Almost double digits!

Hidey-ho, friends & neighbors!

Have I just never noticed that people consider July 5 the beginning of Halloween season?  I sure saw a lot of memes & stuff on the socials saying so.  I don't remember seeing anything about it in the past! 

But that's OK.  It can be!

I also saw that Target released their H'ween stuff online yesterday. 

I always have to check out the skeletons, no matter what store I'm checking out. 

OMG

A PENGUIN!

I wish it was bigger than 10.5 inches, but that didn't stop me from ordering.  

More than one. 

3

The Spouse likes Penguins so that's my justification. 

I also got this guy.  

He's only 24 inches so he can be a friend for the rainbow one from last year 

(who is currently hanging off a planter at work)

I wish they had less-mean looking faces.  I might have to add eyebrows. 

Target also has otters!  

It's really cute, but I passed on it. 

Let's compare the chickens & goats from Target (seen below on the left) and Joann's (on the right)

Not gonna lie.  I like the chicken. 

The goat seems a bit wonky to me.  I'm not sure what it is. Maybe I need to see it in person. 

But then since I was on the Joann's site (for research purposes) I looked at their skeletons, too. 

Between their 40% off "sale" and another 25% online only coupon.....

Chuck is getting yet another new friend!  

This one is a 3' tall one.  I like his happy face!  I'll be going to pick him up after work today. 

I think I need intervention!

IT'S SUMMER !!!!

 I set this to post exactly at 20:51 UTC, which is 16:51 EST, because why not post exactly on the equinox?  

That being said....

This freaking heat wave plays hell on a chubby girl!  

I hate to be sweaty. 

There was a moment of panic last night when we had a storm blow thru and our power flickered a few times.  I sure don't want to be without my A/C!  

I saw our only casualty this morning.

I planted my lilac not long after we moved into this house (22? years ago!) and one year it almost got flattened from a wet heavy snow, so the Spouse trimmed it back to a tree for me and it's been like that since.  Guess it didn't like the dumping rain and the trunk snapped just below the ground level.  It was only about 5 feet tall so it'll be an easy clean up.  

I'm glad I haven't been at any cemeteries recently so I am certain this handprint on my car came from the smaller of the grandkids and not anyone ghostly.   I don't know if I want to know what was on her hand to make dust stick so well thru multiple rains!?

Chuck got a new horse for the funeral procession thru the cemetery this year thanks to a neighbor!  

Of course the grandkids are having a good time with it until then.

I've been reading a lot of "Code Orange" posts lately on various forms of social media.  There just so happens to be an At Home store, Joann's & Michael's all close together, also close to my work. 

I was kind of disappointed, but I have to remember that it's early!

At Home looked to be in the process of stocking their shelves. 

I snagged this really cute ghosty blowmold. It's lit by 2 C7 bulbs.  I'll have to look at it after dark to see how well it lights up.  It should be good with the white plastic. 

Are the ads on FB true?  Is Joann's closing?  Of course the store I went in is usually pretty dumpy anyway, but they had a lot of flattened boxes everywhere and a lot of empty shelves. I really don't like how they mark up their prices and then give you "sales" or "coupons" to bring it back to a somewhat reasonable price.  This little guy (who I'd seen online and thought was adorable) was a lot smaller than I expected and was marked $35!!!  Everything was already 40% off so I sucked it up and paid $20 for him, only because he is so stinking cute! 

My tangent....they have a groundbreaker skeleton similar to the one Party City came out with last year - marked $500!!  and their 8 foot skeleton with LED eyes was $400!  Hard pass. 

Then the Michael's was a bust.  There might have been a few fall things out, but nothing that grabbed my attention enough to even walk down the aisle.  I did see this countdown online, tho.  

This is really neat, but I wish they had skeletons instead of witches. Or even ghosts! 

I'll have to make a run to the stores closer to my house.  They're in a nicer town and usually have better selections. 

OMG - did you see this at Tractor Supply?  

That's just entirely too hilarious!  

I personally wouldn't pay that for a giant chicken but I really want to see someone with one!  

