Folks down here do Halloween up big. Whole houses decorated to look like ancient ruins, graveyards in the front lawn. Slacker me; we had a picture of a pumpkin in the window and didn’t even carve a jack-o-lantern. I have a really good excuse, but I will spare you.
The kid went dressed as Darth Ranger. All in black, with a black cape. He wore his Red Ranger mask from his costume last year, with the back helmet of his Darth Vader Voice Changer mask. We went trick or treating in the neighborhood for about 45 minutes. When we got home, he dropped off his candy and we walked around the corner to his friend’s house, where a little party was going. Lots of good food! Not many people, but I think we were on the early side. We stayed a little longer than a half hour.
Before we went home, we went across the street to the haunted house. The garage was dark, with spooky music and strobe lights and sheets draped around to make it tent-like. A Scream character was sitting in a chair, holding the bowl of candy. “Do you think he’s going to jump and scream, Kid?” I asked. We crept closer. “YES I am!” the character yelled, jumping out a little bit at us. We each grabbed a piece of candy and ran. It was really fun.
DH took The Kid to a Trunk or Treat event at our church, where he played in a space walk with some friends and got MORE candy. When he got home, he was exhausted, sweaty and cranky. We let him wind down a bit, gave him a quick shower, and then he was off to bed. He was out cold in minutes.
How did my readers spend their Halloweens?
November is National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), the underachiever’s alternative to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Hat tip to Vegas Joe for the head’s up - I found out three days in last year and missed it.
So, I’m in. Who knows what I’m going to say every day for a whole month.
My sister-in-law wrote this obituary for my father-in-law, who died last Tuesday night. I thought it was very nice and decided to post it here.
Richard “Dee” Porter, 84, died on October 2, 2007. He was born July 11, 1923 in Harrisville, Utah, and served with his twin brother in the U.S. Army Air Forces in England during World War II.
He was an Eagle Scout and earned a doctorate in Wildlife Ecology from Texas A&M University, conducting dissertation research at Big Bend National Park. He taught at universities and served as a wildlife research biologist at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, MD, where he studied the effects of the pesticide DDT on falcon reproduction. He served as an expert witness for the DDT hearings, Washington DC (1970-71).
Porter was an accomplished wildlife photographer whose pictures of birds appeared in various publications. It is a tribute to his love of nature that his sons also became biologists.
He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He enjoyed family history, and traveled to Poland and Ellis Island, NY to learn about his family’s emigration.
He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Lois G. Porter of Gainesville; two sons, Sanford Porter (Gainesville) and Calvin Porter (Slidell, LA); and their children and grandchildren.
Funeral services will be Saturday, October 13 at 10 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3745 NW 16th Blvd., Gainesville, Fl.
Last Wednesday, the kid was up all night puking. Last night was my turn. I haven’t felt this crappy for a really really long time. I slept all morning. I drank some water around 8:00 a.m. and it came right back up 
I got up again just about 45 minutes ago. DD, RN says to try something with flavor - I have a pretty major headache, probably because I’m dehydrated.
Waaaaah.
College Student and I spoke briefly today, and he told me that The Onion now has videos: The Onion News Network. (I’m sure all y’all already knew this. I’m a clueless out-of-touch old person.) He specifically told me about this video. I decided to share it with y’all. Don’t stop it after the 2nd commercial - there’s another short bit.
Country Music Stars Challenge Al-Qaeda With Patriotic New Song “Bomb New York”
As Randy showed us in his post on our amorous insects, we got bugs here. (I know that’s an ungrammatical statement. It’s a quote from the realtor who helped us find our house.) Yesterday afternoon, I was apparently bitten by one. Later in the evening, it was painful and kind of itchy and I was short of breath a bit, so I took some Benedryl. When my breathing got better, I went to sleep.
In the morning, it seemed about the same; maybe a little more swollen. By lunchtime, the tennis-ball sized hard red spot was he size of a softball, so I went to an urgent care center. It’s infected. The primary diagnosis is Cellulitis, with a secondary diagnosis of “insect bite.”
The reason for the secondary diagnosis was so the MD could prescribe an EpiPen for me. This is the 2nd shortness of breath after an insect bite I’ve had in just the las few months, and my daughter the nurse was pretty emphatic that I needed to get an EpiPen, and that if I died of anaphylactic shock because I didn’t have one when I needed it, she was going to beat me up. So I got an EpiPen to keep the bugs from killing me. I got oral and topical antibiotics for the infection, and instructions to watch and make sure it didn’t get worse. I’m to apply warm compresses as often as possible and keep my leg elevated.
So far I’ve only had one dose of the antibiotic. The swelling has moved around to the front of my leg, and I have bruises from the pressure of the swelling on the delicate little veins in the back of my knee. I’m going to take a codeine for pain here in a few minutes and go to sleep. I’m hoping I’ll be able to keep working from my room tomorrow with my leg up. I may even move the cordless phone to the business phone outlet so I can take calls. I really can’t afford another day off.
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