October 20, 2025

#CountDownToHalloween2025 - Family Pumpkin Patch Trip


Just beacuse I thought this was funny.....
I'd just put all the squirrel skeletons out around the sign (since the real ones have already gotten hold of the pumpkins anyway....)
I watched this bold little bugger bop across the driveway and get himself a snack!


Anywhooo, Saturday was the granddaughter's 4th birthday and she wanted to go to the pumpkin patch.
Out of the approximately 723 million orchards in SE Michigan, we chose one that we used to go to many moons ago (think like 20 or so years) and got in trouble at (story to follow) so we quit going because we thought for use they had wanted posters with all our photos posted in their back room..... 
😆😆😆
So - this place used to have a haunted hayride thru their orchard.  So of course when we went to pick apples, we couldn't resist playing in & around their haunted hayride set up!  It was scattered thru the orchard.   I'm sure the workers noticed us but what really got their attention was my brother climbing up a telephone pole, trying to get onto the rope spiderweb strung above the trees / trail!  We were literally followed the rest of the day! 
Needless to say, it was many years before we went back.  The last time was 2 or 3 years ago because the orchard was up for sale so a few of us from the family went for one last visit. 

Luckily, another family bought the orchard and kept it going, instead of being grabbed up by developers.  Since it was just my immediate family and not the part that included my siblings, we felt safe in going back.
It's really changed a lot - it's a nice place with lots of trees & pumpkin patches, but they got rid of the petting farm! 
Me & the Spouse
Birthday girl & grandson
The Spawn & kids. 
The peach trees looked so pretty!


Since it's getting close - let's the check the weather!
Decent temps but of course 65% chance of rain!
That's Michigan for ya. 

October 18, 2025

Jacobsburg Cemetery, Norwalk Ohio

Welcome to Cemetery Saturday! 

I came across this little cemetery while driving thru Ohio with my Mom & sisters to go visit my/our brother.  Since I was driving, I made a point to turn around and go back to visit.  We did this a couple times 😆.  That being said - this was clearly a random visit, I am not from the area and know nothing beyond whatever quick research I've done. 
This was up on a little hill on a curve, so it would have been easy to miss. 

Find a Grave says there's 75 memorials - I didn't even make a dent in them!
This is one of the first stones to catch my attention. 
Ellen Marie Wonser
and sisters
Apr 7, 1909
Sept 11, 1917
I wasn't able to find anything about the sisters.
 Family Search also doesn't mention any siblings that passed around 1917, only one from 1913....
Mother
Betsey Jacobs
Died Sept 6, 1866
Aged 75 years
Celestia
her daughter
died Dec 14 1881
aged 57 years
Emily
wife of
Moses Ruggles
1838-1882
Moses Ruggles
Co G
137th Ohio Inf
Mar 21, 1835 - Feb 11, 1888
Aged 52
Corp Albert Dunn
Co B
166 Ohio Inf
June 9, 1839 - Feb 23, 1923
aged 83
David W. Soper
Co B
1975 Ohio Inf
1849 - Nov 18, 1876
aged 27

I saw a lot of the veteran stars had GAR on it - which caused me to dive into a rabbit hole of Google and therefore learned a lot. 

In a nutshell, The Grand Army of the Republic could be compared to today's VFW, except it was for Civil War Vets looking for camaraderie and advocacy and (unlike the VFW) political power.  It dissolved in 1956 when the last Civil War vet passed away. 
Hannah Rice
1871 - 1869
Mary Hostettler
Jan 29, 1854 (Switzerland)- Dec 17, 1938
aged 84
I wasn't able to find out the connection between these two.
Russell Rice
1796 - 1891
Alfred Hostettler
1890 - 1935

This is confusing!  Mary (above) is Alfred's mother. But how are they related to the Rice's???

Hannah's stone says Mother & Russell's says Father and I found a marriage record noted between a Russel Rice & Hannah Stewart on October 30, 1822 in Huron Country Ohio.  So even tho Find A Grave doesn't list them as spouses, they likely are. 
Frederick B Hyde
July 15, 1808 - Feb 25, 1852
aged 43
James Rice
Died
(yup, I'm sure he did!)
All other info is broken off. 
Looking closely at the picture in Find A Grave from September 2020, 
you can see that death year is probably somewhere in the 1850s since most of the burials are from the 1800s

Anyhoo, A very nice cemetery to visit, and well kept. 
I'd like to go back to visit when I have more time to look around. 

