“Yes, my dear child, monsters are real. I happen to have one hanging in my basement.”
Today is a lovely day, sunny and warm; however, it’s a teaser. Tomorrow will be in the 50’s and tomorrow night in the 40’s. I figure days and nights so cold this time of year are just promos getting us ready for what’s to come. In a few months, the 50’s will seem a heat wave.
I bought a zombie. He is crawling out of the hearth, and when he senses movement, his eyes turn red and he makes horrific noises. The first couple of days after his arrival I jumped when I noticed him out of the corner of my eye, but now he and I are on good terms. Yesterday he was joined by the mummy’s hand and a bat. The hand moves.
I have boxes of Halloween decorations which I’ll bring up this week to turn my house into a monster fest. My favorites are the rats, the disgusting rats, and they always have a prominent spot in my living room. When I was a little kid, it was witches and ghosts which haunted my Halloweens, but now it’s rats, giant crows and zombies.
I was never an easily scared kid mostly because I didn’t believe in monsters under the bed or ghosts, but strange noises in the dark of night gave me pause. I’d hear the wind blowing the leaves on a bush, and my imagination would take hold, and I’d conjured the man with the hook, the one my father told me about, the one who stayed with me for years. He could have been real. I knew ghosts weren’t, but a man with a hook for a hand could have been.
I remember calling out to the sound, “Hello, anyone there?” and I remember hoping with every fiber of my being that no one was there. I don’t know what I would have done if I ever got an answer. Besides, what would he say? “Yes, hello, I’m here. It’s me, the man with the hook, and I’m coming after you.”
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October 6, 2012 at 10:24 am
Cooler cloudy weather arrived last night as the Texas Rangers ended their playoff game by going down in flames to Baltimore.
When I was a kid I was not frightened by traditional Halloween monsters, but aliens from other worlds gave me nightmares. The movie version of ‘War of The Worlds’ from 1954 kept me awake and gave me bad dreams for years. I have never seen any of the newer versions because I can’t take a chance of the nightmares returning. Even the bad science fiction shows bothered me. One I will never watch was ‘Not of This Earth’.
Halloween is one of those holidays that are kept going by economic necessity. The candy companies and the costume industry keep this silly tradition of tricks or treats going. It’s not a Hallmark holiday like Valentine’s or Mother’s day which were perpetrated by the greeting card people. At least Halloween has some very obscure roots in the Catholic Church from All Saints Night and its money making appeal has spread to almost everyone. The fundamentalist Christians don’t celebrate Halloween but throw parties in their churches to give their kids a fun evening filled with a high dose of sugar and religion.
October 6, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Bob,
I saw that game and was horrified at all the garbage thrown on the field.
The only time I ever remember being scared was when I was watching The Wax Museum and the female start started to hit Vincent Price in the face and his face fell off: it had been made of wax. That scared the heck out of me, and I jumped.
Halloween is sheer fun and always was. We never had store bought costumes but were creative with stuff from the house. It was always fun to trick or treat, and I loved going to the haunted houses. Even today I have fun decorating the house with all sorts of monsters, no aliens. I don’t buy candy, but I give away stuff like pencils or pens or even fun magnets.
Valentine Day predates Hallmark by centuries.
October 6, 2012 at 3:27 pm
Yes, Valentine Day does predate Hallmark, but they have turned it into a billion dollar business that it doesn’t really deserve.
October 6, 2012 at 10:41 am
I’m frightened now cause I can’t sleep and then I saw this post. I’ll check under the bed one more time and try to sleep.
October 6, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Lori,
Why were you frightened in the first place? I suspect you might have dust under your bed and that’s about it! Watch our for crazed dust bunnies!!
October 6, 2012 at 10:57 am
The Boogie Man is still chasing me Kat. . The film that used to give me nightmares was, of all things, “Treasure Island”.
Israel hands climbing up the mast after Jim Hawkins. Horrible stuff when you’re a kid.
BTW Kat, really loved your “holiday snaps”. Life seems to travel at a much slower speed in Ghana.
October 6, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Petey,
I can see Treasure Island being a bit scary as there is Ben Gunn on the Island and the treachery of Long John who was scary to begin with.
Thank on the “snaps” as I really enjoyed taking them. Life crawls in Ghana!
October 6, 2012 at 11:27 am
I never was scared of the dark until my paternal grandfather told me not to go into the next (dark) room because something in there would get me (about age 5).
When I walked the 1+ miles down completely dark streets (no street lights down thataway) home after going to the closest movie theater as a teen, I was more than slightly distressed that some LARGE but silent dog with BIG TEETH was going to come up behind me and bite me. People weren’t so good about following leash laws in my home town of the 1959-1961 era. No boogey men frights from that era.
For Halloween in 1961, I rigged up a surplus piece of curved plexiglas to allow full view of a 15,000 volt neon sign transformer and attached 2.5 foot Jacob’s ladder on top of it (sitting in the flower bed just beside our wooden front porch…about 4-5 feet from the front door). When someone would knock on the door, I’d plug in the transformer and enjoy the sound of screams and running feet headed SOMEWHERE else as fast as they could go!
October 6, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Rick,
I think that’s awful. Grandparents should be the ones who comfort not make kids afraid.
Our streets were dark here too as the cape has few streetlights. I always listened for the sounds behind me, the footsteps. Never heard any but I still kept watch.
We didn’t have leash laws that far back. Dogs were free to roam and did, but most were not the teeth baring sort.
It’s fun to do the scaring!
