Hallowe'en Decorating

Last year, Nebalee found the coolest Hallowe'en craft that we were unable to do, because finding pool noodles in Colorado in October is practically impossible. However, this year, I stumbled across some at the Dollar Store, and snatched up enough to make both of us the gothic candle craft that we couldn't make last year.

All it took was $20 in pool noodles, $5 in spray paint, $5 in black ceramic plates to act as bases for Nebalee's, and $83 solar tea lights. Yes, you read that right, eighty-three dollars! So much for a cheap craft, lol. The solar tea lights are worth it, because of the time saved in not having to turn on and off all of the tea lights if they were battery-operated. To me, it's worth it to not have to waste time remembering to go out and turn on twenty lights, then turn them off in the morning.

I knew I wanted two sets to put at the end of Whimsy' archway, and two sets to put into Maggie's gothic bird cages, plus two sets for Nebalee's house. The first thing I did when I got home was to cut them in staggered heights, then tape them together so I could glue them.

All taped and ready for gluing.

For a smart person, sometimes I'm not so smart. Do you know that hot glue and foam pool noodles don't play well together? If I'd stopped for three seconds and thought about it, I might have picked up some glue when I picked up the pool noodles. I finally figured out a way to make the hot glue and the foam pool noodles play nicely enough to stick together. Jay then added some wood glue (the only glue we had at the time) around the top, and let it run down so it would look like melting wax once painted.

Wood glue on foam takes forever to try, and I impatiently waited until it was "dry enough" to take outside and paint.

Once they were all painted and dried, I took them to their assigned spots. I wired the two for Whimsy to her arch, since I knew the winds would blow them away if I didn't. I mean, if the wind can blow down a whole outhouse, my foam gothic candles wouldn't stand a chance. With them in place, I again had to wait for the tea lights to be delivered. And then I had to wait until I had time to go add them to the candles.

The tea lights didn't fit down inside the hole of the pool noodles, so some creative carving was required, which was messy and time consuming, but so worth it!

The first night, I only had time
to carve holes in one set of candles.

But look at how amazing these are!

It took a week after the first tea lights were installed to get the rest installed. Digger and the Gremlin were over the night I was carving and installing the rest of the tea lights and I basically just ignored them in my quest to complete the project. I think they'll forgive me.

I love them in the gothic birdcages,
and they're protected from the wind.

I realized that my candelabra would go very nicely on the shelves I moved into Maggie, so I moved it from the potting bench over to the shelves. Those tapers are battery operated, so they only get turned on for "special occasions", i.e. when I feel like walking out and turning them on.

Last month, Jay had won a gold skull in a game, and he thought it would be great in Whimsy, if I added a tea light to it. He's right - it would look amazing in Whimsy, but once I moved the candelabra to the window shelf, I decided that the skull needed to go there, too. Since we live on an old farm, "treasures" resurface every spring, and I've been collecting them. This year's treasures included a lot of animal bones, so I made a temporary wreath of rib bones for the base of the skull.

I just love the way this all came together. Yes, Maggie is a bit lopsided, with the candelabra and skull in one window, but I still love it. There's still time, I might find something to go in the other window before Hallowe'en. This is honestly the first time I'm disappointed that we never have any trick or treaters.

This just makes me so happy. <grin>

Whimsy, the Whimsical ... Retirement Home?

L.E. added three pullets to her flock a month or so ago. The current hens are getting up there, almost to hen menopause, so she needed to bring in layers that would take over when the older ladies finally quit laying.

Meet Hi-ho Silver, Andarna*, and Princess Buttercup
Aug 15, 2025

Mary Kathryn, our oldest hen at almost 8 years old, wasn't having it, and immediately went after them. She was placed in time-out for a little bit that day, then allowed back in with the rest of the ladies.

As the pullets have grown, though, they've not forgotten her hostile welcome and she's slipped to the bottom of the pecking order. For the past few weeks L.E. has been taking her out each morning and putting her in her private suite, the chicken tractor by the strawberry/mint patch. Mary Kathryn has not complained about this one bit. She's always been a bit spoiled.