October 17, 2025

#CountdownToHalloween2025 - so many equines!


I swear stores need to stop coming out with new critter skeletons!

When I first saw Tractor Supply come out with a full sized horse, first I thought it was (and is!) weird looking.  And then I was aghast at the $600 price tag!  
That's just insanity. 

But I still kept looking at it. 

The price eventually dropped to $300.  Then $250.  Then $350 😧 and back to $250.  I was actually going to hold out to see if it ever dropped to $200 but it hasn't as of yet.  But that's OK. 
With 10% off for picking up in store and a 5% military discount and a birthday coupon.....
I clearly got one. 

I do have it give it 2 thumbs up for how easy it was to put together.  The legs are all clearly labelled (right front, etc).  I also like the metal frame attached to the feet that helps keep it sturdy.  And the 12" spikes that go thru the frame into the ground.  
I got the Home Depot horse back in 2017.  
It's 100% more realistic looking.
The new one is clearly a mare with it's ears back! 
I was noticing this morning that I'll have to move the entire "Wall o Horses" forward, since you can't see them from the driveway.  
Welcome to the Maple Grove family, "DedBolt"!

The HD horse is ZipTie
The HD pony is DucTape
The unicorn is ThumTak
The 2 little donkeys are Donkey See and Donkey Do
The mini horse is Bungee.  




 

October 15, 2025

#CountDownToHalloween2025 - a work in progress video


The good thing about videos is that I can look from the comfort of my bed and see what I need to fix yet!


 


October 08, 2025

#CountdownToHalloween2025 - a work in progress #2


This is just a small representation of the skeletons so far! 
OK, not skeletons but the updated car plot….sad to have added Smokey the GMC this year. 
For starting out as a joke, this section has really grown! 








 

October 06, 2025

#CountdownToHalloween2025 - Halloween Camp

Buckle up - this is a long one!

A wee bit of backstory - I volunteer on a search & rescue team.  Each year, another team hosts a "Halloween Camp" and people representing SAR teams from all over Michigan (and sometimes out of state) come for the weekend.   It's a combination of training, learning, networking and ridiculous fun.  This was my 5th year of attending and I will always make sure to keep my October weekends free until I hear when this is.  It was this past weekend. 

Each year is a different theme, and we'll get "briefed" via email and in person when we get there Saturday morning. 
This year was Twilight. 
I have seen the movies, but it was literally when each one came out in theaters and not since.  The Spawn has the books, but I haven't read them.  I bet they're less painful, tho.

Here's the initial emails....
Creature Cash is fake money that we earn during games & challenges & even finding it in random places around the camp.  The team with the most cash at the end of the weekend "wins".

Whenever Pat (the lady in charge) said the name of a team - we had to acknowledge.  When she said something about the Cullens, they had to hiss.  The Pack had to howl, and the Coven had to cackle, but none of us could cackle so it sounded more like a weird giggle - at least mine did! 

Pulling into the camp....
Chuck is always expected.  He even gets his own name tag. 
Pat and her 2 helpers were the Volturi and even the K9s were included. 
Tangent - Finn here is gorgeous!  
We never would have guessed, but she's part Irish Setter & part Boxer.
She's definitely got the boxer 'judging you' face. 

First event was team building - we had a design a family crest and come up with a backstory for it. 
I don't have pics, but we did an obstacle course - geared toward K9s, but it entertains Pat to no end that I take Chuck thru it.  I went last in my team, since I needed time to wrap Chuck and myself in TP like mummies (I volunteered since I thought it was easier to wrap up Chuck than a dog!).  I had to throw Chuck thru some tires that were up on end, then go over the top of them myself.  Then he walked across a bridge made with 2 2x8 boards end to end.  He weaved thru some cones.  Then he had to sit in a hula hoop for 5 seconds, ignoring the pieces of hot dog scattered all around it (Chuck is a pro at sit & stay!).  However he did NOT eat any hot dog pieces at the next hula hoop and he also did NOT get a ball out of the kiddie pool at the end. 

