January 23, 2026

Adventures in (non)travel with Mini-Chuck

I was ~supposed~ to spend a long weekend in Arkansas, but the fates decreed otherwise.  
So I'm at home. 

Here's my adventures on Thursday. 

I was up and at work at 6am, stayed in the office until 10, then went home to "work" from home until 2.  My flight was scheduled to leave at 5:44pm at an airport 45 minutes away. 

First of all, since I was only going for a weekend, I was only taking a carry on bag.  Which meant Chuck would have taken up too much room.  So I ordered a pair of 16 inch skeletons from Amazon that were supposed to deliver Wednesday.  Weather delay!  I really thought I was going to have to make due with....
micro mini Chuck!
But as I got in the car to leave, 
I saw the mail truck on the other side of the street!  
So I went to get gas in the car and came back to get... 
the perfect travelling buddy!
Welcome to Flint Bishop International Airport!
We got there in plenty of time but we waited.
And waited. 

Flying out of Flint meant I had to change planes in Chicago before going on to Little Rock. 
Between mechanical issues and weather, there was a 3 hour delay and I was going to miss my connecting flight. 
So United was going to put me (and a bunch of other peoples) up in a hotel in Chicago and rebooked me on a different flight into Little Rock.  
So we waited some more. 
Starting to snow!
We also got a $15 food voucher for some dinner while waiting. 
Yes - the place was a ghost town!
Just a cool light sculpture on the store. 

I was in constant contact with the Spouse and he let me know about this before United did. 
AAARGH!
More snow. 
Oh look - a tiny little plane!!
You can see the guy in yellow out there guiding it in.
Heading down the jet way.
I'm 5'8" and my head almost touched the ceiling inside the plane - I can't imagine someone tall going in!
Speaking of, I'm so glad there were some empty rows because I originally was squished in next to a big guy.  Once I got the blessing from the flight attendant, I moved back a row so we both had 2 seats to our selves. 
Mini Chuck reading the safety card. 

Anyway we sat in the plane for a good hour & a half waiting for visibility to lift and for random maintenance snow sweepers to get un-stuck from the runway and to make sure there were enough people to do the de-icing. 
The plane had just landed and we boarded right away and there was already over an inch of snow on the wing. 
Getting fuel. 

So anyway.  That's a far as I got in my trip.  
Not long after this, they decided to cancel the flight. 

Since I'd been talking with the Spouse, we just decided that I was just going to cancel my trip and go home.  I feel fortunate that I was able to do that, since a lot of people were trying to get home somewhere else!
ugh.  NO.
I love the paper airplane art in the terminal!
So there was about 3+ inches of powdery snow already on my car when I got to the parking lot.  And it was super windy so drifts between the cars. 
In retrospect - I'm kind of glad I didn't have to fly anywhere in that little plane with the wind the way it was!  

I got home shortly after 3am.
I couldn't tell where the lanes were on I-75!

Maybe next year will be less stressful.....?


Also - even if I had made it to Hot Springs like planned...coming home Monday might have been another adventure!

January 10, 2026

Tote has been acquired!

I’ve been talking about and talking about getting one of those giant totes from Home Depot that they advertise as being able to hold a 12’ skeleton.
Well.... I finally got one!
(proof of delivery from the HD guy in his full-sized pickup)

 I almost didn’t do it, since I checked the measurements against the back end of my car and I really didn’t think it would fit.  Then I saw HD would deliver but I cringed at the $35 shipping fee.

I looked on Amazon and saw they had the same totes for $75!  HD has them for $99.  However, Amazon’s shipping was $125!!!!!  Eeek no. 

Suddenly the $35 didn’t seem so bad! And I had forgotten that I get the military discount, so that was $10 off, too. 
Chuck for scale.
Of course I had to throw the grandson in, too!
I was taking Christmas blowmolds to the backyard, waiting for him to get home from school just so I could do this!
Uh oh.  
The ribcage from DedBolt, the TSC horse, takes up a LOT of room!  
Once I got the enormous skull, neck, tail & legs in there.... 
the other horse & pony were NOT going to fit. 
Which is what I was hoping. 
The OG skeleton horse (ordered from HD in April 2017) and the pony (also from HD in 2017 but picked up in store for 1/2 price October 30) have been stored in the horse's cardboard box ever since then and it's getting pretty ratty. 
So, I had a chat with the Spouse & he gave me the go-ahead to get a second one! 
Ordered & delivered today!
(proof of delivery from a different HD guy in his full-sized pickup)

Fun fact - it took longer to find the allen wrenches in the garage for the TSC horse's base than to take all 3 equines apart! I struggled with one leg on the HD horse for a minute, but everything else came right apart. 
Still lots of room in there with ZipTie & DucTape!
I should have put them away as soon as it was delivered - since it started to snow later so they got put away snowy. 

Now....I still have the stack of human skeletons on the patio that need to get put away somewhere out of the weather.  We just had a couple oddly spring-like days but even if I hadn't been at work, it was raining.  Maybe they'll get put away before June!

January 04, 2026

300 Days!

And to celebrate - this is being ordered today!  

I've been taking about getting one of these big totes from Home Depot that can hold a 12 foot skeleton (hopefully it holds 2 horse and 1 pony skeleton!)  Finally going to do it!  I'm having it delivered, too.  At first I was aghast at $35 shipping, but then I found the same totes on Amazon for $75 but with $125 shipping!   Aw hell no.  I'll pay the $35.  I get a 10% military discount, too. 

Now we just need for the snow to melt off the skeletons out on the patio....

***************

I was looking thru some blog posts last week and I grabbed the links for some notable happenings.

10/26/15 Chuck made his first appearance.  I can't believe we missed celebrating such a momentous occasion!

7/23/17 Chuck was recognized as the official mascot of Maple Grove Cemetery and got his googly eyes

12/11/17 Chuck got his tux

8/15/2019  the farm animals began taking over.  Oh, if I'd only known what that one chicken & pig would lead to!


Until later....