Her history is amazing.

She started her life with my niece, Autobot, who tamed her, and carried her around like a pet. When Autobot enlisted, she needed a good place for Mary Kathryn. At that point in time, Beel had become a crazy chicken lady (or, as he preferred, a chicken tender), so Mary Kathryn made the move up to the lodge with his girls. 

While at the lodge, she fought off and survived two hawk attacks. During a coyote attack, she was smart enough to fly up into a tree, and lived to tell the tale. When Mom and Beel evacuated during a big fire a few years ago, the flock came down to live with L.E.'s until they got the all clear to go home.

Then came the bobcat slaughter. Beel found Mary Kathryn huddled in the coop, surrounded by the evidence of the attack. By that time, Beel's heart had been broken enough by losing hens, and he asked L.E. if the old girl could retire down at our place. L.E., being the kind-hearted woman she is couldn't turn him down.

Her introduction to the existing flock didn't go well. They ganged up on her, and she was just too traumatized to fight back. Instead, she became L.E.'s best friend. She would walk up to L.E. and ask to be held and carried around, just like Autobot used to do when she was just a little chicken nugget. She was the only hen allowed to free range. But free ranging meant that she just followed L.E. around the yard.

Eventually, she managed to integrate, and remember she was a hen. For the past three years, she's done really well. Until the new pullets came and the drama started.

L.E. is leaving to visit her kids and grandkids in a few days, and so we were trying to figure out what to do with Mary Kathryn. I leave for work long before the hens wake up, and I didn't want to go pick her up out of her nesting box in the middle of (her) night. We discussed moving her private suite into the "cat barn", where the feral cats used to live, but as we were standing outside talking, I was looking at Whimsy. I asked L.E., "why don't we just move the chicken tractor into Whimsy?". Then I did a mental facepalm. Why move the chicken tractor into Whimsy, when I could just shut the bottom of the Dutch door and let her have the run of the place?

So, that's what we did. L.E. made her a nesting box out of a cat carrier, I moved out anything I didn't want chicken shit on, and we moved her in.

Mary Kathryn's new retirement home.

She dove right into the food, so we suspect the other
had been keeping her away from it.

Checking out her new digs.

She's kind of hard to see in the shadow,
but she was pretty happy in there.

By living in Whimsy, she's close enough to hear the other hens, and better protected from predators than she would have been in the dark cat barn at the edge of the property. She has Diana, the pomegranate, and a couple of potted plants to keep her company and give her something to scratch.

While Whimsy's not fully insulated, and her interior walls aren't complete, it should be warm enough in her nesting box during the cold nights. Diana is getting a frame covered in heavy duty plastic, so I'll be sure to leave space for Mary Kathryn to get in if she wants as well.

I can't tell you how much it tickles me to have Whimsy used in this way, and I hope Mary Kathryn loves living in there.

*Yesterday, Andarna went cock-a-doodle-doo, so now he's Tairn. 

Gardening Season is Wrapping Up

Now that fall's officially here, I thought I'd take some pictures of the garden and reflect on how this season went for me.

I took these pictures at dusk, so they're not as clear as they could be.

In the greenhouse, I have Diana the pomegranate who is doing well. She looks sad, but she's actually doing really, really well. I'm going to make a "cage" for her out of PVC pipe and heavy duty greenhouse plastic to help keep her happy during the winter. I'll also trim back her branches quite a bit to fit in the cage. She should have a strong, deep taproot by now, below the frost line, so other than the two weeks we're below zero, she should be just fine. For those two weeks, I'll hook up the heat lamp in an effort to keep her cage above 10 degrees.

I've allowed her to keep *one* fruit.

Outside of the greenhouse, I have Brandywine tomatoes in the left tomato box, and San Marzanos in the right. Moving away from the greenhouse, I have concord grapes, honeysuckle, and kiwi berry. The grapes fruited for the first time, and I can't tell you how excited I was about that! The kiwi berry grew like crazy this year, but no fruit, so I'm hoping we'll get some for next year. We planted the honeysuckle as a filler between the the grapes and kiwi berry.

