Jacksonville

We just received our orders to Jacksonville. Hence the move will ensue and the pain and agony that goes with it. Starting to look for places in Jacksonville.. Ugh! Here we go!

Forgotten

Okay, so I forgot I had this page until now.. How funny! I haven't written because well.. I forgot.. Life got in the way.. I have been deployed and this year had an amazing Halloween.. People were saying it was there best ever... which made me happy..as you can see i'm not using punctuation or capitals for that matter.. I have that right don't i? I'm going to start writing more.. I seemed to have fun doing it.. :)

I'm back everyone..

~Shadow Maker~

Almost Halloween

I know I haven't written in a while, Allot to say. The yard is coming along great! Very Spooky! I've got the Electric chair up and running "sparky" looks great. The Crypt looks spooky with its red lights and cobwebs. There are grave stones everywhere and a coffin, not to mention the ghosts in the tree and in the cage. The stupid fence keeps falling, But Hey, it makes it look cool. I'm working on some gear for tomorrow night. Stay tuned.. :O)

~Shadow Maker~

Oh yeah, When I figure out how to add the video I'll show you the yard! :)

Tired

Today I worked on the yard (again) for Halloween. All this setting up for 1 night of awesome terror! I have the itch but I can't seem to scratch it, maybe I just need the 31st to hurry up and get here. With each passing day I become more and more excited about Halloween. I won't be scaring any little kids (ages 3-10) but the rest are fair game! I'm so tired right now I can't even spell. I think I'll turn in and finish and post pictures tomorrow.

Until next time remember

"You can give a kid candy and it will last them a day. Scare them once and it will last a lifetime!"

~Shadow Maker~

Halloween

Today is October 1st, 30 days until my favorite holiday. "Your favorite holiday?" Some might ask. Yes, I like Halloween better than Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, or any other holiday.

I love the Macabre and all the ghoulish things this holiday brings. I've read allot of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and of the supposed witches Sarah Good and Rebeca Nurse and their memorials dedicated to these women accused of being witches.

Living in Salem Ma. was an experience all in itself. The people, the culture, the history was none like any other. I could give you links to different sites and tell you stories of different events, but to actually see things first hand is the only way to really understand it.

I lived in Massachusetts my whole life until the military found it necessary to move me to Virgina. The History of Boston and of Salem is unmistakable. The cobble stone streets the quaint little shops and eateries, to the pastries you can buy at 3am. But I digress, Halloween becomes a rite of passage for some, a spiritual time, a cleansing of burdens long past. For me, I love to scare teenagers! (As he chuckles to himself.)

I could get into a whole post about the hanging of the witches and their trials, but that would be a totally different post. I'm writing about my favorite holiday.

I guess it became my favorite holiday when I was about 11. I remember that because I was walking with my friends (I think I was dressed as a cop) and we were walking around the grave yard to go to some houses. I said, "Lets cross through the grave yard" and my friends said "Are you crazy? It's Halloween, all the ghosts will come out and get you!" With that I had to climb the fence and run into the night. Of course my friends (I'll change their names so nobody will get offended) Rick, Bruce, Ron and Dave where standing outside of the fence. (I was the one with the flash light) Ron decided that he'd jump the fence and come find me. Rick, Bruce and Dave all sat, scared outside the fence. About 5 min later Ron found me sitting on top of a crypt. He said "Dude, what are you doing?" my reply was just this "Waiting for ghosts, I mean my grandfather, and grandmother, uncle and cousin are all buried here, you'd think at least one of them would want to talk to us on this hallowed night, Right?" He was speechless. I being "11 teen" and Ron actually being a teen said "Lets get out of here before something happens". I jumped down from the crypt and was walking off when all of a sudden we heard a sound. It came from within the crypt. I shown the light at it and as the light fell on the crypt the flashlight went dead. (It had brand new batteries) We decided to run, not walk out of the grave yard. I think we hopped that 7' fence without using our hands. Rick, Bruce and Dave were scared out of their wits as to why we were running. Ron told them we'd heard a noise come from inside the crypt.

As we were sitting outside the fence of the graveyard 3 teens came running up to us from inside the graveyard and said "Man, You guys were so scared! You should have gone in that crypt, we'd have scared the crap out of you." With that I vowed right then and there that I'd get all teenagers back. (This doesn't explain the batteries dying! That will be another post.)


