Nicole’s a witch and Danny’s a vampire.
Halloween
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Monthly Archives: October 1991
Ugly Pumpkins
Tonight we carved Danny and Nicole’s pumpkins. They each got their own pumpkin this year because the price was so low at Cub Foods. I told the kids to pick out ugly pumpkins. Danny go the most ugly pumpkin because it had bumps and warts all over it. Nicole’s was pretty ugly too because hers was smushed in. Danny’s had a lot of seeds that we scraped out and put into a paper bag for Kathy to cook. Then we carved open Nicole’s and found a surprise. It was full of white cotton (mold.) The kids thought that was great. Kathy didn’t think so and threw the whole bag of seeds away. The kids were disappointed that they could not have pumpkin seeds, but they certainly enjoyed having their own horribly ugly pumpkins that scared the cats away.
Danny wanted a mean pumpkin,
so we carved a frown in his. Nicole
wanted hers to have lots of teeth.
Teddy and the Braves
The Nicholas House with Teddy and the Braves.
Tomahawking Friends
The semi-bi-monthly-quarterly dinner party was at Ken and Shelly’s house this time. We had bolo bread pizzas that were good and sat around the entire time to watch the Braves go, once again, into extra innings. They were back in Minnesota playing much better. In fact, they should have won the series. It was a very exciting game, and that much more fun with all of our chanting and tomahawking friends squeezed around us.
Frank and Stephanie went Thursday night. Frank was offered $500 cash for his ticket. He had told Stephanie that $1000 was his price, so he turned the guy down. Stephanie was also selling femo tomahawk pins that she had made. Those were going for $10 a piece, though Frank wanted to sell them for twice that.
The braves played a great game, even though they lost to an extra inning home run. Alice said that the night proved that the Braves could play and win in Minnesota’s homer dome. They have one more chance to prove it.
Carol and Bob could not come because Carol had caught Eric’s bug. (Strike 1.) After the game, Bob started feeling sick, too. (Strike 2.) He felt awful Sunday morning, but went over to work on Mom and Dad’s shutters anyway. Whenever he started feeling too weak and ill, he would lie down and nap on a blanket in the front yard.
World Series Birthday
The Braves did better for Dad’s 58th birthday than for Kathy’s 28th. After two losses in Minnesota, they swept the Twins in Atlanta Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The whole town was celebrating. Dad and Mom were able to go to the game Thursday night. Dad was very excited. “I’ve thought about doing a lot of things. I’ve even thought about going to heaven, but I never thought about getting to go to a World Series!”
And the Braves cleaned ’em up. Looked like batting practice.
So Friday night’s birthday party for Dad was that much more fun. We did the Tomahawk chop wherever we could work it in. Grant would invent lyrics on the fly, and we would all chime in. Carol, Ted, and Grant were there with Kathy, Bob, Nicole, Danny, and Eric. We’ve started substituting sweatshirts and books for cigars. The candy and fudge were appreciated as much as ever.
(Little did Danny, Dad, Carol, or Bob know that Eric was carrying a little extra present for them. Actually, Bob and Carol should have known. Eric had been throwing up the night before.)
Sick Release
I was terribly congested in my head and lungs on Sunday. Felt pretty bad, dozing off through the Braves game as Kathy kept score. So I stayed home from work.
With the Mac LC at home, though, I can dial in to the Mac IIcx at work and exchange files. That meant I was able to pick up Harland’s earnings release and, after several tries, dial it in to a distribution service. Vickie had warned me not to get sicker over the weekend since she was responsible for getting out the earnings release in her new position as head of Investor Relations.
Since she’s not my boss anymore, I guess my immune system ignored her. Didn’t matter, I was able to release the earnings from home, fax a copy to Vickie for confirmation, and stumble back into bed.
Plan B – Taco Mac
Since I had been out of town on Kathy’s birthday, we planned to celebrate by going out the following Saturday, which ended up being the first night of the World Series. The Braves wore us out winning the Pennant from the Pirates, and now they have a chance to wear us out with a World Series.
