One More Halloween House, With Snow (& Enthusiasm)

 

A Few More Halloween Houses / 2023

 

I'd Like To Teach The World To Relax...

   What the world needs is a non-virulent pandemic. A benign pandemic if you will.

   This pandemic will not cause illness or misery, it will not result in a global shutdown of production, it will not decimate economies. 

   What this pandemic will do will cause every last person on the planet to be struck suddenly with the realization that everything and everyone is temporary, and that every single moment of the meager time we are allotted on this big rock hurtling through the cosmos should be devoted to enjoying ourselves as much as possible without harming or taking advantage of one another.

   And it will cause laughter. Not the insane, maniacal laughter that Hollywood has graciously wormed into our collective consciousness as being an indicator of diabolical evil, but the belly-busting, eye-watering laughter that comes from hearing the best joke ever.

   Happy laughter, if you will.

   Wouldn't it be great to be able to walk down any street in any town in any country on the face of this wonderful big blue marble and just see happy laughing people enjoying themselves and each other's company?

 

   Much, much better that walking down those same streets in fear of being attacked or assaulted in some way for looking or talking or thinking differently than someone else, eh?

Weather Dictates The Menu

The day was cold and foreboding

Not fit for spaghetti nor bologna and cheese 

    No, what this day called for was the old reliable

Warm duck's blood soup with a side of refried peas

The later to restore your faith in the cook

    Of such a delectable fit-for-a-king meal

It's not every chef that can create such a dish

Without having to insist on a dash of raw veal

The Cat Questions His Analyst's Conclusions

 

Raised To Charm And Groomed To Attract

 "Is this all a ruse," she asked him when he revealed the truth

The lack of faith in his sincerity as acidic as extra-dry vermouth

"For heaven's sake, no!" he reacted with disdain

Wondering why she even asked 

If she wasn't going to allow him to explain

The Clock Hater

To state Jeremy Eisenach really hated timekeeping

Would be akin to stating that space is vast

Anything that tracked time and chimed was Jeremy's hated foe

Good for nothing but causing worry and woe

Time was a construct he would scream and scream and scream

Designed to enslave the common man

If the creator had intended man to tick off his days incrementally

Then man would have been born with a calendar internally

Jeremy Eisenach regarded himself as always being on time

And anyone and everyone who ever regarded him as late

Guilty of having nothing to do and nowhere else to be 

Except to a place and time where they could wait impatiently

The only thing he figured

That required the use and means of measuring the lapse of time

Was cooking, and other time sensitive formulations

That would suffer disastrously from fractional fluctuations

Early Contender, Halloween House Of The Year 2023

 

The Unfunny Conversation

"Hey man, I got a great joke for you!"

"Save your breath, Bro, I've lost my sense of humor."

"What? How the hell can a person lose their sense of humor? - are you sure you just haven't seen or heard anything funny lately? Maybe you only think you've lost your sense of humor because you just haven't heard a great joke lately."

"Nah man, I've heard lots of great jokes lately - jokes that have made everyone around me hearing them too bust out laughing - but not me. I've truly lost my sense of humor."

"That's crazy, Dude, and really sad. Maybe you just need to watch a couple of comedies, like Top Secret or The Forty-Year Old Virgin. Those films will crack up a hanging Judge."

"Nope - watched both of those films within the last few weeks, and nothing. Not even a mirthful smirk. It's gone man, and I don't think it's ever coming back." 

"Dude, this is serious, we have to get you some help for this. Have you tried a Richard Pryor marathon?" Early stuff, like from '...Is It Something I Said' or maybe 'That Niggers Crazy'?"

"I'm telling you Bro, I've tried everything you can think over the last few months - watched Chaplin and Keaton's best shorts, Listened to all the early stuff from Winters, Newhart, Tomlin, Diller, Rivers, Cheech & Chong - hell, I even listened to Sandler's early stuff just to be sure. Nothing happened, man, nothing at all. It's like I've just been stripped of the ability to laugh."

"Well, damn, man, that is really kinda horrible. Wish there was some way I could help you out."

"Not that I know of, but just in case, what was the joke?"

"Well, a man goes before a judge and requests a change of name. The Judge asks the man his name, and the man replies, 'Lucifer Crapper."

"Oh, I see," says the Judge. "And what you like to change your name to?"

"The man replies, "Robert Crapper."

Hilarity ensued.

 

Loveland Vintage Video Game Convention 2023

   Not my usual cup o' tea, but as I was able to share in the company of a wonderful friend I had not seen in awhile, I went...and whaddaya know, I thoroughly enjoyed myself!

   I enjoyed myself thoroughly due to a couple of factors, not just because of the enjoyable company. For starters, while the con was primarily devoted to video games from the early 1970's through the modern day, there was also quite a bit of other fun stuff on display (and for sale), such as a car show and live music

                                                       These guys were good - real good.

Creative types abounded - artists, artists, everywhere

But mainly it was all about the video games, and video game related paraphernalia. 

There was also a lot of game playing going on - hundreds of games. It seemed to me that every video game available since the invention of video games was being played, by kids of all ages. 

There were quite a few arcade video games to play too, if the home console games were not your thing.

And even more traditional table top games.

Lots and lots and lots of games.