It had been my life's work to put the fear back into Halloween. Not so much commercialized but to have fun with it. I'll hang a noose in my yard with a ghost in it and I'll have a people in stocks or in a rack, or some other torture devise. I'll have gravestones with actual names on it such as Rebeca Nurse, or Sarah Good. I want people to remember the witch trials of Salem Mass. not forget about the history.

I'm thinking about asking the city for Halloween if I'll be able to reconstruct an actual hanging (not with live people of course) but to show the significance of it all. To place a person on a tower and put a rope around their neck and hang them until there's no life left in them. Wow! Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. I think they should bring that back as one of the death penalties instead of this injection. But again I digress.

I love watching all these horror movies and on Oct 24Th Saw V will be released. I have to say, that this has been my favorite series in a long time. The Violence and thought that went into it? Wow, it's kinda scary that people can think of stuff like this. What's even more scary, there are people that will actually do this! Look at Hostel this movie creeps me out, thinking this could actually happen. Ahhhhh.....

Halloween, one of my all time favorite movies. I absolutely love the remake by Rob Zombie. OUTSTANDING If you get a chance watch the original (Halloween) then watch Rob Zombie's remake. WOW, Rob is awesome. I wish we could make more scary movies.

I think I've kinda got off topic here but I'll just end this post with-

"You can give a kid candy and it will last him the day. Scare him once and it will last a lifetime!"

~Shadow Maker~

A good Cup of Coffee

Life is like a box of chocolates right?

I think it's like a good cup of coffee. You get up in the morning and you grind your beans, the smell hits your in your nostrils as you fill the coffee maker with water. You put the ground beans in a filter and insert it in the coffee maker, then, turn it on. In just a couple of minutes you you'll be wafting the aroma of a heavenly beverage that is truly the nectar of the gods, known to us mortals as COFFEE!

The first sip of coffee makes you feel ALIVE and regenerated. It gives you the burst of energy that you need and makes you feel energetic. Allot of people like using different flavored cream in their coffee, I've done this in the past, but why mask the absolute awesomeness of the true flavor of COFFEE .

I want to try and grow my own beans and see how that goes?

Does anyone remember the Maxwell house Commercial with Juan on his mule saying "It's Good to the last Drop?" Am I dating myself?



We'll I like coffee a little better then Maxwell house, but I'll take what I can get. Actually, Coffee sounds good right about now!

Lots of people will pay good money for Coffee, Like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, etc. I'd rather grind my own but when I can't.. They are there aren't they! But, but we'll discuss that in another blog!

The Nectar of the Gods!

UMMMMMMM!

~Shadow Maker~

The Haunted Lamp

I was a kid when we had this lamp in my house. At first I thought that it was just something wrong with the wiring. Then as I got older I had it checked out, there was nothing wrong with it. The wiring was fine, the little key that turns on the light is fine. All aspects of this light are fine and in working order.

Now for the Haunting part of the light.

As I said, I was about 7 when we got this light and it was hanging in our kitchen. Every night about 6 or 7pm the light would shut off by itself. Nobody would be in the room and it would just shut off. As I grew the light started to turn off more frequently, So much so, that you couldn't do homework in the kitchen with that light on, (It was just a little light, not the main light nevertheless) you'd use it for extra light or ambiance. I was about 14 when it really effected me the most. I was sitting in the kitchen and the light not only shut off, but turned on 3 times in a row in a matter of 4 minutes time. Needless to say I was out of the kitchen. About 3 years later, I had come to visit my parents and the lamp turned on and off again, this time 7 or 8 times in several minutes. I asked my parents if this had kept accruing, to my surprise they said it happened very often.

I went into the military and my parents moved from that house in Massachusetts to a house in Las Vegas then to a house in New Mexico where my father passed away. My mom then came to live with us in Virgina and so did the lamp. Now it's been many years and thousands of miles since we used the lamp. So I plugged it in and guess what? It was on for approx. 30 min and off it went. But wait, it came on again, stayed on for a good 10 min then shut off. I think this thing may be haunted. At least it seems it to me.

What are you thoughts?

~Shadow Maker~