halloween – Walking Chester

Happy Halloween

Chester has to deal with our silliness one day out of the year, unless you count deer antlers at Christmas. He didn’t mind too much and a couple of kids said “He’s Scooby Doo” who is a particular role model and hero of Chesters, so he felt honored. It was pretty cold so I think he was OK with having something over him. Plus he got lots of pets. We had a wonderful Halloween! The rain cooperated, we had our annual fire pit with our awesome neighbors, and we only ate one bag of candy before the big day. Below is what my son puts out for decoration in their neighborhood.

In our neighborhood, we get this…

Now let us backtrack a little through the week. My husband’s birthday is on Halloween and I make him a cake. Our grandson is allergic to eggs though, so I have been working on my egg free cakes. I tried a new recipe this year. It was not successful. The consensus was that it looked like either a mushroom or a nuclear explosion.

I am proud of my egg free delights so I made another one. Here are the results. The second one was the clear winner and it turned out yummy, especially with frosting on it.

Backtracking further…our basement flooded. Not just ours, the whole neighborhood had flooded basements. There were 10 inches of water in the basement. It was not rain water, the sanitary sewer was spewing.

Pretty bad, right? yes, I won’t disagree. Luckily we had insurance so it won’t all be on us, but what a mess. We had a company come in and dry it all out, pull out the flooring, and cut the drywall up 20 inches. That’s where we are now.

But in every incident, there is a way to laugh. Maybe not a hard full laugh, but at least a smile. Here’s the good in the situation, sort of. First, my dad had a collection of 800 jazz records that I inherited many years ago. About 1/3 of it was on the floor. Luckily about a month ago I sold it to a jazz enthusiast and collector who is enjoying it right now (I hope). Back in August our bookshelf fell over and our son took his books and packed them up. We shipped them to him. He also took his records. Because he was picking up his stuff, I too picked up all our books and put them up on a table. They are safe. All over my living room, but safe!

On the funny side, my husband said when he opened his office door, his slippers floated out to greet him. He did not put them on. Also, we had two litter boxes on a rug down there. They were floating, rug and all, around the basement. It reminded me of the old Bible study song, “Arky, Arky.” If Noah took litter boxes with the two cats, they might look like these. I wish he had taken a picture but it wasn’t topmost on his mind I guess. What was he thinking?!

The fans the people set up were loud. There were about 16 of them and two dehumidifiers (I think). they sounded like jet engines taking off. I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I took Chester to one of our favorite parks. He happily walked along the path, then decided it would be a good idea to stick his face into a mess of ticks. They weren’t the fat brown slow ones, but little black ones.

My sister said they are making themselves known in Ohio and Michigan. She said they are active in October. So, I picked them off and cleaned out my car like crazy. Now every time I have an itch I freak out. I hate ticks. Do we really have to deal with multiple kinds?

Well, we are dealing. Bunny continues to thrive. We find Bunny in many places but not torn up.

I’ll have to get Bunny something for Christmas if this keeps up. Have a good week and may you remain tick-free! Don’t forget to turn back your clocks tonight if you have to!

Halloween and other random ghosts

Happy Halloween! I have lots of ghosts and goblins swirling in my head today so I may seem discombobulated. That’s my grandson’s favorite word right now. I may jump from one topic to another. But the veil is thin between the spirit world and ours today, so maybe my ancestors are arguing about what I should write about, and I am feeling like a rope in a tug-of-war. So let’s just get started, shall we?

Speaking of arguing, the weather here in Cleveland can’t decide what it wants to be. We have had days like this:

And days like this.

Yesterday I was outside burning sticks in the chiminea in a t-shirt. Today it’s rainy and cold. Go figure. Chester and I have had some beautiful walks though, in Holden Arboretum and the Lake Metroparks. The leaf colors have been breathtaking.

Chester doesn’t care for Halloween. We don’t give him candy, and he has to dress up. Granted it’s only for a few minutes while I take his picture.

