Halloween

Pumpkin shaped cat

Pumpkins

Happy Halloween!

Like a Good Neighbor Green Bay is There

On Sunday afternoon after everyone finished up his or her homework we dug into the pumpkins . . . we literally dug in with both hands, spoons, and even an ice cream scooper.

Sue planned out her cat face pumpkin (like she does every year) while Christoph went with the nose-less smiley face. This was his first pumpkin carving experience.

 

There are many guts in a pumpkin. . .

 

. . . and seeds that we didn’t get around to roasting.

 

Here’s the ice cream scooper being put to good use. This is the first year in a long time that I designed and created a pumpkin!

 

My theme was “crazy-face” with a touch of “asymmetry” in the form of a Stephen Colbert arched eyebrow.

 

Here they are, all lit up and ready to scare little kids on Thursday night from sunset until the free candy runs out at or before 8pm.

 

Here’s a proud pumpkin carver and his opus #1

 

We will light the candles on Halloween night. I’ll be working but Sue and the kid will be here to hand out the sugar.

 

Then we watched the game.

We even made up some cheese dip in the crockpot and plugged it in with an extension cord right next to the couch to ensure that we all had a ready supply of molten cheese. Christoph borrowed my only Viking shirt while I wore a Minnesota shirt.  Sue wore something green.

Nigel did not take sides in the epic border battle that featured no defense and very little offense from the Vikings. The final score was 40 something to 31 but it was never close. The Packer punter never stepped on the field and the State Farm spokesman was on fire shooting insurance quotes with laser precision. Packer fans, just wait until he retires 10 years from now and then comes back to play first for the Jets and then for the Vikings. We’ll probably almost make it to the Superbowl when that happens. . .

Candy, Carla, Cats, Celsius, Cheese, China, Chip, Christmas, Christoph, Clay, Crucible

 

 

Yesterday, Sue and Christoph picked up pumpkins and candy at Target in preparation for Halloween.

I have no idea why they got three pumpkins since there are clearly only two pumpkin carvers here—the two younger people in the house. Later today some pumpkin carving may happen but tonight is reserved for the Packer – Viking game, the border battle, the Abominable Dome-men vs the Green Bay Cheese Heads.

I predict Vikings 31, Packers 27. Sue says Vikes 10, Pack 31 and Christoph who is perhaps the biggest Vikings fan around here says Vikes 27, Pack 24. The Star Tribune’s Chip Scoggins (great sports writer name) says Vikes 21, Pack 31.  Let’s remember that the Vikings whupped the Packers in the season finale last year (and never mind that the Packers beat the Vikings the next week in the playoffs). Stat of the day: in 2009 Jared Allen of the Vikings sacked Aaron Rodgers of the State Farm commercials 4.5 times.

Yesterday our lowly Golden Gophers of the U beat Nebraska for the first time since 1960. Nebraska was ranked #24 in the nation and the Gophers almost never win. Awesome. Friend Carla, a big Nebraska fan and alumni wore all black to church this morning.

Speaking of all black, here is Mr. Ravel ramping up for his holiday, Halloween. We will get at least 10 kiddie trick-or-treaters dressed like Ravel. Sue may put Ravel on a leash and take him outside to hand out candy.

Here’s the busy boy busy doing his busy work, I mean, homework. In his American Lit class he is reading The Crucible, by the Arthur Miller, a four act play set in the 1600s during the Salem Witch Trials. Christoph was complaining about it a bit so I said I’d read it, too. I have read it and here is my reaction: it might be good to see it on stage but just reading it was dreadful.

Christoph has been using our laptops since his went on the blink a few weeks ago. The Geek Squad said they couldn’t work on it since they don’t have access to German parts for this made-in-China for the German market American computer company based in Texas. Acer is the company.

Yesterday while I was at my trombone rehearsal Sue and C-Gru dug out all of the dead flowers and plants.  We’ve had several hard frosts this week and this morning on the way to church my car reported the temp was zero Celsius, aka 32 Fahrenheit. German people laugh about our use of Fahrenheit but let’s remember that Fahrenheit is a German word.

We haven’t raked any leaves yet and our boulevard tree hasn’t even turned to yellow yet. Ann next door sold her house to a first time buyer who might be in his 20s. She put an offer in on a townhouse in Burnsville.

Pete Z from Milwaukee is in town to cover the Packer game for channel 4 news in Milwaukee. We met him for some awesome Mexican food near his hotel in Bloomington. We pulled up to the hotel and saw the “Storm Team 4” news fan parked in the lot. Pete said he could drive it anywhere he wanted but he sticks out some. Tonight he’s staying at the Westin Hotel in Edina where the Packers team is staying. I asked him to ask Clay Mathews what kind of hair conditioner he uses.