In front of the arch, I have rosemary on the left,
and lavender on the right. Both are hanging in there, but not
thriving. Maybe next year they'll do better.

I was so thrilled with the grapes I got from Grandma and Grandpa Grape - it's been my goal for years to grow my own grapes. I thought the grapes were done for the year, but it looks like I'll get at least one more bunch! I don't know how common it is to get late grapes, but I'm not going to complain in the least.

The wind and summer storms have played havoc with my tomato plants. They're doing well, but it's been a challenge. I'll have to re-think how I support the tomatoes next year. The cages I had this year just weren't enough to keep the winds from blowing them all around. The other night, when I was looking for ripe San Marzanos to pick, I found this beautiful cat-faced orb weaver gracing my plant.

I learned a lot, but mostly, I learned the importance of deep watering. I was trying to water "just enough" in order to not be wasteful. However, I stunted my garden's growth doing that. My corn really took off once I borrowed a soaker hose from L.E. and started watering with that. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. The corn stalks grew to 9 feet tall, but the ears never developed any corn. There are skinny little ears all over, but no corn on the ears. Now I know.

The peas did really well in the pea/cucumber/corn patch, and the cucumbers also did really well. I think the peas would have done better if I'd started deep watering earlier. I borrowed the trellis that the peas and cucumbers climbed from L.E. Next year, I'll use our 'old' slow feed hay net as the trellis. I'll also plant the peas on the north side of the trellis so that when our stupid winds blow, it'll blow the peas into the trellis, not away from it.

The corn looks so impressive. Sadly, it's not. I'll be using it
as fall decoration instead of harvesting any corn.

I should have taken into consideration my hose length when I set up the pepper and no watermelon patch. My pocket hose doesn't reach, and so I had to spray from about five feet away, which disrupted the soil and the roots. My pepper plants didn't grow for anything, and I had to replace them once. Next year, I'll buy a longer hose and set up a soaker hose for this area. When I realized my peppers weren't going to do anything, my goal became "keep them alive the rest of the season", which worked out, and now they're coming on with some peppers. Better late than never, I guess.

That's my sunset bench under the no-watermelon arch.
I love sitting there in the evening.

The strawberries didn't do much this summer - I got one berry all season long - but I'm happy with the plants. I allowed them to send out runners all summer in hopes of filling the bed with plants. The mint has rebounded from the grasshoppers last year, and is now trying to escape the license plate border. I'll cut it back when I bed everything down with straw in a couple of weeks.

Tally, my grandturtle, has been
getting outdoor recess in the
strawberry/mint patch. She's
a master at hide and seek!

My "garden in a box" garden, made up of native flowers is doing really well. L.E. and I split a "box" since there were far too many plants for the little area I wanted to use. I planted them last fall, and did have to replace two of the plants, but the replacement plants are also doing well. Next year, they'll get minimal water, then the following year, I shouldn't have to water at all. I sort of followed the layout that Resource Central gave, but should have paid more attention so the taller plants went in the back. I didn't realize the penstemon would get so tall.

Starting at twelve o'clock and moving clockwise: yellow yarrow,
yellow columbine, purple coneflower, firecracker penstemon,
Rocky Mountain penstemon, purple columbine.

As a bonus, I had to include a picture from the sunset bench, under the no-watermelon arch. I often sit out there and do my Duolingo lessons in the evening. Once it gets cooler, I'll go back to sitting in Whimsy to do them.

Long Holiday Weekend, Part 3 (fin)

The primary reason for us to travel to Arizona was so Jay could attend an Indiana Fever game. Getting to hang out with Deejo's family was just a bonus. Like most sports enthusiasts, Jay's a rabid fan of Caitlin Clark, and bought tickets last December when they became available. It was a win-win situation - a long weekend hanging with my brother, and getting to go to a game.