October 6, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Verlander tonight, Mr Triple Crown ..should be great TV across America tonight
Mrs MDH and I will be watching the other Prince this afternoon but home in plenty of time for the Tigers
We will be leaving beautiful Oakland Township for Comerica at 10 tomorrow morning, think we are in the box next to the Ilytchs. Noon game is perfect
The playoffs start…GO GET EM TIGERS
October 6, 2012 at 6:03 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I am, for the duration, a Tigers fan!
Enjoy!!!
October 6, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Welcome aboard Katmah, I hope that it is fun
October 6, 2012 at 8:47 pm
I will root for the A’s for the duration because they are from the AL West, have the best record since the All Star break, they have the lowest salary in baseball and they are not the Yankees. Go A’s
October 6, 2012 at 1:43 pm
I’ve never been scared of ghosts but I was terrifed of the monster in our closet 🙂 🙂 🙂 I have no idea where that came from, most probably a loving and caring sibling 🙂 🙂 🙂 I still don’t like big deep closets 🙂
Now days I’m more afraid of running in to a moose in the dark when we’re out walking during the dark winter and they’re very real 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
October 6, 2012 at 6:04 pm
Christer,
I remember a short story where the kid was afraid of the monster in the closet. His father told him the whole idea was silly but the little boy insisted. So the end of the story, the monster came and took the boy!
The moose would do more damage than an imaginary monster for sure!
October 6, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Are you a Reason, a Season, or a Lifetime?
Pay attention to what you read. After you read this, you will know the
reason it was sent to you! Because people come into your life for a reason,
a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which one it is, you will know
what to do for each person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON. It is usually to meet a need
you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to
provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally,
or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend, and they are! They are there
for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrong doing on your
part, or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to
bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk
away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must
realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is
done. The prayer you sent up has been answered, and now it is time to move
on
When people come into your life for a SEASON it is because your turn has
come to share, grow, or learn. They bring you an experience of peace, or
make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They
usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But,
only for a season. .
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; things you must build
upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept
the lesson, love the person, and put what you have learned to use in all
other relation-ships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind
but friendship is clairvoyant. ……..a.k.a Morpfy.
October 6, 2012 at 6:06 pm
Thank you, morpfy. I know my friends are here for a lifetime: they have been with me so long.
October 6, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Hi Kat,
Here is cautionary tale. One evening, when my best friend’s granddaughter was about 3 years old, she handed me her Etch-a-sketch and asked me to draw her a story. I did. She laughed, erased it and asked for another. Ok. More laugher and erasure and please do another. Fine.
It’s 9PM. I have just about reached my little kid tolerance level and no motion is being made toward putting this little kid to bed. So, I drew a story about Mickey Mouse.
Here’s Mickey. Here’s Mickey’s bed. Here’s Mickey’s rug and alarm clock. More giggles. More erasure. Please draw Mickey again. Sure. Here’s Mickey. Here’s Mickey’s bed. Here’s Mickey’s alarm clock. Here’s the monster under Mickey’s bed.
Mickey has a monster under his bed?
Yeah. Everyone has a monster under the bed. When you dangle your feet over the edge, it grabs your ankles and tickles your feet until you laugh and laugh and laugh.
Off the child ran to check out the monster under her bed. She couldn’t find it, of course, and I told it never comes out from under the bed anyway so don’t worry. At this point her grandmother finally caught on to what was happening and said if she couldn’t get the kid to bed, the kid was going home with me.
Well, the kid did have some nightmares for awhile so, feeling guilty, I gave her a gargoyle named Gunther which I said was to protect her. She should put him where ever she thought he needed to be to kill off the monsters. She did and all was fine after that.
Many years later she and I were having a conversation about Gunther and the kid, now a teenager, could not remember the monster under the bed story at all. The nightmares came from an off hand remark I made about housecleaning and knocking down the dust kitties in the corners of my livingroom. She had envisioned giant, fuzzy balls with huge fangs hanging from the ceilings.
The moral of the story: housecleaning is detrimental to the psychic health of small children.
And adults. 😀
PS: monsters and ghosts never scared me. Bees and hornets, on the other hand, would have me running away, screaming and muppet flailing to beat the band.
Enjoy the evening.
October 6, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Hi Caryn,
I think you lasted far longer than I would have. I don’t know if I’d have come up with the monster under the bed story, but I’d have done something similar. The gargoyle was a great idea, but I can’t believe it didn’t scare you, they being so ugly and all.
I’m laughing here about the rabid dust kitties.
Were you bitten by a bee or a hornet? The only bug which had me moving away was a centipede in Ghana-it was one huge bug!
October 6, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Gunther is actually quite fluffy and cute for a gargoyle. He’s still around. His original owner is 20. Gunther has been handed down to all her siblings and now protects the youngest who is about 6. Gunther has had many interesting adventures in his life as Monster Slayer for Small Children. He should probably write a book.
I was afraid of bees and hornets long before I was ever stung by them. I’m no longer afraid of them.
I have been bitten by spiders quite a few times, with interesting results but they never frightened me. I have no idea why bees and hornets did.
Centipede would have me running, too. Nothing should have that many legs. 🙂
October 6, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Katmah, you will need MLB network tomorrow for our DETROIT TIGERS.
A super outing tonight by MVP Justin Verlander and solid relief. Three hitter by Justin, great stuff
Mrs MDH will be on hand to cheering on our team tomorrow GO GET EM TIGERS
October 6, 2012 at 9:31 pm
MDH,
I will have to follow the game on line, inning by inning! Ask Mrs. MDH to cheer just a bit more for me!