I've seen a TSC thread on HalloweenForum and people were wondering which size skeleton would fit on the chicken's back better!

🤣🤣🤣

Chuck, what are you looking at??

#CountdownToHalloween2023 This & that part 2

Random posts are kind of fun!

Chuck got a new friend! 

I'm not sure why Target felt the need to carry rainbow skeletons this year, but I'm digging it! 

The lighting is coming along nicely.

I really really like the orange rope lights in front of the picket fence!  

I've added some more since I took this, like an amber flood on the horse on the right side of the house.  I have a campfire that'll go between Marvin (the big guy in front) and the shack.  

We went to go check out Tillson St in Romeo with the grandkids & didn't even take any pics of the houses!   There will be another trip.

However, I took this for inspiration.  That would be handy to block the floods from the street better than a headstone does and also direct the light.  

Project #1 for 2024!

This was in the sidewalk on Tillson St!  

This skeleton initially was standing with his hands up in the air, like he threw or dropped his end of the coffin.  But then we had some wind and he began to lean.  

And lean.

and finally his feet came off the ground!

So here he's giving the grandkids flying lessons. 

and I still haven't fixed him!

So my manager sent this in a group text on Tuesday.

Wednesday, when it was calling for partly sunny & low 60s, I went into work and told her I think I was going to go home healthy that day.  And she was good with that!  I had painting I wanted to do and it's been so cool & damp lately, the thought of wasting such a nice day when we probably won't get that many more killed me!   I think she was surprised that I didn't turn around and walk right back out - but I stuck it out until almost 1pm since I had stuff I needed to get done. 

Orange pool noodles cut to size, scraped with scissors & hit with spray paint to make logs for my campfire.  I just have to string them on some orange lights and put them out in the cemetery.   I might even just dump them in a pile with the orange lights and work with that! 

This is what I've been wanting to do for a long time!  The shack was just a big brown box, so I got out the gray paint I used on the newest headstones and painted some areas of "plaster" and then found some more oops paint at Lowe's in a light brown that made for some perfect bricks!  

And there's some toddler sized handprints on the inside....

It's been 2 days since I last looked and what is that I see on 11/1???

A SNOWFLAKE!!!!

My Cow Quest

So it looks like a popular item for Halloween this year is the cow skeleton from Tractor Supply Co!  

I don't do TikTok so I screen-shotted my Google search to give credit

I may or may not have gasped when I saw it on IG.

Now let me tell you about my weekend. 

I visited a total of NINE Tractor Supply stores and only 2 had any Halloween decorations of any note out.  Apparently, SE Michigan just doesn't have much out yet.  

Friday after work.

Stop 1 - Rochester - endcap

 What's funny is that 6 other stores had the exact same endcap of stuff!!!

Saturday afternoon.

Stop 2 - Washington - endcap.  

I had hopes for this one, since it's the closest to the famous Tillson Street!  But nothing. 

Stop 3 - Oxford - endcap

Stop 4 - Ortonville - a glimmer of hope!  They had the banjo skeleton guys everywhere and a lot of stuff staged up on top of the aisles.  But the only skeletons I saw were rats, ducks & spiders.  I actually talked to a couple ladies there and I found out they'd be getting a shipment of stuff in Tuesday (yesterday).  But I wasn't the first person to be in there looking!

Stop 5 - Davison - endcap

Stop 6 - Lapeer.  I'd actually been in there Thursday night and they had some stuff actually out on the floor - including an empty shelf that looked like where the cows should be staged.  So I was hoping they'd have some more stuff - and they did!  A box of 6-5 foot skeletons. 

Stop 7 - Imlay City - endcap (giving credit to my sister - she actually had to go there)

Sunday morning. 

Stop 8 - New Haven - endcap

Stop 9 - Richmond - endcap.  We had a nice conversation with a gentleman there who said I was the second person asking that day - and we went in 1/2 hour after they opened!!  He said they've also been getting stuff in every week but those in particular hadn't come in yet.  He was telling me & the Spouse about his skeletons sitting around a "campfire" that sounded really cute. 

Sigh.

