Bob has a friend!

The B.Y.O.B. Project (build your own bob) has born it's first fruits.

Winkleson out of Alberta Canada sends his regaurds with "Bone-Apart". Who, looks like he may have had a few too many at the party.

From bob

Great job, Winkleson!

It's great to see Bob inspiring others. If you have a friend of Bob you want shown on here, please send me an email, and we'll add it to the list.

Things you see in a graveyard...

I've been watching for Repo: The Genetic Opera to come into theaters here since I heard about it years ago.

I had checked earlier in the year, and saw no mention of a DVD, and more theater opening schedules up with nothing new in Utah to report.

So, whilst at the video rental store last weekend, I was shocked when I saw Repo on the shelves, and immediately grabbed it.

I watched it 5 times during the rental period, and was very reluctant to take it back. It IS a Rock Opera. Emphasis on the opera. As such, it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. However, you owe it to yourselve to at least give it a view once, as it is the most unique thing I've seen out of Hollywood in years. Perhaps ever.

Jack 2.0

I'm making a Jack 2.0 sculpt. And, it's coming along nicely. Taking some lessons from Bob.

From Christmas

Now, you might be wondering why bother with Jack 2.0 when I just got done saying we're likely going Gremlins next year. All I can say right now is all will be made clear in time.

And, the finalists are...

Those of you who were with us through the Christmas conversion last year, know that the Christmas Kitchen Calamity is soon on it's way. Last year, in place of some of the cookies, we tried our hand at some candies for the first time with some English toffee and peanut brittle. With some mixed results.

But, it was a lot of fun, and I've decided I want to try a couple new recipe's from the treasure trove again this year. The finalists up for consideration are:

English Toffee: Yes, I tried it last year. I never got it RIGHT, though, and there's 3 OTHER recipes for it as well. One markedly different...

Ginger Bread: Come on, nothing says the holidays like ginger bread, right?

Taffy: I have a homemade taffy recipe here! Oh, how I love Taffy...But, I'm tempted to just buy me some Softi Kaubonbons instead.

Fudge: Memories of making fudge a few times as a child. I have easily a half-dozen recipes in the trove. Or, I could ask mom for hers...

Spudnuts: HOMEMADE SPUDNUTS!!!! I drool just thinking about it.

"Vanilla Pretzels": This thing reads a lot like German Stollen recipes. mmmmm....stollen....

"Soft Cookies": Odd recipe from Evelyn...whose recipes I've come to love. Sour cream, and NO instructions...can I revive this recipe?

And, on the not so sweet side:

"Best Hamburgers in the World": A singularly peculiar hamburger recipe that has change my mind on how to make burgers, and I haven't even attempted it yet. Is this the year to put it all together?

"Sausage Creole": I'm a sucker for Creole cooking, plain and simple. A joy to find this thing.

Assessing the situation.

So, Christmas countdown has begun. And, first order of business is assessing the situation.

So. Lights for the roof are toast. Zero is in need of some cosmetic repair. And Jack...

Well, Jack had issues last year to begin with.

And, the last minute repairs to Jack after he fell and broke last year were tempermental at best. The hands did not hold up as well as hoped, and the head is still showing some signs of wear.

In addition, his annual storage fiascos have left him minus legs and arms needing another repair job.

I'm considering scrapping Jack all together after this year, as he's just too difficult to store with our current storage situation. Besides, a host of Gremlins in the yard sounds like a lot of fun...

But, for now. On with the repairs...

Product Review - Floralyte Submersible LED

I needed a means to light all our pumpkins on stakes. One without wires, yet one bright enough to be seen over the lighting we were to have in place.

Enter the Floralyte LEDs.

We bought a dozen red, and a dozen white.

First of all, the good:

These things are BRIGHT! Especially the white. Easily like having a little maglight. Quite impressive for such a little package.

They did their job admirably.

From Halloween buildup 09

However, some things I did not like:

The on/off is a matter of screwing and unscrewing the base. And, it's quite touchy. I had difficulty in getting them OFF, unless completely seperated. Others I had difficulty getting them to light. Of the 24, I had to do some creative repair on one due to bouncing around seperated bending a contact.

I have not tested the water-tightness of the things, but it looks dubious at best. I'm sure MOST of them would light and be submersible fine. I'm doubtfull ALL of them would.

Still, for our use here, I'ld highly reccomend the floralyte. For submersible operations, I'ld be sure to buy a couple extra.

And, you might have noticed, we've begun the Christmas conversion for the next months. Fret not, your regularly scheduled Halloween stuff will be back swiftly.

2009...

Another one down.

The camera didn't handle the dark quite as well as we had hoped. But, that was just one other thing in a list of little things to go wrong that day.