Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween


Halloween was originally a Celtic holiday celebrated on October 31.

Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.

Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.

There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, the color of a pumpkin.

According to folklore, the jack-o-lantern got his name from a man named Jack.

Turnips and beets served as the original jack-o-lanterns. Jack o lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.

Mexico celebrates 'The Day of the Dead' instead of Halloween.

Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings!

Pumpkins originated in Central America.

When Europeans arrived in the New World, they found pumpkins plentiful and used in cooking by Native Americans. They took seeds back to Europe where they quickly became popular.

Growing big pumpkins is a big time hobby. Top prize money for the biggest giant pumpkin is as much as $25,000 dollars at fall festivals.

A pumpkin is a berry in the cucurbitaceae family, which also includes melons, cucumbers, squash and gourds. All these plants are native to the Americas.

Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first. People spend as much as over $2.5 billion during Halloween on candies, costumes, decorations and parties.

Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States. Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers .

It is believed that the Irish began the tradition of Trick or Treating. In preparation for All Hallow's Eve, Irish townsfolk would visit neighbors and ask for contributions of food for a feast in the town.

The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.

Black cats were once believed to be witch's familiars who protected their powers.

Some people believe that if you see a spider on Halloween, it is the spirit of a loved one watching over you.
The North American common brown bat has the longest life-span of any mammal it's size -- about 32 years!

The movie "Halloween" was filmed in only 21 days in 1978 on a very limited budget. The movie was shot during the spring and used fake autumn leaves. Also, while the film is set in Illinois, all the cars have California license plates.

The tradition of bobbing for apples came from the Romans.

According to superstition, if you stare into a mirror at midnight on Halloween, you will see your future spouse.

According to the National Retail Federation's Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, the most popular Halloween costume in 2004 was Spiderman, with 2.15 million children dressing as their favorite superhero. Other popular costumes included princesses (1.8 million children), witches (1.3 million) and vampires (899,000).

The world's record for biggest pumpkin is currently held by a gigantic gourd weighing a whopping 1,385 pounds!

Vampire bats really do exist, but they are not from Transylvania. They live in Central and South America and feed on the blood of cattle, horses and birds.

Samhainophobia is an intense fear of Halloween.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Some Things That Are Bouncing Around In My Head

When I see gas as cheep as it's getting I have an almost uncontrollable urge to stop...even if I don't need gas.

If a man and a woman reach a door at the same time...is it unreasonable for the woman to expect that the man will get the door?

Where the heck did all my time go?

I really hate coaching this time of year. It's cold in the launch and really I'm just done.

I have cool friends. If I could get all of them in one place for a gathering....wow.

I LOVE my dogs. It's hard watching them slow down. They are healthy and happy but I am beginning to feel pangs of longing for a puppy.

I could finish my 100 things but I'd be adding things just to fill it out...not things I actually want to do.

My feet are cold.

Yeah...that's about it.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Two Posts In One

I went out to the lake this afternoon to do a quick boat repair and look what I found


Maggie has a thing about squirrels...this one was trapped on the pole for a good 20 minutes while I laughed and took pictures. Then I made her come in and the poor guy was free to go.





June Would Have Loved This

Team June gathered this weekend in Windsor, Missouri.
It was an unbelievably perfect fall weekend on the Katy Trail.
There was a lot of remembering.
And eating.










Thursday, October 23, 2008

Sunday, October 19, 2008

And The Winner Is...

Yep...we did some serious winning this weekend at the Lenexa Chili Challenge.
This was our 5th year of competing and persistence pays!
We won Homestyle Chili with my brother in law's rockin chili.
We finished 8th in Homestyle with my firehouse chili.
(there were 150 Homestyle entries)
We won the Salsa division with my salsa.
We were third in Salsa with Austin's salsa fixn's.
(60 salsa entries)
We were robbed in wings....Steve finished third last year and his wings were awesome.
And we entered the CASI division for the first time this year. We'll keep working on our CASI chili. (CASI is chili with no filler...just meat and sauce)
Giving my Homestyle chili a stir.
Steve and Kenny discussing the finer points of chili...
Our Halloween themed booth.
Dave and Riley came to cheer on the team on Saturday.
Here's the whole gang.
With our bling.
All hands working.
Working on the salsa.
I'm getting some tips from the head chili chef.
My favorite guys!
The winners!



Saturday, October 11, 2008

Apparently I'm Taking A Blogging Break

I didn't realize it but actually I think that is what has happened.

Things are busy and I don't seem to be able to carve out the creative moments. I'm doing a lot of fun things and it's been a great fall.

October is very busy. I'll be popping in now and then to share some important thought.

So...see you then.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

VIP Debate

How many times do you think she's gonna say "Darn right"?

It could almost be a drinking game.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Still Here

Yep...still here.

Still busy.

Stay tuned.