All Hands On Deck!

Today is the big day! Party time. Preparations are still underway and excitement is in the air. Today is the day for the chili/salsa cook off. Oh, and it is Halloween.

Good smells are wafting through the air as each camper prepares their very best potions for the judging. I am preparing my appetite!

Scarecrow Sally has been licking her lips in anticipation. She wants candy........

Scarecrow Sammy is thinking about popcorn balls and peanuts......
No detail is too small. I even made Halloween curtains! Note the gourd birdhouses with frogs appliqued on them. The colors look like a Mexican flag.....the three amigos?

Even the stools got a makeover, thanks to my BCBE (best camping buddy ever), Deb.
BFF is way over used, don't you think?

So many ways to win a prize, a fabulous prize. Deb won't tell me how many are in the jar..... she thinks I might give the answer away with hints. I suppose that the thought would have crossed my mind....

The pumpkin patch is ready for campers to grab one and carve for yet another way to win a fabulous prize........ so long as you aren't afraid to walk through the graveyard ..... ahhhhh ha ha ha ha.........

Better hurry before night falls and the tenants of the graveyard begin to stir about. You've been warned....... watch your back........

Young and old alike have pitched in to help set up the tent and get the tables in place.
The tent is up, lights have been strung, the fire has been laid. Everyone has retreated to their campers to cook their offerings of the night. Love of my life is busy making his ghostly apparitions that overtake Spooky Forest tonight on the hayride. We will begin the festivities at 5. First we eat, then we tally the votes for prizes. After the hayride through Spooky Forest we will all return to the bonfire and warm up with some hot mulled apple cider and coffee.... and no doubt a little more dessert. Then it is BINGO! The weather is cooperating, sort of. The wind is so brisk that everything has been nailed down. We had to relocate the bonfire to higher ground due to the water left behind all the rain. I can improvise, though and all is well in my world today as I prepare to spend the evening with friends.

Happy Halloween!

Rain, Rain....GO AWAY!

The rain continues today, despite the fact that the forecast predicted a sunny day. They promised, promised,I tell you, that this day would be dry and sunny, although windy. There are puddles everywhere and the ground is spongy and makes suctioning noises when you walk on the grass. In some places the water rises up to grab your ankles and creep into your shoes. This is so wrong. How am I supposed to set up my graveyard?

I got up at 7:30 expecting wet ground, but not the steady rain that was accompanying the soggy terrain. Discouraged, the dogs peed quickly and scampered back to bed. I followed and slept the extra sleep that always makes you feel crappy. Got up to a steady drizzle that continues even now. My reservation, my ONE reservation, cancelled. I have a dull throbbing headache that could possibly be from too much coffee.

The sun is toying with me as it peeks out every now and again, only to hide behind a cloud again. In addition to planning this Halloween extravaganza I have been making preparation to travel to Georgia for my son's memorial service. I have gathered all my photos and memories together. It was a bittersweet task and I am emotionally prepared.

Traveling with three dogs is not a spur of the moment event. Not like I can toss my suitcase in the car and go, grabbing a motel room along the way and stay with family when I arrive. Not everybody is okay with animals in their house and I respect this. We used to have a 40' motor home. I had a second set of clothes and toiletries on board, so that a trip meant a trip to the grocery for our food and dog food and off we went. I miss that freedom, so while I have been housebound by rain I researched and shopped the web for a used smaller version of my house on wheels. I found one at a reliable(?) dealership in Kansas City. It was listed for $8900 and the ad claimed it to be in good condition having had a total systems check. The photos showed it to be very clean, if somewhat dated. It was at a Ford dealership, so we felt confidant that the ad was portraying it correctly. We called and offered $7500, cash. After a few calls back and forth we settled at $8000. We were prepared to pick it up last Monday, but the salesman said it would need to be detailed and he would contact us and let us know when it would be ready.