Sue said she was going to carve her pumpkin into “an orange cat”. This squirrely orange cat apparently likes to gnaw on the pumpkin stem.

This photo might make the cut for our Christmas card.

Halloween Dance

Someone is going to a Halloween Dance tonight.  Is it Doug or Christoph?

Saturday Night / Three Way Lights

 

This stadium, called Heroes Stadium holds 11,000 people but it was probably less than half full for the game of the week between Lady Bird Johnson High and Theodore Roosevelt High. We rooted for the Johnson Jags as they put a beat down on the Roosevelt Rough Riders.

Apparently, seven high schools in the northeast San Antonio school district share two large stadiums for football.

Both schools had their bands in the stands and their cheerleaders on the sidelines.

The Roosevelt band did its halftime show even though Johnson was the home team.

Here is the new three-way light switch to control the hallway light from both the living room and the garage entryway. Now I’m going to figure out what the switch to the left of the TV controls. I suspect it controls the outside outlet . . . we’ll see. . .

Gutter, Bumper, Bowler, Burger

 

Here’s a WW II era Japanese midget submarine that was captured during the Pearl Harbor attack.

Work started yesterday on the two electrical projects that the Bergs wanted done to the Berg Estates of South Texas. Note the super long drill bit. Roger will bring a dry wall guy with him today at noon to patch the two required access holes and one inadvertent drill mishap hole. Then, Sue will toss a coat or two of paint on the patched areas to make them look like new. Christoph here proves that he can relax on any couch anywhere. He’s perusing a book from the library of Mike Berg called “Enola Gay: The Bombing of Hiroshima”.

We bowled with the Bergs and the girls! This was the first time hitting the lanes for the girls.

When it was Bella or the Twins’ turn to roll, the side bumpers would pop up to prevent gutter balls. At first they used the ramp device to aim and release the ball.

At first Christoph used an orange ball before switching to a pink ball. Note his southpaw delivery.

This sport was fun for everyone! Today I have a collection of sore bowling muscles because I bowl like I golf—hit/throw the ball as hard as I can.

The Twins shared a turn in the order with one rolling first and the other picking up the spare.

Bella liked the slippery bowling shoes.

Later in the game the girls would just push the ball instead of using the ramp. Bella would push her ball and then run back to sit in Sue’s lap with enough time to watch the ball slowly roll down the lane. Maddie may have crossed the foul line here.

Later, the B-W’s took a walk in the neighborhood keeping ever vigilant for rattle snakes. We had WHATABURGER for dinner before going to the high school football game. I’m hoping to visit Bill Miller today for lunch. . .

Hill Country Cats

 

The World War II – War in the Pacific Museum in Fredricksburg was really good and really big. We only saw two thirds of the collection. There were lavish details of many battles in the Pacific that many of us have not ever heard about in our studies of American history.

Christoph seemed to enjoy the museum and the one and a half hour drive through Texas Hill Country.

Sue read about Cranky Frank’s BBQ restaurant in Fredricksburg that is open from 11-3 daily “or until the meat runs out.” We got there about 1pm after the chicken had run out so we enjoyed brisket (marbled for the man and lean for the woman) and sausage. The side dishes are serve-yourself and all-you-can eat.

Good stuff

And then we came home so I could do my chores. Poor Doug.  Poor, poor Doug. I did some weed trimming and grass mowing and I even swept up when I was done!

Then we met up with a bunch of Bergs for some wrasslin’ and wranglin’ before having dinner at a Tex Mex restaurant ten miles north on 281.

 

Aunt Sue and the golden haired child.

BONUS MATERIAL (Blog editor’s cut)

It seemed to us that Mike Berg should be attempting to sell his book at this museum’s bookstore since the topic of his book fits in so well with the collection.

 

The girls were doing their impression of a herd of cats crawling around, clawing, hissing, and meowing.

 

Christoph enjoyed his host cousin’s feline performance.

Lauren’s impression of a cat consisted mostly of smiling very wide.

 

My cat impression looked more like Kiss’ Gene Simmons doing an impression of a cat.

Sandra’s restaurant near Beefy’s on the Green. Liz and I had the fish tacos. Christoph had a large amount of Tex Mex smothered in cheese.

(A couple of guys are installing some wires now while we’re eating breakfast. Photos to follow. . .)