Happy Halloween

No plans to trick or to treat tonight. I might make it to the THIRSTY BEAVER to hear Bo Stevens play. Missed my only Halloween Costume Party invite. Today Lisa & I wore our goofy teeth to work. Sexy!! As dressed up as I'll be this Halloween.


Last year I dressed as a vampire. That was a pretty good costume.
The year before I was a dead golfer. Appears that a golf ball to the eye is what killed me. I don't have pics from that party. Perhaps I'll find some out there somewhere.


In 2005 I was a severely sunburned Nascar fan. Jimmy Johnson ballcap and t-shirt, carrying a cooler of beer. Not a good pic taken but people did not recognize me.

JUST SHUT UP

Never miss a good opportunity to just shut up! How long has it been since I've had my foot in my mouth? Or was embarrassed over my babbling after a social situation with friends, acquaintances or strangers? Not long enough but I think I'm doing better.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
Abraham Lincoln
16th president of US (1809 - 1865)
Sometimes I play over in my head things I've said and I wish I could destroy the memory from anyone who heard it! But you can't do that. It's like looking through someone elses photo album and seeing a snapshot of yourself with a goofy haircut or a dumb look on your face and you can't take it out.

One Piece at A Time

I took it ONE PEICE AT A TIME AND IT DIDN'T COST ME A DIME but it sure cost me some time. I guess in the 18 months in our new building at work I've not had to sit down to use the toilet. Today I did & I found out that the toilet paper dispenser (apparently built by Fort Knox) doesn't like to give up the tissue. No matter how I pulled it broke off one piece at a time- turning a 2 minute job into 15 minutes. Luckily no one else was in there because the racket I was making with the dispenser combined with my mumbled narrative was not good!

"No Country For Old Men"

I watched "No Country For Old Men" the other night. It was a great movie up until the point where Llewelyn Moss meets the woman with beer at the hotel. It lost my interest once the movie went in the direction that it did. I know that it was Sheriff Bell's story but I connected more with Llewelyn. Real Life is random enough with drive by shootings and heart attacks and car accidents. I want my movies to have a bit less randomness to them.

A SIMPLE PLAN

Last night I finished watching a really good movie on DVD, "A Simple Plan". Excellent!! I started it the other night but got a phone call and paused it. I started it again last night and Doug, Amy & Jacob stopped by. So I paused it again until they left. Suspenceful to the very end!

Fat Man Returns

Fat Man is eating CANDY because it runs rampant on the evil desk across from which he sits. It makes him miserable because once he starts he cannot stop. He just slows it down a little. Fat Man is really making a come back!

"LIVE WEEKEND"

"LIVE WEEKEND" was basically like "Vacation Bible School" for adults. Several men and women from churches in PA & TN came and held small group discussions. An attempt at building bonds within our congregation and reviving us as a spiritual body. I went to the evening meetings Fri & Sat. I skipped the "coffee" and lunches on Saturday. Made it to Sunday service and even sang a solo.

TGIF

Friday!!!! Couldn't get here soon enough! Even with being off Monday it has been a long week. Thought I might be going out to Rodi's in Gastonia tonight but I've obligated myself to be at church tonight & tomorrow night & Sunday night! Something called "LIVE Weekend". Not sure what it is. The church hasn't really been clear about what it is. When I've asked other people about it they don't seem to know much more than I do.

"ERIK" by Brian K Raynor

I'm not really happy with "ERIK". I may add some touch ups to him at some point if I don't sell him before. I basically tried to copy Sam Morrison's style (very cool stuff!) that I first saw on FLICKR.COM. "ERIK" is one of three paintings with a piratey theme.

GHOST TOWN IN THE SKY

Friday evening Doug, Amy, their son Jacob and I headed out to Maggie Valley, NC for our camping trip. Doug hauled his pop-up Apache camper that he refurbished this past summer. Michael, Lisa and their baby Chloe and Michael's other two children Brittany and David followed us hauling Michael's pop-up camper. We met up with Charles and Darlene and their daughter's Elizabeth and Hannah. They came up the night before and were staying in a cabin at campground destination- Stone Bridge.


Doug's cousins Eric and Robert came up from GA. Eric, Kristi and their daughters Kayla and Erica were there when we arrived; as were Robert and Marya and their 3 sons Tyler, Collin and Evan. The GA cousins were in two huge tents.


We got settled and built a campfire. Roasted marshmellows and made smores. Sleeping in the camper was COLD!! My sleeping bag kept my body warm but my face was so cold all night long.

Saturday morning we built a campfire. Doug and Michael cooked breakfast (bacon, eggs and sausage) for everyone. This was done with electric gridddles (a bit more high tech than a skillet & campfire).

Later in the morning we went into town -Waynesville, to a Kmart looking for whatever whoever needed. That's where we ran into a pathetic family of INBREDS. The Queen of the bunch was a 15 year old (?) pregnant girl hobbling along with a cast on her leg, sporting a Prince Valiant haircut gone bad, wearing a belly exposing t-shirt sloganed "DADDY'S GIRL". The grandma, and sister and brother followed her throughout the store. I assume she was the one with the welfare money. "Shut up! Shut up! I'm gonna buy me a telephone! Shut Up!" she was yelling at the check out line. And they all shut up and followed her.

We drove up the blueridge parkway and walked up a trail. Beautiful country! Everyone seems too impatient to just stop and take in the beauty along the way.
Lisa was freaked out by what she thought was a snake on the way down.


Had lunch at Ammons. Back at the campsite in the afternoon- Wesley and Sara had arrived,... horse shoes and other games were played and we walked the kids over to a branch to hop along rocks in the stream. Grilled burgers for supper. Campfire ghost tails and toasting marshmellows. Not as cold that night. It was the sound of snoring that kept me awake!

Sunday we started to break camp. Went to breakfast at Joey's Pancake House. The place was packed but the service was quick. Food was good. We went back to the campsite to finish packing.

The GA cousins headed back to GA and the rest of us headed to GHOST TOWN In the Sky. (A trip to GHOST TOWN was the only family vacation we ever took when I was a wee wee lad. Oddly enough most of my family that went on that trip are all... ghost now.) Anyway we took the chairlift up - David rode with me up and Jacob rode with me down. That rides a little scarey if you consider how easily a kid could just slip out of the seat. So I tried not to think about it.

We went immediately to the few amusement park rides. Some rides aren't available yet. "Awaiting State Approval". I rode a few things that spin ya around (The Dreamcatcher and the Undertaker) and felt sick. I skipped the GunSlinger Swings because I knew one more spin and I'd be blowin' chunks. I liked the Geronimo Drop Tower that shoots you up - like the BIG SHOT @ the Stratosphere in Las Vegas.

We went to the Ghost Town and watched part of the "Can Can Girls" show and then a GUN FIGHT in the street. Bought a t-shirt and a couple "cowboy" cds from a gift shop. Overall a nice trip. Got a complimentry pass to come back. I guess it was 4 or later before we headed home. Playing Roadside Bingo.

"Frankenstein's Monster In Love" by Brian K. Raynor

First Day of October,... only fitting that I start this Month of Ghouls with a painting of "Frankenstein's Monster In Love". Sold this year at the rockabilly BBQ.