Happy Halloween!

(Posted by Kyle)


Steph got the Halloween decorations up last Sunday while I was grouchily working.

The cat has fooled a couple of dogs and none of the squirrels.

Bloody hand prints courtesy of Wendy and Jeremy.

Hope you all have a fantastic Halloween!

Old Halloween Costumes

(Posted by Kyle)

I need to get some pictures of our Halloween decorations taken. But until then, enjoy these pictures from Halloweens past.

Last year we dressed up as witches, though I ended up looking more like Gandolf, I think.

Here's Steph and her sister from a ways back. (Note the stripey socks.)

Back in 1998, I was staying with my friend Jeff in Minneapolis. A bunch of us dressed up as the Addams family. That's me far left as Gomez. Jeff made a fantastic Uncle Fester.

This is the best costume I've ever pulled off (with considerable help from notsupergirl). I called it "Kyle or Kyla." I went out to the bar in this and in the first five minutes three women came up to me and squeezed my "boob." The ladies really like men dressed as ladies.

Happy Birthday, Adia!

(Posted by Kyle)

The reason we went to Seattle this weekend was because our friend John was throwing a birthday party for his dog, Adia, which he does every year. She turned 10. It was a fun party, with lots of people and dogs and a slide show featuring pictures of Adia from puppy to the present (backed musically by Sarah Mclachlan's song, "Adia," naturally). She received many presents of dog treats and stuffed animals (a bison, a squirrel, and a lobster, to name a few), and got to be the center of attention all night.

 

This allowed Willow to play the role of neglected little sister, so that every time Adia was presented with a gift, someone would invariably notice how 'left out' Willow was looking and give her scads of attention. Willow got into the spirit of things and engaged in some actual dog-like playfulness for several minutes.

But Adia was the star of the show, as you can tell from the bows:

John even makes her a special cake every year.

The humans had a pretty good time, too.

Duck Tale

(Posted by Kyle)


Not making this up: We went to Seattle this weekend (for a dog's birthday party, but that's another post). Our friend just happens to work with the woman who holds the Guinness world record for owning the most rubber ducks. This woman just happened to be having an open house on Saturday. Sometimes the stars align for the lucky blogger.

We easily spotted her house . . .

and her vehicle:

Once inside, we saw many, many kinds of rubber ducks.

Superhero ducks:

Halloween ducks:

Science fiction ducks:

Ugly ducks:

Unexplainable ducks:

A duck hospital for deflated ducks:

The hardest working duck in show business:

Duck-themed games and toys:

Here's the room where most of the ducks are displayed:

She has a couple of wall mounted display cases for the wee ones:

We were also treated to duck shaped cupcakes that had malted milk ball heads with candy corn beaks.

Some Faces Around the House

(Posted by Kyle)

Steph's stand up Dracula made it back to Portland with us this summer, riding unceremoniously under the hatchback with the rest of my junk. We've got him set up as our bathroom attendant right now, but he'll soon be moved to the front window as part of our Halloween display. He joins some other familiar and unfamiliar faces around the house.

The Wicked Witch of the West lives on top of our medicine cabinet, where she continually frightens the bejeezus out of this set of B movie extras.

This mannequin head holds my wrestling mask and winter hat, resulting in a "Luche Libre, Private Eye" kind of look.

He's recently been joined by Jack, the Repurpose Pumpkin, who holds all our unrecyclable junk until I can find something else to use it for. And, as you can tell by the helmet, he is also our bicycle safety spokes-pumpkin. ("Don't squash your melon!")

I bought this Spiderman back scratcher at the big neighborhood yard sale this summer. Only 25 cents.

Our kitchen soap dispenser came from Goodwill. We call her Ethyl Onesquirt.

Finally, here are the hand puppets that our friend Toni made for us. Some of you may recognize them from Facebook. On the left is Rosamund Bumblesome, and to the right is Panch Phoran.