Gone Feral In Idaho

Although, this looks a bit like Mardi Gras to me, but hey, I pilfered it from the tubes.  

I've started my first ghost of 5 for next year.  Hey the holidays are almost officially over, so its time! I'm just getting started.  I'm also weaning myself off using the tubing for ribs and using old newspaper instead. I had a ton of fun in the freezing garage with the heat gun bending the 1/2 PVC.  What a fun night!

Frankensteinia: The Frankenstein Blog: The Art of the Bride : Mike Bell It looks like I have another blog to follow.

Ah, the LED.  What a money saver, that is, if you have the cash up front.  I do not.  I currently use two strings of 3 par 38 cans because I started all this in 2009 with zero electrical know how.  For 2010, I attempted to make three flickering flame LED lanterns that turned out O.K.  Each run on a 9V battery that lasted through the several evenings that I had them lit.  You can see the 2010 lighting in my You Tube video here .  As you can see, I had a lot of colorful light that doesn't necessarily do justice to the level of detail I put into my props.  I'm sure most of the haunters out there are familiar with Skull and Bone  who has a great tutorial on the dynamics of lighting.  If you haven't seen Pumpkinrot's  masterpieces do yourself the favor.   The Davis Graveyard  is a great example of using very natural looking lighting.   My goal for 2011, in addition to adding at least 12 more props (ooh, that's one a...

This would be a great Halloween costume.

Random lights around the 'hood. Looks like somebody had a couple before hanging their lights.  I've had locals tell me that this place is owned by Val Kilmer.  I don't believe it.   You were all warned about gratuitous pictures of the dog.  Kyle however... That's my baby.  Merry Christmas Everybody!

This is simply the neatest gift of the season.  I finally met Emily from Your Apples are My Oranges who has been a blogger friend since this past spring when we met via the net and watched each other's gardens grow through our posts.  Let me tell you, she is one neat person.  I hope to have lots of time to become friends.  It felt like I'd known her for ages.  To top it all off, she brought me a Christmas present.  Check this out: She actually made this! I love the tag: And there's more: I found this bag inside.  Day of the dead skulls! I love the lining of the tote.  This was in the DOTD bag: These are seeds, check out that pumpkin. Yum!  I must say, this is in the top three presents I ever got.  Its up there with the nice watering can and bike "trunk" bag Kyle got me for a birthday, and a very old skirt from Indonesia with quite a story behind it I got years ago.  Wow, thanks so much Emily!

Emily and I have become blog friends since meeting via our garden blogs.  Her posts include her beautiful photography and talented writing.  She did the photog and art direction for this C.D. that I can't wait to get my hands on.  Click the photo for the link to her blog. Check it out to read the great story from the liner notes.  Photo courtesy of Emily Ryan.  The coolest thing is that we will hopefully meet in person this week.  I love the internet.  

These aren't the best, but still pretty good for a point and shoot. Now, the days get longer.

Happy Winter Solstice!  The shortest day of the year is upon us with a rare lunar eclipse.  Hopefully a few of my photos will come out.  Here is a stock photo in the meantime. What does this sign mean?  The spring growing season is on it's way and Halloween is a little bit closer.

It is that time of year again.  The seed catalogs are arriving in the mail!  And believe it or not, I am already planning on the next summer's gardens.  I tried growing the tomato Black Krim: Yes, a "black" tomato.  I wrote that I tried, because, well I mislabeled all of our tomato seedlings and my two plants didn't get put in the right spot resulting in about only two ripe tomatoes.  Let me tell you something.  I don't care for tomatoes.  I'd rather look at dead bodies than take a bite out of a whole tomato.  I love ketchup, salsa, spaghetti sauce, bruschetta, etc... but I've never been a fan of the BLT, I always order hamburgers without that pale mealy slice, and in last years, my only interest was in making sauces and bruschetta.  Let me tell you, those two Black Krims were really tasty.  They had a much richer flavor that needed no salt.  the dark flesh was enchanting.  This year I plan to grow three ki...