To state there was something for everybody would not be an exaggeration. 

The Temper Tantrum

   The little boy sitting in the shopping cart was screaming as he clutched a toy that he desperately wanted his Mother to get for him. Everybody in line was a bit discomfited, if not embarrassed, for the kid's Mother.

   Except for the woman standing directly in front of me. She made no pretense of covering up how annoyed she was by the tantrum the little boy was throwing. Turning to me, she said, "I could shut that brat up with three words. Stop. That. Now. And he would know that I meant there would be consequences if he didn't."

    The little boy's Mother looked forlornly at him, trying her best to stay in control, with a look about her that resounded in my memory - it was the look of a Mom who would have loved to buy her son a nice treat, but the family budget just couldn't be stretched to accommodate the purchase.

   I flinched inside looking at the two, simply because I was fairly certain that when I was a little boy out shopping with my Mom, hoping beyond hope that I would be the recipient of a toy I sorely desired, my Mom was also never in a position financially to indulge me.

   And also because I was pretty sure that I did exactly what the little boy sitting in the shopping cart just a few people ahead of me in the line was doing, screaming and crying in hopes his Mother would break down and buy him the toy just to get him to shut up.

   Didn't work for him, and didn't work for me, either.

What You See Is What He Wants You To Believe It To Be

He was the type who was not afraid to wear his heart 

On a billboard

Proclaiming and outwardly displaying

His deepest, darkest, innermost beliefs, attitudes, and philosophies 

Frankly, loudly, proudly

Without reservation or obfuscation or hypocrisy

Because, 

As he was always eager to explain

He was thus able to effectively and efficiently filter out

Everyone and anyone who didn't share his

Perceptions, interpretations, or judgements

No matter how right or wrong they might possibly be  

A stance he wholeheartedly believed

Was a public service

Slightly Less Than Exotic

Fickle is as fickle does

Said the Woodland Lucy to the Seed Bug

That was yesterday, time flies and there's no time to pause

Give me something now if you want my applause

Of course the Seed Bug was hurt by the words 

That the Woodland Lucy had spoken rather sharply

So with resolve the bug decided to retreat at least two-thirds

All the better to slip the snare that begirds

Turkeys In The Mist (Note: Mist To Be Added In Post-Production)

 

The Autumn Tree

 

All I Need Is This Piece Of Cardboard, A Pen, And A Cigarette

 

Two Sculptures At The Light Rail Stop On 124th

 

The New Peak View Park, Lakewood, Colorado

   Lakewood, Colorado has a new park, or rather, has finally been able to complete development of a park that's been in the works for about six years now.

   The park officially opened this past July 7th, but today was the first day I was able to drag my happy self the approximately 2.5 miles to check the place out.

   The 57.8 acres that constitute the park were purchased by the city of Lakewood (with a little help from Jefferson County Open Space) from the Taylor estate in 2018 for $6,811,465, which sounds high but was actually a bit of a bargain when you consider the entire 122 acre Taylor estate was up for sale in 2015 for $27.7 million.

   The $27.7 million price, it should be noted, did include an 11 bedroom, 9 bathroom, 12 fireplace, 19,373 square foot mansion, a couple of horse barns with a dressage ring, a boat dock on the reservoir, three servants cottages, tennis courts, a large outdoor pool, and a few other small outbuildings.

    However, since no one wanted to buy the whole estate, Vernon Taylor III, oldest scion of Vernon Taylor jr. and his wife Ann (who had purchased said estate in the 1950's) decided that dividing the property would be the way to go. 

   So he offered the mostly roly-poly hillside not-quite-60 acre parcel to the city of Lakewood for the aforementioned $6,811,465, and then put the mansion and the rest of the buildings, along with the remaining 64 acres, up for sale for $14 million. The truncated property failed to sale for that price, so it was then offered at absolute action in 2018. 

   The 64 acre property with the mansion was sold at that absolute auction on Aug 18th 2018 for $6,490,00, but the current appraised value is in the neighborhood of $7.8 million. 

   That's 64 acres of flat land, with a mansion, in beautiful Lakewood, Colorado, and with a new open space park virtually in the backyard, for only $7.8 million.

   Which would be a crazy bargain, because in todays real estate market a single acre of land in Lakewood goes for up to $500,000.

   But, hey, let me not waste time on all that pre-park development jibber-jabber! Let's take a look at what Lakewood has been able to do with the nearly 60 acres that the city purchased (again, with the help of Jefferson County Open Space) in 2018. 

            The parking lot (accessible from northbound Wadsworth or eastbound Morrison Road)

            This has got to be a great spot for sunrises and sunsets (east to the left, west to the right)

                 Looking east, with the meandering natural surface trail in left/center of the picture

                    There's a big mansion with riding stables and a nice pool behind this fence

                        This would be the other great spot for watching either a sunrise or sunset.

There is a bit more to be done - permanent bathrooms will be added in the near future, and the parking lot will be paved - and hopefully some trashcans will be placed near the benches. Walking through the park this afternoon I picked up a few discarded water bottles, a couple of empty adult beverage cans, and a few pieces of miscellaneous garbage that had to be carried up to the two refuse cans in the parking lot for disposal - not convenient, that.