Catching Up & an Independent HodgePodge

Yes - this was me!  But then I turned right around and am stressed because there's so much I want to do and need to get done and there's just not enough October! 

We took the grandkids to this event downtown called "Nightmare on Auburn Rd" (terrifying sounding, isn't it?) The road was closed and there were vendors with tents in the middle of the road, and a bounce house and a DJ, then live music.  It was pretty fun.  Trick or Treating was over at 4pm and you could tell that it was slowly turning into an adult thing, which was fine - the kids were ready to go home. 

Last weekend we went to a local-ish (about 45 minutes away) MetroPark to do their "Great Skeleton Scavenger Hunt".  Saturday was a beautiful day, so it was perfect to be out walking the trails.  

I made a full post over on my other blog but basically, we had to find 10 skeletons and write down what they were doing.  Then when we turned in our form, we got a little prize.  

This one has a camera around its neck and a "nature photography for dummies" book. 

And of course I took Chuck!

The prettiest skies are always seen from a parking lot! 

I'm behind the ball on getting my Halloween display set up.  I did get some more lights out there last night.  I was excited to find out Harbor Freight carries 2-foot extension cords, sometimes you just need a little bit more cord! - and some nice lightweight 10' ones, too.  However, I learned that at least the 10' ones glow in the black light.  

Looks like I need some more black spray paint, because that just isn't going to cut it! 

I have a half day of work tomorrow and the plan is to get the critter skeletons out.  They're currently staged on the patio table. 

So that's about all that's going on around here.  This Sunday is the granddaughter's 5th birthday.  I'm sure we'll do something fun for that.   

Moving on to this week's HodgePodge - I've been slacking muchly in this department. 

Linking up as usual with Joyce over at From This Side of The Pond.

1. Do you think you're driven more by curiosity or comfort? Explain. 

I'm thinking 50/50.  Sometimes it's just comforting to stay in the ol' rut and coast along, but then other times it's neat and interesting to try something new. 

2. What non-food item is in your refrigerator or freezer? 

Without looking, I can't think of anything unusual - other than ice packs for lunchboxes.  That's probably the one place in my house that has normal things!

3. Are you comfortable with silence? If you're home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise? Do you seek out times and places to be silent? What's your favorite place to find silence/be silent? 

While I'm awake - I'm ok with silence. I have tinnitus (thank you, US Navy ships!) so I'm never in complete silence. I'm currently at work and we have a window open and there's a truck (I work for a trucking company) sitting out there running and it doesn't bother me in the slightest.  But at bedtime, we usually have a noise maker on.  The Spouse likes to find "night noises" on YouTube so we go to sleep hearing frogs and crickets.  But I found I need a steady sound - one night he put one on that had a bullfrog in it, too and I got fixated on trying to figure out a pattern of the bullfrog's croaking.  So, I had him change it. 

I've mentioned this before - I love to explore cemeteries, so I enjoy the silence there. 

4. Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping...which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?

Carpentry with a little electrical.  I took woodshop in high school, and I enjoyed building stuff then.  And I've changed the socket in a lamp before, which I was super proud of, but that's about all I've done. 

I'm afraid I would build more stuff for my Halloween display!  I do have a full-sized coffin that I built back in 2009.  During October it's in the yard, and the rest of the year it's used for storage, so I guess I did an OK job on it! 

5. Do you lean more towards being too needy or too independent? Which do you find harder to deal with in others? 

For some reason I have a hard time being needy.  I feel like I HAVE to be independent.  I'm a big, tall-ish large person so it almost seems like people expect me to be able to do things.  While the Spawn, for example, is currently 23 weeks pregnant and I'd be surprised if she's hit 100 lbs yet.  She's a tiny thing and people don't expect her to move boxes or anything remotely strenuous.  

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

The squirrels around my house are getting bold!  I was in the backyard, using a jigsaw to cut out a couple new headstones for Halloween and 2 squirrels raced down the tree, chasing each other and they ran between my feet - while the saw was on!  I felt a tail swish around my ankle!  And the Spawn was sitting on a cushion in the front yard one day and a squirrel sneaked over and stole some fries from a McDonalds bag that was within her reach!