So even tho I had to throw Chuck thru the tires 3 times so Pat could get a picture, my team still won!
If you don't have a K9, you get to hide in the woods to be found by one! 
Playing Musical Hula Hoops.  I did NOT have to play this one!

Most people think of bloodhounds when they think of search dogs - but I personally only know of 1 in any of the teams I've interacted with.  There's a surprising number of border collies, labs, retrievers (both labrador and Chesapeake Bay varieties), Malinois, German Shepherds, and even a Doberman and a brown Dalmation (who wasn't there this time, but I've shared a cabin with him & his Mom several times)
So the story was... Renesmee was out playing in the cemetery and went missing, leaving her creepy white bunny behind.  Our mission for the weekend was to find her. 
Creepy bunny shown above - it would randomly start to move, too!
This was the Feeding Station.  One of the IV bags is real blood - the rest are fake. The dogs (at least the HRD / Human Remains Detection dogs anyway) had to find the real one. 

We also played Jeopardy with topics like search management, initial actions, K9 scent theory (which I know nothing about but is fascinating), first aid, maps, etc. 

I wish someone got pics, since this is hard to describe.  Each team had a set of 2x4 boards with ropes threaded thru holes drilled along them.  Each person had to stand with one foot on each board and hold onto a corresponding rope with each hand.  The front person basically called a cadence - left, right, left, right and we walked the boards a certain distance.  We learned that this is easier with fewer people, since my team only had 2 at that moment and the other team had 4 and we cruised!  Then we hopped off and had to search a small area in the woods for "ghosts & goblins" aka DumDum suckers with tissue paper tied around them.  Not easy in the woods with fallen leaves!

I stopped by the feeding wall after dark because my flashlight has a UV setting...
Fake blood
Real blood

That surprised me. 
Fun fact.  People who train HRD dogs are very creative when it comes to getting "source" for training.  One lady knows a midwife, so she can get placenta whenever she needs.  Someone else works in a dentist office, so they can get teeth and bloody gauze.  Some people are affiliated with law enforcement and can get items from accident scenes, but that requires paperwork.   

Moving on.  Once it gets dark, kids from the local high school (getting volunteer hours that are needed for graduation) are hidden out in the woods to be found by a K9.  Usually they're told what the scenario is and a story to tell to whoever finds them about what they had been doing out in the woods, and how many kids were with them and what they saw that caused them to scatter, etc.  I believe they had 7 kids out there this time. 

I was support for one of the ladies on my own SAR team.  She had brought 2 of her dogs with her and took her younger one, who has just recently been certified as a trailing dog - meaning she sniffs something belonging to a person and finds them (aka one of the high school kids).  Area search dogs range free and just look for a person, any person.  She wanted to see how Phoebe did out in the dark.  She did really good!  When we got to the building where we were told a werewolf H'ween prop was that made noise, I saw the extension cord going around the corner, so had her hang back so I'd set it off and not the dog.  We actually found our subject right there, too. 

The last event of the night is the haunted house / building search.  This is a group favorite and happens every year.  Last year, I set it up  (and here's the post about 2024 camp).  This year, 2 ladies that came to Michigan from North Carolina to learn about establishing their own team set it up and they did an awesome job!  Everyone said mine was really good, but it was nothing compared to what they came up with!  

It's a relay race of sorts.  Each team got a list of 12 items we had to find in this room.  It was FILLED with smoke and fake spider webs and strobe lights and red lasers.  Each team could only have 1 red light (it cut thru the strobes so we could see) and one person at a time went in with it.  We basically had to memorize the list since we couldn't take it in with us.  Thankfully it was almost a full moon so we could still see the list while waiting our turn (rules are very fluid in all events).  All the camps I've been to in the past have had 8 items on the list, but they had 12, and one was actually a puzzle.  We had to find a box.  Then find a key to open said box.  And another item on the list was in the box. 

We were also told to take gloves in.  When asked why, we were told we'd know it when we saw it.  Mildly concerning!  One of the items on our list was a "wolf eye".  We found a large plastic eyeball and were told that was correct.  Then we heard one of the NC girls tell one of the other teams that it wasn't!  We'd already found everything on our list, but someone had to go back in.  She also said something that I don't remember now but it made a lightbulb go off!  I'd already taken my gloves off, so I told a teammate that had her's on where I thought it might be.  There was a small-ish aquarium in there filled partway with some sort of goo with random items suspended in it.  But in the middle was a critter in a jar, I thought maybe that was the "wolf"!  Come to find out, it was a preserved fetal pig but the "wolf eye" was underneath of it!  

