These Vintage Masks at the Spirit Store are great.

Just the right amount of creepy...

...and scary.

The theming at the Spirit Store this year is... well....

You walk into this hallway built of "stone" and as soon

as you are to the point of no return, you notice all the

wires hanging from above, and they are electrified and
about to FRY you and everybody around you.

And the steel plate that you and your fellow soon
to be well done burgers are standing on is buzzing and
vibrating like a Magic Fingers bed in some motel
room. It is LOUD and it is SHOCKING!

The view looking straight up into a dome

when you are in the middle of the stone hallway.

I'm not really sure how to even describe
a lot of this.

See the CARNAGE for YOURSELF!
The Spirit Store electricity in action.

He had gone to the big city to be GQ model! 

An actor!  A sensation! A STAR!

However it didn't pan out and you can see the
anguish in his eyes. But hey, it was an honest
afternoon's work and a cool costume.

"CHEER UP, MAN" BONUS PHOTO!

I had no room for the really great large Camp Crystal
Lake sign, but I always have room for a really great
magnet! And this is one great magnet right here.
Another awesome Spirit Store score.

Monty the animatronic at the Spirit store is 6 feet tall. He is apparently

upset at having to entertain children at will... for years and years. So

when one child wishes him to come to life, he does and gets his revenge.

Since I am a slacker and did not get a picture of the

full Monty, here is an image from the Spirit Store website.

Our tradition for my son's birthday is to go play a round

of miniature golf and then go out for a steak dinner. We

did that again this year. Yes, tradition is big in our family.

And we love pirate themes!

It is always nice to see the golf course getting into

the spirit of the season. They don't always do this.

It is really nice (and fun) when it happens.

WOW! Look at all the COOL WEAPONS
to PLAY WITH!!



DOH!
Every. single. YEAR.



That's okay. I will instead enjoy the cool little
Michael Myers plastic shot glass that I bought
over at the Spirit Store for 4 quarters.

If you are a throw pillow person, I'm thinkin' that one or
 more of these Michael Myers pillows will probably
go home with you.

Every Halloween and all year long since 2006

the Spirit Store accepts donations for a program

they have to help make hospital stays less scary

for children and their parents.

We again made out donations to the #Spirit of Children

and in turn received a silicone wristband.

That Halloween Life. 

We get it, right?

I know the picture is a little difficult to make out, but this

is a pretty cool little item. A knife with Ghost Face's picture

on it. This knife was one of two items I was considering using

my coupon on. It would look great hanging with my movies.

In the end I bought the other item. It was kind of a no brainer.

I will share that down the line.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space are back this year in

a big way at the Spirit Stores. And Shorty is here

again to remind some of you in the back row that

nobody, but NOBODY rides Shorty's bike but Shorty.

You can take that to the bank.

Here is the Hanging Barbwire Zombie over

at the Spirit Store. Man, that is really brutal.

I think we should lighten the mood a bit.
Perhaps a cute little Momo plush from
Avatar: The Last Airbender will do the trick.

Yeah, that works.

Mr. Punchy at the Spirit Store - 2022.

(That buzz you hear in the background is
coming from part of the Spirit Store
theming, a vibrating floor.)

Wanna have some fun? Buy one of these, open it up and

 then try to glue it onto the guy from yesterdays post.

That would be good.


!! MONDAY BLUES BONUS PHOTO !!

Oh, when you're smiling, when you're smiling,
The whole world smiles with you, baby.
Yes, when you're laughing, when you're laughing,
Yes, the sun comes shining through.*

*Larry Shay / Joe Goodwin / Mark Fisher

Wo. Look at who (or WHAT) is greeting us at Halloween
Express. This guy has got to be 8 feet tall. He is asking us

to "Please Ignore the mood breaking skylight."

Huzzah! Our 2022 Annual Halloween Crawl!

Halloween Express was our very first stop. It seems

to work out this way every year. Halloween Express

is kind of like a Spirit Store but with a little more edge

to it. Kind of.

Next up!
Our first Spirit Store of the season.

BAM!
Spirit Store number two!

And then of course we had to stop at one of our very

favorite places, the Indian Store. Treasures and learning

are abundant in this place.

Well lookie here! Another Spirit Store!

As you can see, the shadows are getting long. We had been

Halloween Crawling for about 7 hours at this point and

we were getting a little tired and pretty hungry...

...soooooooo, we made a stop at Subway for some sandwiches.

They hit the spot tonight I will tell you what (I didn't get any

pictures of the Subway we visited so this picture from a previous
trip is a stand in). It was getting on to about 8 PM by the time

we finished eating and we decided that it was time to call it, so we

took our new treasures (oh yes, there are treasures) and headed

on back to The Ranch.

