Halloween

I had a moment earlier this week that brought to my mind a favorite author of mine.

"Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you"--here I opened wide the door--Darkness there and nothing more." "Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore." Edgar Allen Poe.

Nigel was getting upset (not like her) and I could hear noises outside. I looked out to see.....

There must have been 30+ crows flying around over my house and street. The perfect start to get me in the mood for Halloween.

I have been working bit by bit getting the decorations put up these last few days. I did not want the electronic stuff out too early. I did the last bit tonight and took some pictures. You do not get the full effect but you get the idea. Note the shrunken heads in the trees.

The gost travels on the cord and groans.Night shot.Close-up of the porch. Note the severed hand on the railing. Behind the tombstone is the fog machine. In front of it is a jar that lights up and makes bubbeling noises with floating eyeballs (my parents sent me that one). On the stop is a skull. On the other side it the strobe light behind the culdren that bubbles and makes fog. In front of that is the latern with the shull in it that lights up and does an evil laugh.

For those of you that ask where I get my love for Halloween I will offer 2 pieces of evidence.

1: The card from Mom, Dad, and Jerry

2: Dad in his costume (the face drips blood, how cool is that!!!???)

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!

I saw this at Safeway and had to have it. I love it brain cactus on a mummy head. They also had Frankenstein or a black cat but they were too cutesy.

The pile

WARNING: If you work for Johnson Property management or the city of Spokane DO NOT read this.

I am not sure anyone else will be interested in this but it is my blog so too bad. I decided a week or so ago to tackle this pile on the back corner of the property. Keeping in mind that this is a rental and I am not putting any money into it.

My mother was kind enough last week while she was here to start on it. I wish I had a picture of it then so you could already see the huge difference in it. There were a bunch of small trees growing out of it that she chopped down or pulled out. It is not a big deal and is not really in my way so I have not paid much attention to it since I moved in. A month or so ago my neighbor decided to remove the 3 foot high chin link fence and put in a 5+ foot high one. When doing this he had to chop down some 7+ foot high trees that were along the fence line. I happily gave him permission (not caring what the property management thought). Since doing that the area is free of the trees that hid the pile and now it sticks out to me. In Spokane you can buy a "green bucket" that is a large size garbage can for yard waste only. I figured that bucket has been pretty empty lately and they are still charging me so I might as well put it to work. Not only that but it is some exercise. I got that bucket pretty full today and when I realized I was having trouble moving it out of my way because of the weight I decided that I was done. The pile now looks like this.

You can kinda see the outline of what was removed. After photographing and admiring my work I closed the lid on the can and was getting ready to wheel it closer to the street when I saw the "approved and unapproved" sticker on the top listing what could go in and what should not. Sure enough under unapproved was the word "dirt". There was a lot of dirt in there so we will see if they will pick it up or not. I may have to do smaller amounts next time OR Christmas may have to come early this year. One of the things I want for Christmas is the hitch for my car so I can tow things. In the future I have dreams of owning a small camper (just big enough for Nigel and I) and a 4 wheeler (need a trailer for that one). For now I am starting small and just asking for the hitch ($200-$300 tops). If the city will not take this can I may have to buy the hitch and get mom and dad's trailer up here to haul it to the dump (or see if anyone has one up here they will let me borrow). Anywho next Wednesday is pick up day so we will see if they take it or not.

While Mom was working on the pile the neighbor lady came out and talked to her. I guess the pile used to also run clear across their back yard. They decided to clean it up and in doing so found a small boat and trailer buried under it. They also said it cost them $500 to dispose everything. I will not let it get to that point. First thing I have to put out any money (except for the hitch I want anyway) this project is over. Plus my pile is not big enough to hide a boat. BUT I have known people with old houses and they find all kinds of cool things buried in the yard. Mr. Pounder has found cool old bottles in places he has dug. Since I have been here I have dug up a few kids toys. This gave me the idea to keep track of the things I may find in the pile. So far today my find has not been overly exciting.

*Miller light glass beer bottle

*Pudding cup lid

*AA battery

*Subscription card

*Misc. string and pieces from plastic woven sacks

*2 rocks

Of course I brought the rocks inside.......of course I washed the rocks........of course I took a picture of them.......of course I kept them!! Remember who's blog this is??!! They are sitting on the fireplace ledge with all the others. Hopefully it will be like an archaeological dig it just gets better the further you go.