at about 11 am, and voila - another happy childhood memory created.
Yup. My girlfriend thinks that anything involving snow is totally insane. But she doesn't mind my insanity once in awhile. Just one of many reasons I'm stupid about her.Huh. This time I even got a peek behind the curtain and I still don't know how you did that. I'm guessing magic.Hang on. Aren't they up to sequel #13 - "Mummy Meets Godzilla"?
Last edited by Jaglavak; 28 Oct 2009 at 01:03 PM.
Well, if one of the guys gets dinged it's a regrettable incident. If I get hurt that's a disaster.
Last edited by Jaglavak; 28 Oct 2009 at 01:06 PM.
I was thinking about dressing up as a stressed-out caffeine-addicted overweight managing editor. For the sake of theater I was thinking I might dodge calls from a would-be financial adviser and brag about my kid.
"I won't kill for money, and I won't marry for it. Other than that, I'm open to just about anything."
-Jim Rockford
I take it withdrawals are up?
I wore a scarf to work, and I decided to make a costume.
I wrapped it around my head and now I'm Miss Cleo: "Call me now...".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Cleo
My coworkers get it and I do a prediciton each time someone walks past my desk, "I see someone walking by." I'm having a blast!
They weren't singing....they were just honking.
Glee 2009
Oh hey, I think we have the same plan.
My wife will be taking the kid trick-or-treating while I stay home and dole out the candy. Pretty basic, I guess, but it suits us.
Jaglavak,
Have a good time snow camping. It sounds interesting - I'm allergic to snow, so I'll never be able to do it myself.
You're a very good writer - the descriptions are amazing!
They weren't singing....they were just honking.
Glee 2009
We did the party for the Taekwondo school last night. Some really creative costumes showed up.
Tomorrow, I'll be out in front of the house in my Incarnation of Death outfit terrorizing the kiddies. SWMBO claims that I am going to be the cause of the next generation of axe murderers, all from my neighborhood.
Bwa-ha-ha-ha!
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