Doesn’t he look happy? Hey, we spoil this dog every day of the year, so for one day (ok maybe two, I put antlers on him at Christmas) he can glare at me. Honestly, it was two minutes. You’d think he was suffering. At least I didn’t put the rest of the costume on him.

Chester got “skunked” last week so we gave him his first bath in the bathtub. We usually take him to the pet store where they have a dog wash station but it was late at night. He didn’t seem to mind it that much, not as much as having to wear a pumpkin hat. It was “second hand skunked” — he didn’t get the full force. When we lived in Euclid our neighbor’s dog got sprayed between our houses and the curtains, couch and everything smelled for days. This wasn’t that bad. This one may have even been a roll-through skunk.

Our Model A club went on a tour, and we stopped at a store in Amish country. I thought this made a nice picture. I should have bought a pumpkin then but I did not. Alas, this morning I went to four places and they were ALL OUT of pumpkins. I have a warty pumpkin, just not a Jack-o-lantern.

I came home and drowned my disappointment in little candy bars.

I’ve been starting a community handbell choir named Decibells. I may have mentioned it. We want to combine theater/performance with handbells and take bells to the community. We are able to borrow bells from a church temporarily but would like to buy our own. We can’t take the church bells out of the church, and we want to do outreach activities in senior centers, schools, etc. Even used bells can cost $15000 or more. Sheesh, right?

Nobody under 40 will understand this because computer stuff is part of their DNA, but I am so proud that I figured out how to get Zelle for the Decibells account. I linked it to the email so we can receive donations. If any of you have even 5 dollars floating around screaming “I wish I could be used for something that will bring people joy” and you’d consider donating, we are a legit, tax-exempt non-profit and 100% will go to purchasing the bells, music, and accessories. The email is Decibellslake@gmail.com . If you are thinking, “ahh she worked in a sales pitch” I am sorry. I would never want anybody to donate who couldn’t afford it, so no worries.

Like in Harry Potter, as I express these ideas and thoughts, they seem to be flowing out of my ear and clearing out my brain. Pretty soon I’ll be brainless.

Isn’t that pretty? It’s called a “Mumkin.” It was a fundraiser for the grandson.

Chester got a new toy from our grandson. It is, or was, a stuffed Mr. Bill that said “Oh nooooo” over and over and over and over….. Chester mercifully disassembled the sound module then went to work on the body of poor Mr. Bill. He made it this far last night.

Did you ever hang up a sweater over a shirt then forget you owned the shirt? I found one of my formerly favorite shirts this morning when I reached for a black sweater. It’s like getting something new! Or used, as this one was originally from Goodwill. So kind of a triple used from it’s original birth. Or maybe more, depending if the previous owner got it new. It’s mind blowing, right? But in a good way.

Have a lovely Halloween, and make sure your doggies and kitties don’t get out. We have trick-or-treating from 6-8:00 and it’s pretty dark by then. Tomorrow is November 1^st, unbelievable. Let’s hope for a few more nice days! Have a good week!

It seemed like a good idea at the time…

Sometimes we do things that cannot be rationally explained. We shrug our shoulders and say, “it seemed like a good idea at the time.” This is a story about one such event.

My husband’s birthday is on Halloween. I think sometimes he liked it, and sometimes not, but it is what it is. In the late 70s/early 80s Saturday Night Live was in its heyday. It was the new, fresh, silly, irreverent show that we older teens loved. Plus, we had to stay up late to get any privacy, so it was a staple. One of the skits was of the adventures and misunderstandings of the “Coneheads.” The coneheads were aliens living on earth. Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman were the coneheads, Beldar, Prymaatt, and daughter Connie.

I decided to have a surprise party for my then boyfriend, now husband. We were going to surprise him, then go to a haunted house. I invited a bunch of friends and stipulated that it was a costume party. He knew we were dressing up, and probably surmised more, but I don’t remember to be honest. What I do remember is finding the perfect couple’s costume. I was looking through some cheap catalog and saw Conehead wigs! Doesn’t that sound ideal? I quickly ordered them and waited for the package. Remember, there was no such thing as next day delivery unless you drove their yourself.