We were okay with that, The memorial service is Nov 21st, so I felt like I had time. So, on this rainy drab day we get an e-mail from this salesman, Clint, who had been the one that we came to a deal with. His e-mail said that due to the extensive repairs that needed to be done in order to make this vehicle be in good enough condition to sell, the asking price had gone up to $12,900!!!!!! Whether these repairs were to the body or the engine, it was totally misrepresented and I wouldn't buy it now on principal.

I am now back at square one on the trip preparation. I am thankful that I did not drive a six hour round trip to be disappointed. That doesn't help with my initial problem, though. It was obviously not meant to be and there is a much better deal waiting for me.

Our Halloween celebration will be an intimate affair of those campers that I know and love to be with. We will have a wonderful time anyway! We will have way too much food and so many prizes that everyone will win! We are erecting a tent to set up under, so rain if you must, we are a hardy group and will have fun any way!

Halloween is coming.....

Every year we have a big Halloween celebration here at the campground. Whoever is here is welcome to join in. It began with me cooking a huge pot of Brunswick Stew and building a bonfire. We pulled all the picnic tables around and everybody ate and had fun. We had a little karaoke and some good singers as well as those who really shouldn't have tried. Kids wore costumes and there was plenty of candy.


The next year I still did all the cooking. We added a pet costume contest and had prizes. We had prizes for pumpkin carving and prizes for costumes. Of course the menu was the same. The same campers signed up in advance to participate. My stew must be good because I never have any left. Every year I cook more. In addition to that I would make chili. The second year everyone voted that I shouldn't have to cook it all. They all said I should still make my stew and I did.


Last year I made the stew and everybody brought their favorite dishes. I wasn't really into it though. My big dogs had both died and I was a little down. But, the show must go on and it did. We had a good sized crowd and everyone had a good time..... or would have appeared to. The stew was all eaten, so they all left with a full tummy. We had door prizes. Free nights, free weekends. T-shirts and that sort of thing.


This year we decided to have a chili cook-off and Bingo. With fabulous prizes. I mean fabulous, people. I won't mention them here, because I would want to spoil the surprise, but they really are nice. I am not cooking this year. Well, a dessert, but that's no biggie. We are having hot dogs, too. But, I only have ONE reservation. None of my regulars have called. Maybe they are thinking that I know they will be here........ and I hope they come. Bingo.... there will be BINGO! Fireside bingo. With prizes. Not lame prizes, either. Face painting for the kiddies and a hayride through Spooky Forest. Did I mention the fabulous prizes?


These guys are sitting on the front porch, just waiting for the fun to begin.

Even the rodents are waiting..........

This ghoul is bone thin, she has been waiting for so long. Or is it a guy, I can't tell.

This old hag is threatening to eat her poor cat!

Old Frank N Stein is really hungry for some rat stew, but won't wait for me to cook it!

Mr. Pumpkin head is looking angry.... must be the lack of reservations.

Mr. Bones is dancing nervously and climbing the walls. We will just have to wait and see what this weekend brings.

Happy Birthday, Layla

See this sweet face? It is a reflection of a sweet soul and it belongs to my granddaughter. She is 9 years old today. I wish I could feel those sweet arms hug me today.


Dogs are a great judge of character and my Emmy spent a lot of time in Layla's arms when she was here. Totally relaxed in her arms. Sweet and gentle is my sweet girl.

I am missing her today. Must be time to start thinking about taking a trip north. Yep, it sure is.

Lady Debugger ....... Me?

Since I had not bought groceries in two weeks and needed to run some errands, I showered and even put make-up on. Remembered my list and my cell phone. I was ready to knock out those errands and take on the world. Unfortunately, the car wasn't up to the challenge..........

Glad I remembered the cell phone. I would have hated to have to walk the 20 feet back into the house. I was really glad that love of my life came to my rescue..... what with me being so far from home, nearly destitute.

That sweet man is magic. My little ride was ready for an adventure in no time.

I roll to the end of my drive and view the remains of my mailbox. Nice, huh? A new adventure every day.