It was a great day and I will be posting more pictures throughout

the month of Spooktober.

The Halloween season ROCKS.

My son and I went on our Annual Halloween Crawl for

2022 and I am anxious to get Spooktober started!
Only 3 more days!

Question: What is this dusty old ashtray
out in the garage missing?

Answer: You are correct! A cigarette! That is because I don't

smoke. As a matter of fact, today is my Nineteenth Quit Smoking

Anniversary. I quit smoking cigarettes 19 years ago today.

I've said it before and I will say it again, the number one thing that

helped me during the days I first quit was this saying:

"The urge to smoke will pass whether you smoke or not."

Absolutely. This is absolutely TRUE.
And believe me, over time those
urges fade away. Gone.

This is a gift and I am thankful.

Let's load up the station wagon and

head on over to Knott's!

 ~ Random Around the Ranch Photo of the Day ~
Another happy cactus.

~ The Pig Bros in Pig Joke Six ~

We are SO excited about our upcoming Annual Halloween

Crawl for 2022. The itinerary has been printed and coupons

are at the ready.

BOY!
P.S. My Phive Day Phantasm Philm Phestival took place this

week and it was SICK!! Is "sick" still a thing? Anyway, if you have
never seen these movies, you are missing out! That's
The Tall Man up there. You don't mess with The Tall Man.

~ September 11, 2001 ~

We will never forget.

This is a robot wars game that my son got for Christmas

some years back. It looked pretty cool. This robot walked
around like a little crab. But I am sorry to say, we

never did play (with) it.

This guy is trying to remind me (as if I need reminding!) that it is almost time

for our Annual Halloween Crawl for 2022! Soon my son and I will be visiting

all of the seasonal Halloween stores in our area. Our tradition is to make
a day of it including dinner out, which we don't do often.
We always look forward to The Crawl.

We LOVE Halloween.

(The Crawling Guy is from 2015 over at Halloween Express.)

Here is a scan of a photograph taken of another totally

pissed off (trust me) rattlesnake in our driveway.

This picture will be filed in the "downright terrible quality"
 folder, but I am posting it today because... I kind of like it.

I had never been to a Subway restaurant that

shared a storefront with a bail bonds business before.

They made a good sandwich. Subway I mean.

Subway made a good sub. Not the bail bonds place.

Victorinox Swiss Army Classic SD Tiger Print knife.

Discontinued.

I can't believe that I have been carrying this knife

since Thursday, April 25, 2013. For me, carrying one

particular knife (on my person), this is definitely a
record. As with all the little SAK Classics that I've
experienced, it is a great knife.

Which reminds me that I have a little Wenger Classic
Swiss Army Knife that I bought about 39 years ago.
I retired that knife long ago as it holds a lot of cherished
memories for me. I will have to get that one out for
an upcoming Knife Day.

Always something to look forward to here at
The Ranch.

I had been saving a Walmart gift card that my mom gave to me

for my birthday a few years ago and today I found just the thing

to use it for. The Phantasm 5 Movie Collection on Blu-ray.

I think that next week there will be a Phantasm Phive Night

Philm Phestival at Borden Cinema! Hoo-ray and huzzah!

Happy National Knife Day, 2022!

And just by coincidence, today is also Knife Day at El Rancho

De La Tex! My knife for today is a knife that I bought... yes,

you guessed it: long ago. Gun show I think. This is a Buck Model

189 Intrepid. I believe they were produced from 1998 to 2002.

It is full tang and features a partially serrated tanto blade, 4 and 3/4

inches long. There is also a fine edge along the spine.
The blade is 1/4" thick. The knife is about
11 inches overall.

The black G10 grip panels can be removed for easy
cleaning. The Sheath is kydex with a nylon belt loop.
And look at that pommel. That there is a pounder
to be certain.



This is the only marking on the Intrepid which is kind of
weird, but oh well. And yep, I never used it. I just bought it
because I thought it was kind of cool, different. Glad to
have it now as it is a bit rare, I think. Fun to own.

I love National Knife Day.

It is a Christmas decoration but

I hang it year-round because THAT......


...is the way I roll.

Our Solar Light Testing Grounds.

These were all fails.
We carry on.

El Prado will lead you to this bridge that arches over Park
Blvd. Cross it to reach the Desert and Rose Gardens of

Balboa Park in San Diego.

I know that I am way late to the party on this.

I've used levels for a long time usually for simple projects

like hanging pictures and such straight on a wall. But it was

only recently that I came across this cross-check level.
A VERY cool little tool.

In this picture I have laid it on my table surface and you can see

that it shows the table to be low in back and high on the right. It

shows both at the same time. What a great tool. I like it.

Cross-check. You learn something new every day.