Since it was an evening game, Jay and I had time to kill. Deejo and Mrs. Deejo had to return to work, which left us free for the day. Not to worry, Jay had plans for us! One of the toy stores that he has purchased collectibles from is only about thirty minutes from Deejo's place, so off we went to visit Retro Exchange. (Collectibles is what you call toys when you're using your adult money.) It's a gem that's kind of hidden in plain sight in a strip mall. In fact, despite using GPS and our eyeballs, we drove past it the first time and had to double back.

Very unassuming and easy to overlook.

I think I've mentioned that we basically live in a toy store at home, with all of Jay's collectibles. We have cabinets full of Star Wars collectibles. However, I can't completely blame Jay, because I have found some joy in finding John Wick, The Walking Dead, and Supernatural toys as well. Our house is an eight year-old boy's dream. I wasn't looking for anything in particular when we went to Retro Exchange, but was looking forward to just enjoying looking at all the toys from my childhood. It was amazing!

They carried more than Star Wars, but those are the ones I gravitated to, given who I've married. We spent a good bit of time wandering up and down the aisles a couple of times, seeing something new with each pass.

Connected to the toy store was a comic book store. I don't really do comics, never understood the draw, but between Jay and Monster, I'm becoming comic book curious. I was flipping through the bins, idly, just to waste time. I saw a table labeled "TV Show comics" and headed over there, thinking I could find some X-Files or something that was interesting. Boy, did I find something interesting! Supernatural comic books!

Guess part of my Feral Fifties now includes comic books.

I knew about them, and had casually looked whenever we went to Mile High Comics, but hadn't any luck finding them. There are a total of 24 comics, so I've got 18 more to hunt and find. I've already pre-ordered the first one of the new series coming out, so I guess this is a thing I'm now doing.

By the time we were finished at the toy store, it was already triple digits out, so we headed back to Deejo's to enjoy the air conditioning.

We were lucky enough to get to spend a few minutes with Deejo before we left to the game, since we likely wouldn't see him before our flight out the next day. He leaves for work about 4:30 a.m., and our flight wasn't until late morning.

I think the last time I was at a live basketball game was the Nuggets many years ago, when my kids were playing rec ball and they got invited to go play on the court before the game. That had to have been ... almost thirty years ago. I've never attended a WNBA game, and it was thrilling!

We were surrounded by other Fever fans, though definitely outnumbered by the home team fans. There was one player who caught my eye for both her defensive and offensive skills, number 10, Lexie Hull. While she's not super flashy, she's steady and hardworking, just the type of player that draws my interest. Even though the Fever lost, and Jay didn't get to see Caitlin play, we had a blast! I'm looking forward to more games. WNBA is in post-season play now, their season has just about wrapped up, but college ball is starting up, and those tickets tend to be more reasonably priced, so maybe we'll get to go to one.

We've been home from Arizona for a couple of weeks, but a surprise showed up for me the other day!

Jay ordered me my own Lexie Hull Fever jersey! Now we have to go to a game next season.

Long Holiday Weekend, Part 2

A couple of weeks before our trip out to see Deejo's family, I saw a cute reel on FB and sent it to Mrs. Deejo, thinking we could have a good time with her skull pans. She's always up for a baking adventure.

Look at how cute these are!

I bought everything we needed, and on Labor Day, we chose not to leave the house, instead opting for a movie day. Making the skull cakes was the perfect edible craft for a movie day.

We might have overfilled the molds a touch. No worry, we'll
just cut them flush with the pan.

Honestly? I would have eaten them just like this :)

We blended the cherry pie mix
so it would be slightly less chunky.

The white chocolate was trickier than
we'd anticipated - it kept running back
down the mold and pooling in the bottom.

To solve the problem, Mrs. Deejo brushed
on the white chocolate, and I slammed the 
heads in as quickly as possible.

We filled the tops of the skulls
with the "brains", then put the backs on
and covered them with more white chocolate.

After they were assembled, we popped them into the fridge for the white chocolate to harden, and went back to watch another movie.

Removing them from the molds was tricky. I'm not sure how
the lady in the video did it with metal pans.

Success? Maybe.