Nice tracks adorn the grass beside the driveway. Given the double trenches, I am assuming a big tractor trailer decided to use our driveway to turn around and cut it way too short coming out the wrong way and hit the mailbox.


Oh, look he (?) pulled through the grass on both sides. Nice.

I decide to have a nice day in spite of this. After all it is blog worthy. I even have pictures. So off I go to return my books to the library. I know that I am a couple of days late and will owe a fine. Should be less than a dollar. I am prepared to pay my fine and go on to the grocery. The nice lady scans my returns and looks up at me and starts laughing nervously. According to the computer I owe $33,000.00 in late fees. I don't think so. After further investigation, turns out 83 cents took care of everything.

I made it back home, groceries in tow without further ado. Love of my life went off to work and I went about the business of taking 4 cancellations and looking forward to a pretty slow night.

Since it was so slow, my good friend Deb took me out to dinner! Unheard of on a Friday night. We had a nice dinner at a local establishment. I have come to realize that I need my camera on me at all times. I noticed an item in the restaurant I had not seen in years........ fly tape hanging near the entrance of the establishment. I was duly impressed. We seemed to be the last patrons of the day and they sent the young man who took our order to the local grocery to purchase the makings of our salad. We heard the cook telling him there was a huge difference in a cucumber and a zucchini. Very entertaining.

We came back to the park and did a drive-thru. Since all was still quiet I went to her camper to hang out. I happened to look up and notice that we were under attack by.... ladybugs. They were swarming all over the ceiling.

I came to the rescue with a water bottle and stepladder.

Look at my wonderful harvest! I have now been dubbed........ Lady Bugger. Not to be confused with Lady Booger..........


Actually, it should be Lady Debugger. Yes I will accept that as my new title. But.... if I am a Lady, is love of my life a Lord?

Gourds.......again?

I have been asked what I do with my gourds after they have cured. I tried to capture the witch I carved in this one, but it does not photograph well. Maybe if you squint while you look? Just kidding. I carved the hole in the back instead of the bottom, so the light doesnt shine quite the way I had intended. I will do it differently next time. Oh, and no candles, these gourds are very flamable.

This gourd in the picture below may or may not cure. It has an odd shape and it doesn't have a hollow sound when I thump it. It has a "heavy" feel to it, even though it is a lot smaller than the others.

I like this tall one, I think I will try to paint an ethnic doll when it is dry. Very exotic........

I like this trio of ........ snowmen...... the three bears? Don't know yet, I just like them, they have character.

This years harvest is light, only 12. But that is pretty good considering these plants were all volunteers from seeds falling on the ground from two years ago. I tried planting last year, but the early rains wiped them out. Since this spring was also rainy I decided to skip the planting. Nice surprise.

Great Stuff...........

I went outside to clear my head and ........ mop the bathrooms. The air was crisp and I made short work of the restrooms and went for a little stroll through my fast fading gardens. They needed work, so I grabbed my clippers and got started removing all the dead heads and gathering seed for next year. I made great headway and started pulling dead vines down and lots and lots of shriveled sunflower heads.

Just look what I found hiding among all the dead branches. The sun has been absent here for so long........ in more ways than one. I cut it and put it in a vase so that it could cheer me up.

Back to my title........ We have an area in the pump room where all the electrical boxes enter the building. Love of my life added something at some point in time and I could actually see daylight coming in.... I thought it should be fixed, you know. Rain, cold air, mosquitoes, flies, rodents can enter the building. I left the repair work up to him. I can no longer see daylight in that particular area. This is good, right?

I found this can on his workbench. Clearly the man does not know how to use this product. This is not the first time he has used it, either. I have tried to explain to him that the product continues to expand long after you apply it.

Last time he used it to "seal" around the back door. He used so much that it actually popped the trim off. I am afraid to go outside and look at the building....... he applied it outside. I guess I should just be happy I no longer see daylight. Still, I hope the siding remains on the building. Less is more, less is more. Perhaps he should chant this as he applies it...........