We decided to go to a sports bar around the corner called Jocks & Jills. When we got there, though, the parking lot was packed, the place looked packed inside and out, and there was a line. We opted for Plan B, Taco Mac. We were able to get a booth with a good view of one of the TVs. Since we were going to be there for the entire evening, we tried to plan to make the appetizers, dinner, and beers last. Our waiter sat down and watched some of the game with us.
Unfortunately, the Braves did not know we were celebrating their #1 fan’s birthday, because they got beat up pretty bad. We actually left before the end of the game and finished watching it at home.
I was sick and getting sicker. Took enough pills to get me through the night, but paid for it the next day.
Father-Daughter Dance
Nicole and I enjoyed the Girl Scouts father-daughter dance at Embry Hill Church. She wore her first communion dress. I wore a sports coat. Nicole was very concerned that I follow the rules: fathers should wear church clothes. What Nicole doesn’t realize is that the jeans we wear at evening mass are not the typical Sunday morning clothes.
We went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday. Nicole was in the mood for shrimp, so she ordered a sizzling pate of Shrimp Fajitas. I got the steak Fajitas. We both enjoyed our dinners, swapping bites, and not spilling a thing on ourselves. As we walked in and out, people complimented Nicole on how pretty she looked. Nicole just smiled and graciously thanked her fans.
We arrived a tad bit late to the dance which was to last long enough, 7:30 until 10:30. There was a large crowd doing the Hokey Pokey when we arrived. Nicole and I got in on the next dance, a slow Kenny G tune.
We were light on our feet until we loaded up at the refreshment table. As we ate our cookies and brownies, we chatted with Cathy Hooper, Nicole’s troop leader. After a few more dances including Vanilla Ice, Hammer, and “Shout”, we got our pictures taken. There were several door prizes that we did not win and three big rounds of musical chairs.
We stayed right up until the end. Nicole’s feet hurt from dancing so much. Guess her old man wore her out.
South Carolina Golf
Came in late with three days and two nights out at Isle of Palms with Jerone. Had to make presentations to several officers from various Credit Unions in the area. All arranged by Tommy Strange from the South Carolina Credit Union League. A flamboyant bulldog with an off-color joke a minute.
After a morning presentation on Tuesday, we spent the rest of the day playing golf. Wish I played. The weather was beautiful, and the course was amazing, including the last three holes along the beach. Brad ___ had a rough day of it, but got the distinguished honor of playing off the beach on the 18th hole. About five feet from crashing waves! I should get some used clubs and play a few times on a public course so I don’t have to waste a chance like that again. At least I got my own covered cart to drive around.
Jerone and I enjoyed listening to the Braves on the way up and back. They lost on the way up, but won after our late night return.
Puff Adder
We all slept in Saturday morning, having exhausted ourselves at the Braves game. By late morning, though, we had lunches, bikes, and scooters packed, and we headed up to the Hedges Farm.
Kathy wasn’t feeling great, but good enough to watch all the Braves game. Nicole enjoyed playing with Rick Butker’s oldest girl, Linda(?). Danny and I took a walk with Bennett to look for snakes. Instead we found some ripe parsimmons (according to Bennett) that tasted like figs, some not-so-ripe pears, and some blight-covered Pecans. Teddy picked us up on our way back and toured us through the back paths in his Honda-Jeep.
Ted found a peculiar 1-foot snake that would turn over and play dead with its mouth wide open. I was pretty sure it was doing that because Robert or Shawn had run over it with their tricycles. But Bennett demonstrated how it would quickly turn itself over should you upright it.
“Puff Adder” came to mind. “No, that’s poisonous,” said Bennett. “This is a milk snake or a corn snake.” Then I saw the snake’s upturned nose. That seemed familiar, too. Couldn’t wait to get back to the snake book at Mom and Dad’s house.
Sure enough, that behavior is typical of the Hog Nose snake, often called the “Puff Adder” because it will puff and hiss when you first try to catch it. Teddy had said it had done that.
Milk snake, indeed. Now I’m wondering exactly what those fig-tasting things were that Bennett fed me and Danny.