Finally, the wigs came, and on Halloween we began to think about dressing up, having just said “cool” when we saw them, then waiting until the last minute to try them on. We went to my house, put them on, and they flopped to the side. OK, minor setback. We decided to stuff them with newspapers to make them stand up. Success! Only…they were so flimsy you could see through them. And they were kind of a yellow color.

You know the point where you can either forge ahead or abandon the mission? We did not realize that this was that point. I decided that to match my skin at least, and provide a more natural look, we should just put make up on the wigs. We smeared my foundation all over the coneheads, taking care to blend around the wig line. We had to use a lot. This seemed to work, and we took a picture of the outcome.

We discovered another problem when we tried to get into the car to drive to his parents’ house. The coneheads were too tall. We couldn’t sit in a car. My dad had a sense of humor and drove us in his car. We crouched down in the back seat. When we got out, the top of the car was my skin tone. My dad’s car was a Cover Girl. We didn’t care, we were young and going to a party! Pffffft to dad’s car!

We went inside and received our accolades from our friends, surprising my husband. He blew out the candles and we had cake, then he opened gifts. Finally it was time to go to the haunted house.

Of course our parents were not going to drive us, (God, no, how embarrassing) and our friends were a little less willing when we told them how funny it was that the foundation came off on the car. But luckily one friend had a truck! No problem, right? We’d sit in the back of the flatbed and our heads wouldn’t touch anything.

Weather in Toledo, Ohio is unpredictable. On this particular Halloween it was about 20 below zero, or maybe it just felt like it. We huddled together, wrapped in a thin blanket, blinded by the headlights of the cars behind us. People honked their horns in appreciation (I think) as we cruised down the road to the haunt. Do you know I was so cold when we got there that I don’t even remember the haunted house? All I remember was sitting like a deer in the headlights fully understanding the meaning of wind chill and thinking “it seemed like a good idea at the time”.

Anyway, that was one of our more memorable Halloweens. As for Chester, I could say the same thing about this year’s costume. I thought that instead of something around his neck, he might tolerate a pumpkin hat. I offered my husband the opportunity to put the hat on Chester. After much struggling, he sat there (we had a Milk Bone as enticement) just long enough for a picture. My husband took pity and removed the offending item. That was it for costumes.

Chester went with us to the neighbor’s driveway for Halloween and was good as gold. The only thing that freaked him out was an inflatable dinosaur costume. He watched it go down the street and come back, looking worried and confused. He didn’t know whether to try to chase it or run. In the end he sat by us and threatened it with his scary evil eye while it walked down the street. Kind of like he did with this squirrel. They usually have a stand off until one moves. In the dinosaur’s case, the dino was focused on candy and not Chester. So Chester won, and another Halloween is in the books.

Have a good week!

Halloween and Charlie Brown…

It is raining in Cleveland again. This is the third or fourth day in a row and it isn’t letting up. Chester has been giving us the stink eye when we suggest going outside. Here is a picture of his regular activity. Please note that he was snoring.

Here is the look he gave me when I suggested he go outside and go potty. He has been more lethargic on walks too, cutting them short halfway down the street. When Chester decides to go back home, we do. It’s kind of hard not to, when he braces his feet.

Before you worry about him though, he is fine. Right now he is flipping out over a guy working in our yard. He is launching himself sideways at the front door. He sounds ferocious. His hackles stand up and he has a very commanding bark. Of course if I let him out he would expect the guy to pet him. What a poser. At least he sounds scary.

