Halloweekend!

It was another successful Halloween at Ed and Sue's last night, but before we get to that, let's back up a bit. Friday night, I hunted down an empty can, a roll of TP, and the remainder of the kerosene from last year's flaming pumpkin experiment. There wasn't a lot left! Would it be enough? Time would tell.

I dumped the kerosene into the can and dropped the TP in. There wasn't enough kerosene to cover the roll of TP so I figured I'd leave it overnight and check the next day. If it hadn't soaked it all up, I'd flip the roll over. (As it turned out, it did soak it all up.)
Now switching gears; I'd been kicking around the idea of making a certain something for a while. What was I going to make? Well, here are the ingredients...

I had to sterilize those jars but before I broke out the bleach, I remembered that I had some sanitizer left over from when I'd brewed the saki...

All cleaned, sanitized, and drying...

Hmmm...coffee grounds? What am I up to?

Water, sugar and the coffee grounds, all boiled up and now simmering... (I need to make this stuff more often - it made the house smell great!)

2 hours later, those contents from the pan were mixed in with a 1/2 cup of Vanilla, + a half gallon of 100-proof vodka. Kahlua, anyone??

All bottled up and ready. (I had a 6th bottle, but it didn't quite fill to the top, so I left it out of this pic.) Now I just need to store these in a cool place for at least a month and they'll be ready to go...

And now back to Halloween! Arriving at Ed & Sue's, I unloaded the trappings of a fire-pumpkin. Borrowing a knife, I made short work of the stencil and soon had a ferocious face set to go. However, I then thought that some horns on top would be a good idea...too bad they came out looking like cute little ears... The stupid thing looks like a happy easter bunny now!! (Not to worry; once I set it on fire, all semblance of 'cuteness' was gone!)

Sue broke out the costume implements and handed me a blue wig. Whaddya think, is this a good look for me? Ed had done himself up as a rasta...er...football player. Yeah that's it; a football player.

Each year, they add another scary pumpkin to their mix. I liked the latest member of their family!

Of course, I had to take the obligatory pic of Ed's bike in the barn, illuminated by the blue light.

When I came out of the barn, I found Ed rockin' out to the tunes on his iPod. He was living the rock-star dream! (Wait, why am I grabbinig the fog machine? What could I possibly be up to???)

I figured no rock-star dream was complete without some special effects...

The Trick 'r Treater turnout was much lower than previous years (but that may have had something to do with the Patriots kicking Brett Farve's ass on TV!!). We filled the void with cold frosties, plenty of laughs and even a handful (or five) of candy. When the evening had worn on a while and the kids had stopped coming by, it was time to pack up and head for home.

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Overall, another successful Halloween thanks once again to Ed and Sue - thanks guys! Here's hoping that everyone else out there had a safe, fun and spooky evening!

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Happy All Hallow's Eve!