We actually had to keep a couple of the items that we found to use them Sunday!  
A silver bullet, holy water and a vial of blood
But... we never did anything with them.  The thought was to use the silver bullet to protect one person on the team from a werewolf, the holy water to protect one person from the vampires and we never did get a good reason for the vial of blood.....

There are a lot of things planned but not all of the games / challenges / events actually happen.  Sometimes you just run out of time.  It happens.  One must be flexible and open to all sorts of insanity at Halloween Camp! 
The crazy amount of smoke was getting to some people so they opened the door to let it out. 
This is just a cool pic!
Fuzzies on my pant leg showing up in UV light. 
Chuck on the werewolf. 
We were convinced that Renesmee didn't go missing - someone got rid of her on purpose, since she's just CREEPY!  

So on Sunday, we have to leave the camp by 8am and not return until 10am.  We went to breakfast in town.  When we were allowed back in, we treated what was going on as a drill.  We got a scenario, and were assigned teams and sectors and had to go search the camp!  We were looking for I think 6 high school kids this time, Renesmee, and Victoria's father (or grandfather?) who had been killed by wolves.  However the vampires were thought to be baiting the werewolves by hanging dead animals in trees (relevant later) in order to get rid of them .  

So all the area search and trailing dogs were sent out looking for kids.  I was assigned to be support for an HRD dog - my first time doing such a thing. 
Gilly is a Doberman with natural ears.  He's such a love bug! 
We rode in a 4 wheeler to our sector.  
He wasn't a fan but did good riding in the back. 
Random carved tree stump in the woods. 

So we went out to search our 10 acre sector.  Soon after, we saw this structure thru the trees, down a side trail.  We went to check it out.  It's a climbing wall 
with a very real, very smelly, dead possum hanging from it.

Did I mention the temperatures had been in the upper 80s for several days?  It was nasty. 
And a noose was nearby. 

I called it in on the radio and marked it on the GPS and off we went.  

After a while, Gilly started acting weird.  Not like he found scent, but something else.  He'd go a little ways, stop, and then stare off into the distance.  He'd go a little farther, stop & stare.  He actually made a live find!  One of the high school girls was sitting out there on a log.  Our sector slightly overlapped another dog's and we accidentally found her before they did.  Ooops!  I called in our find, and someone came to get her in the 4 wheeler.  Then we were told maybe we'd want to check out the wall a little more...? 

We talked about it and I wondered if the stench of the possum could be covering up something else...?
She thought that it was likely, so she said we should start at the wall and start spiraling out away from it, looking for clues.  
Gilly making his find!

It's truly amazing watching K9s when they're working!  

I'd gone behind the wall when we were first there and saw a fake skeleton leg hanging off the back part of the wall, but didn't think anything about it.  This time I looked closer and called over to the handler who was following Gilly - I asked if I should tell her when I find something or did she want to find it on her own?  
I'm not entirely certain what tissue was in the cage, probably don't want to know, but it was stinky! 

Another fun fact - a gross one.  After maggots are on a body, they eventually pupate / create a casing of sorts then come out as flies or whatever.  When they emerge, one of those tiny little leftover casings is actually enough for a K9 to detect.  

So anyway, to finish up the weekend,  we had a debriefing once all the kids were found and sent home.  We each got to talk about what we did/saw/screwed up during the searches and anything else we wanted to say.  Then we helped clean up since we don't want to tick off the owners of the camp!   I was sort of bummed that the 'cemetery" where Renesmee disappeared from was taken down before I got to check it out - oh, by the way - she was found on the lifeguard tower by the beach - Pat couldn't decide what kind of dog to have look for her - is she alive (half human) or dead (half vampire)?  So it was up to a human with eyes to find her.  

My green team ended up winning.  We got a basket with all sorts of Halloween goodies in it, like little toys and candy and dog biscuits, etc.  The day ends early to mid afternoon since it was so warm this weekend, I couldn't wait to get home and get in the shower!! 
Me & Sis1 waiting for the day's adventures to begin....

I'll be ready to go again next year!