Look at those hackles! Like a mohawk! Our son had a mohawk in the 90s and kept it up with egg whites. But I digress…

Speaking of scary, Halloween is this weekend! I watched ‘It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” on PBS. In the Charlie Brown hierarchy, this one is second to the Charlie Brown Christmas. But after this one, it’s a pool of wanna be Charlie Brown shows. These two are the only ones that count. Why is that? Partly because these have a lot of love in them, even while insulting poor CB. It always touches me when Lucy wakes up in the middle of the night and gets her brother out of the pumpkin patch (where are the parents??) and puts him to bed. Little brothers are a pain but we love them anyway. The other reason is that for those of us over a certain age these were the only television traditions we could watch. I marvel at how my two sons, born in 84 and 86, only had Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. Our daughter, born in 1993, had an explosion of kids’ tv. As a child I had even less. We had Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny. And Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), followed in 1966 by “It’s the Great Pumpkin”. Later we had Frosty (1969), and a few others but none matched good old CB. Rudolph was made right before CB; in 1964. But CB is the classic. It brings back memories of sitting around the tv with my brother and sister, and later with our kids. Remember, we couldn’t record something. So if we missed it, that was it. I think that made it more special.

Anyway, I wanted to get Chester a Halloween costume. He’s not a fan of dressing up but I found this bandana in the closet. He wouldn’t look at me while it was on, just looked at the floor and panted. Honestly you’d think I was killing him. When I took it off he wagged his tail like he wanted a Milk Bone. Sheesh.

Halloween makes me think of times I was scared and what I’m afraid of. There was the time when our cousin/babysitter turned on “The Birds”. I ran into the bathroom and locked the door. No, I wasn’t as young as you might think. Scary movies frighten me but not for long. I revisited “The Birds” a few days ago while walking Chester. We have a huge flock of blackbirds who stop in the spring and in the fall for a few days then move on. They make a horrendously loud sound, just like in The Birds. We look down and keep walking.

This was from last fall, but same birds. The black dots are the birds.

Then there was the time when my brother and I were walking back from a rest stop somewhere in Indiana. I was 22, he was 18. For some stupid reason they put the rest stop way back, not seeable from the parking lot. There was a paved trail winding past some large ponds and rushes. As luck would have it, it was dark. We made it there, but it creeped me out big time. On the way back, my dumb brother said softly “kill her mommy, kill her” (From Friday the 13^th, which was the first scary movie I saw). I ran. But he did too! (yes you did, Andy!!) Luckily I was running regularly at that point, and the monster/ghost/bad guy didn’t catch me. It didn’t catch my brother either even if he deserved it. Now I would just wave it on to catch him because no way am I running. Getting old makes you either brave or apathetic.

As for what I’m afraid of now…not much. I used to be afraid of ghosts. Lately I’ve been feeling pressure on my shoulder, like a hand but wider, when I’m going to sleep. It’s just a warm weight but nothing is there. I think one of our cats who have passed on has been visiting us. I’ve heard noises and felt something brush by my leg. It’s not scary though, it’s very comforting. I don’t sense that it is a person, or one of the dogs, not that I’d be scared of them either. I used to work in a building reputedly haunted by nuns. Unfortunately I never saw one.

What was your favorite costume if you dressed up? Mine was a cat. But my go to is a witch. I usually dress up to pass out candy. I used to sit on the porch. One of our sons got into it for a couple of years. He tied a dollar bill to a fishing line, cast it from his upstairs window and when a kid tried to pick it up he’d pull it away. It worked remarkably well! Another year he pretended to be a Halloween fake prop on the porch in a chair then jumped up and scared the kids. That also worked well. We did have an old cassette tape of scary sounds, you know organ music, groaning, and screaming. We’d have to plug in the cassette player inside and open the window. If it isn’t rainy we get a lot of kids, but unfortunately it looks like this might be an off year. I will wear the wig even outside though just because I like it. I will also make pumpkin seeds and eat them all within 2 days. Yep, I will probably get sick. I don’t care, it’s that or the Halloween candy. Maybe it’s and/or the Halloween candy…

Anyway, enough musing. Have a Happy Halloween if you celebrate it. Dress up your dogs or cats if you are able. We will be sitting around a fire pit in the neighbor’s driveway passing out candy and eating s’mores. Chester will be in a bandana or a t-shirt like the dog in “Rocky.” We’ll see if he likes that better. I’m positive he will!

A Halloween walk…

Stop pulling, Chester. Wait! Bags? Check. Flashlight? Check. Dog? Hee hee I amuse myself.