So I guess I'll just have to wait for a little bit.  

I'm going to have to put word out to the search & rescue team I volunteer for and have them keep an eye out, too.  A lot of them have farms and go to TSC more often than I am able to.

Off in a different direction now....

Michael's has skeleton geese!

I stopped in looking for nutcrackers, and saw them but it didn't sink right away what they were.  They're more of a yellow color and the wings up like that kind of help give it away what they are.  I wish they were a little bit bigger, they're about the same size as the ducks, but that's OK.  

I got 2 anyway.  

I am getting more picky about my nutcrackers - I only got these guys and not the witch or cat!  

Oh, and everything was 20% off.  

So anyhooo.  My quest will go on. 

299 Days!

 

SQUEEE!

We're below 300 days!  

How were your holidaze?  Our's were nice.  We all made it thru healthy & sane(ish).  

Now what has Chuck been up to? 

It's been a minute since I've posted - have to check the calendar....

December 2/3, we went to Frankenmuth with Mom and the sisters. 

Road Trip!

I didn't take Chuck into Bronner's with me, but I found something there for him!

This is actually for a small dog, but look how perfect this is???

I like that they're attached to each other so you can't lose them. 

Playing random musical instruments in Frankenmuth

The room behind the car was their little Halloween section.  

That's why there are bones on the curtain. 

Which I really like, btw. 

The lady who owned this store was so entertained by Chuck that she asked me to send her the pics I took of him in her front garden!

Mid-December we went for a horse drawn wagon ride thru a park with lots of Christmas lights.  

I shared my apple schnapps with him!

The Spouse and I

Buddy the Elf totally needs a skeleton under his arm!

We sat by the fire. 

And drank hot chocolate

and played with the grandson!

On Christmas Eve, we went to my sister's house and played a game with dice and this huge ball of plastic wrap.  You had to wear a oven mitt on your dominant hand and try to unwrap as much as you could until the person next to you rolled doubles.   There were scratch off tickets, small bottle of booze, small toys, candy, all sort of fun stuff in there. 

On Christmas Day afternoon, we went back to Frankenmuth, but this time to have dinner at Zehnders.  It's kind of a tradition ever since Dad passed away 12 years ago.  

We went out to play in the barn.  My sister wanted a pic of her and her critters so she can use them for Christmas cards next year. 

We had some good laughs in the process!

Ghost is a former racehorse that Sis got last December.  

He's such a handsome boy!

This pretty girl is Kisses, she's "my" horse for events with the search & rescue team that Sis and I both belong to.  

Ranger was not amused.  

He's blind so he couldn't figure out what we were putting on his head!

I took this pic the next day and sent it to Sis, telling her *my* horses stood still for me!

And we finally got the skeletons put back into the garage before it got really cold. 

They're not back hanging in their corner, but at least they're inside. 

So this is the extent of the decorating I do for Christmas.  

Blowmolds. 

But since the skeletons hadn't gotten put away yet....

Why not?

I highly doubt any of my neighbors were surprised.  

 

Once Christmas is over,  the Santas & crew get put away.

But the snowmen will stay out for a few more weeks. 

On New Year's Eve, we went to a place called Canterbury Village for the kids' NYE "mitten drop".  It's kinda awesome because they do the countdown at 6:30 pm, so I was home & in my pjs by 8!

Yay! It's Jack!

OMG!  I couldn't believe they had these guys there!

They had 4 of them all dressed festively!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Another pic of Mr. Ghost. 

He wasn't quite sure what to think of the beard!

This pic popped up in my FB memories from 10 years ago!

Love it.

We went to go see the lights in Rochester - all of the stores and restaurants along main street are covered in lights.  The Spawn peeked into the window of a chiropractor's office and this skeleton was looking back at her!

One last thing.... I saw someone post of a FB H'ween page that he'd gotten a bunch of skeletons on clearance from the Walmart website.  I searched but couldn't find them until he posted the link.  I saw it really early in the morning, so I managed to order 3 (at $14 each!!!)  nd apparently they were sold out not long after!  So 3 new friends!