I have been following the updates on this site for quite a while.  The Chernobyl disaster has been a fascinating topic to me since I was a little kid.  Her site is a bit outdated as far as slickness goes, but the story remains enlightening.  Click the photo to reach her site.

This stuff doesn't happen every day.  I hope they start putting the evidence together to catch the guy.  Click the photo for the link to the story.  

Click the photo for a humorous story about a brave soul that actually planted one of these suckers.  

Why do I find thi s gross?  Click the photo for the link.  

This is a fashion magazine shoot photo depicting a funeral scene.  Click the photog for the link to the story on The daily Undertaker .

Neatorama turned me on to this link at The Daily Undertaker .  Click the photo for the story and more photos.  I think I have a new blog to follow.  

Click the photo to click the link for some rare video footage of me in "action".  I'm the ginger with the group behind the really nice Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue Unit that brought me up the hills.  My heart goes out to the family.  Today was a long day.  

Anyone interested in what happens after you die?  I see it all the time.  It is gross, but it is a part of being human even if you get embalmed.  I've learned that the aversion to dead bodies and decomposition are due to fear of the unknown.  Once you learn there is nothing to fear, the badly decomposed are no different from your kid pooping, your cat with a fur-ball, or my fave, the dog licking her butt.  -We have a 5 min rule, the dog licks her butt, 5 min until she gets to kiss us-  It is gross, but something you have to deal with.  If there is any interest in this subject I can post more. Seriously, for all the haunters out there-what are you emulating?  Why not deal with the reality.  It is a natural process.  Bwaa Haaa!

Click photo for the story. I grew up hearing stories about Cabrini Green, a lawless place, the ghetto.  I watched the demolition of some of the ghetto high rises in Chicago beginning in the late 90's.  This will be the final high rise to be demolished.  If anyone ever watched the movie Candyman, this is the place they portrayed.  Gang riddled, drug infested, welfare, and dismal futures were what most residents faced.  Where will they go?  Will they fare any better?  It is a sad ending to a sad beginning.  Poverty propagating poverty.   I remember waiting at the bus stop on the way home from work years ago, next to Cabrini.  I always brought a full pack of smokes and shared with the toughest dude to make sure someone had my white butt if things went south.  Years later, I had nightmares about  what could have happened.  I thought I was pretty tough back then.  I feel sorry for these folks, and ...

I got my copy of the first book in the trilogy a week or so before I took my first ever trip to Manhattan NY for a week long training in death investigation at the NY Medical Examiner's office July 2009. Click the photo for the website. Warning: Spoiler Alert! I read about a plane that had landed at JFK and it went dead two nights before my flight and instantly sell in love with the book.  We students got a full tour of the Manhattan morgue as I read about the "dead" from the ill fated flight were brought there.  I saw the old autopsy tables and the bug zappers on the walls in the autopsy room that is no bigger than our in Boise except that it has six stations in a row.  I imagined six doctors up to their elbows on six autopsies at once with the assistants sawing away.  It couldn't have better timing to read that book.  I enjoyed the story and was thoroughly entertained.  I've shared the book with two coworkers who also really enjoye...

Click the above image for a story about vampires associated with the black death.

Photo:  via zodiackiller.com On October 27, 1970 the Halloween card pictured here was sent by the 'Zodiac Killer' to Paul Avery, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. Pretty scary, huh?   Maybe during my downtime I will solve the ciphers;)

Click the upper image to check out Hauntcast, the lower one to vote.  You can vote every day.  To find a winner they take a tally of each days votes.  They are nominated for the categories of General and Best produced.  Go vote now!  Pretty please.

I'm on a roll.  These are some things I've been following for years.  This is real.  I find it amazing and so very interesting.  Wow, truly amazing the body looks like he went down a minute earlier. Here is the story

Neat story