Ooh, look at the stars! There’s Orion’s Belt. Is that the big dipper? No, can’t be certain. They seem to be fading. Must be a cloud. What do you see, Chester? Up there by Julius’ house? Is it a bunny? I don’t see anything, crazy dog.

Boy is it quiet this morning. I don’t see lights on in any of the houses. That’s weird, usually someone is up and about. Maybe everyone decided to sleep in on Halloween. I don’t get it, every house is pitch dark. What do you see now Chester? Quit pulling! Hey, I can’t hear the highway. As a matter of fact I don’t hear anything at all. The train usually comes by about now. Or at least the crickets or cicadas are chirping. Maybe it’s too early. Dead silence.

This is getting kind of creepy. It’s like I’m alone in the world. What would I do if something happened? What was that? I feel a chill. Sheesh, Martha, quit psyching yourself out. There is nothing here. It’s like every other walk every other day. Just keep walking.

I feel something. It’s colder than I thought it would be. It seems like it dropped 10 degrees in a few minutes. Brr. I hear something in the leaves behind us. Walk faster. Don’t turn around. No turn around and stand up real tall and straight. See what it is. No, walk faster. If there was something behind us, Chester would act different. Don’t look.

Something is definitely following us. Turn around you scaredy cat. You are supposed to be fearless. This is your neighborhood, get tough. Turn around NOW. Oh, it’s nothing. There’s nothing there. Hee hee you’re a mess Martha. Now go home, Chester wants his Kong. And you need coffee.

Wow, it’s dark. I can’t see a darn thing. Good thing I know the route. Oh shoot, Chester has to poop. Get the flashlight. No I want to go home. Just pick up as much as you can see and get out. Something moved past the window of that house. Is it on the outside or inside? Hurry up Chester. Keep going, you’re almost home.

Ok, something is following me. Walk faster, one two three four, count the steps. Oh my God, I saw a shadow. Breathe, in, out, in out. Don’t run, if it’s an animal it’ll chase you. Did someone clear their throat? Something is behind me. Doesn’t sound like an animal. Glance over your shoulder, see if it’s a coyote. Go on, DO IT. Better to know. OK, on the count of three, one, two, three, now LOOK!

What? Nothing there. I’m alone. What is that? Is it a reflection in Chester’s eyes, are the street lights on? No, must be my imagination, it’s still dark. You are a basket case, Martha, just Halloween getting to you. Come on Chester, hurry up. Whew there’s the house. Where are the high school kids at the bus stop? My spine is prickly.

Wait, something is wrong. What is it? I don’t know but it’s wrong, screaming wrong. The house is dark too. We will cut through the yard. Come on, Chester, why did you stop? What is wrong with you? Let’s go inside. No, wait, I left the lights on. No, no, no, what is that on the porch?

Help, turn around! Chester…Chester…run away. Go, run! Go! No, what are you doing? Don’t go that way, get out! What’s wrong with your eyes? What is that behind you? How many eyes are there…all I see is red eyes. I’m confused, are they all dogs? What is that sound? It’s a low growl. Chester, don’t go to the thing on the porch! Run! Did it just say good dog?

Whaaat…I’m surrounded. The growl is getting louder. Chester, come! I knew you would help me, come, hurry. What’s that? Are your lips moving? I can’t make a sound. My nose is growing. I’m shrinking. I’m screaming but I can’t. I hear barking. Is that me? I’m covered in fur, I can’t stand up straight. Chester, help me!

Ohh…I can’t get up. Why can’t I speak? What is that barking..is it me?Who are you? Lori? Oh am I glad to see you! I love your haircut. The bow is falling out though. What Chester? If you could speak why didn’t you before? What do you mean I didn’t give you enough treats? Where’s John? Oh, I see him, the Shepherd. I’d recognize that mustache anywhere. Listen, our pack leader on the porch is talking. He has such beautiful red eyes like us, and a long tail. What do you think he….OW! He poked me with that pitchfork. If I had that pitchfork I’d …

Happy Halloween!

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