I'm not sure if this is really a Pintrest fail, or if it's a really good
"nailed it". They're definitely decrepit looking skulls.

BRAINS!!

The jaws made me giggle. The detail was astounding.

Despite them looking terrible, they were tasty and we enjoyed them. There was lots of laughter while making them, and even more laughter while trying to remove them from the molds with the help of Jay and Deejo.

Long Holiday Weekend, Part 1

Jay and I took a long weekend over Labor Day to go visit Deejo and family in Arizona. Last time we were there, we tried to go to Mel's Diner, the setting of the TV show "Alice", but it was closed. This time, our flight was getting in early enough that we could go have breakfast at the diner we remembered from our childhood.

Okay, to be honest, I really only remember "kiss my grits!" from childhood, and the fact that as a child I thought that was the funniest thing ever.

Deejo and family met us for breakfast, which was good. The menu had some scenes from the TV show sprinkled throughout, but I really wish they'd had a quick write-up about the show, how long it aired (1976-1982), etc. I love little histories like that when they're written into the menu. Also, non-Gen Xers don't know the show, so just saying that "Alice was filmed here" means nothing to them.

We really didn't have anything planned for the rest of the day, so after stuffing ourselves on diner food, we headed back to Deejo's to hang out. Jay and I are travelers, so to go vacation with next to nothing planned, was different. It felt good to not be going, going, going. 

I'd packed a couple of swimming suits and planned to sit in the pool and read. Deejo had warned me that it would be too hot, but I figured this Colorado girl could handle it. I could not. My swimming suits never got wet. I did plop my bare feet down into the pool after sun down a couple of times, but there was definitely no sitting in hot water while the sun pounded down on me while over 100*F.

That night, we decided to go to dinner at Oregano's, which is an Arizona-based restaurant chain. We have one in Fort Collins, but the portions are huge, so Jay and I very rarely go. Deejo's daughter sweetened the deal by telling us that they had bellini flights on special. Well, sign me and Mrs. Deejo up for that!

Not bad for $14

Just a few years ago, I could have, and would have, killed this flight of bellinis. However, Jay and I drink even less frequently than we go to eat at Oregano's. I managed to try each of them, and get down the equivalent of one. They were yummy, but I just couldn't do it.

The next day, we tried to escape the heat by driving north to Jerome. I've only ever been to Jerome one other time, several years ago, when Jay and I drove our Kia Soul down for a Soul Hamsters meet-up. I had really enjoyed our brief visit then, and looked forward to going again.

Y'all, I had serious deja vu when I stepped off the stone stairs leading down from the upper parking lot onto the street. Not because of our last visit, but I had an immediate sensation of being transported back to Blevio on Lake Como, Italy. I stepped onto the street and looked left, the retaining wall spanning the area, with the smallest amount of shoulder on the road, looked and felt just like the retaining wall that lead to our favorite market in Blevio. Even walking down the stairs, looking out over the street was familiar. I mentioned it to Jay, and he agreed. We even told Deejo and Mrs. Deejo that if we just followed the retaining wall a few yards, we'd end up at "our" market. I was so taken aback, that it didn't dawn on me to take a picture. It was a surreal moment.

Looking down over a very Tuscan-style hotel/resort (?).

When Jay and I had visited with the Soul Hamsters, we were there for a totally different reason, and thus only stayed in Jerome long enough to grab something to eat at the Haunted Hamburger before resuming our drive. With Deejo and Mrs. Deejo, we had time to just wander. I had enjoyed my brief visit to Jerome with the Soul Hamsters, but I fell in love with it this time around. It's quirky, witchy, haunted, and just plain fun!

The pictures of how they got this
truck into the "mall" were pretty incredible.

This bunny might be scarier than the
Rabbit of Caerbannog

Throw a coin to your sh*tter

I found my next craft for Maggie.

It's a good thing we only traveled with backpacks, because there were so many cute things that wanted to come home with us. I think we only covered about half of Jerome on this trip, so we'll be coming back (and with more luggage space to take things home!).