On this the eve of...

the most important election of our time, but aren't they all, let's stop and say a prayer for our country and its people. That they may vote with trueness of heart and clarity of mind and regardless of who wins there is graciousness in defeat.

The return of Lance...

and the cool music.

This theme is well known. The show was a big hit in the 1980's along with the tag line, "Let's be careful out there." It was the original gritty cop drama. Fighting, cursing, the whole nine yards.

As for the Lance, look at the gams on that one! I don't know who illustrated these things but that guy was way ahead of his time for the 40's.

I forgot how much I love...

the smeel of the burnt pumpkin. You know the smell inside the pumpkin while the candle is lit. It is almost a sweet smell. I love that.

Another Halloween come and gone. Loads of booty, but not ill-gotten, ready to be devoured by eager children. Me too. Me too. That's the issue with being a diabetic. You want to just roll around in it like the monacled Monopoly man and his money. But somewhere in the deep recesses of your brain you say to yourself, while moving your hands back and forth in a balancing motion...Hallowwen Candy...walk your daughter down the aisle...Halloween Candy...watch your son graduate from college. And despite how much I try to convince myself, the sugar still enters my system whether someone sees me eat the candy or not. Halloween used to be so joyous. Now it's just cruel.

I don't think the sugarless candy is any better for you. The chemicals they put in that stuff are enough to snuff out Rasputin. I think I would be better off chugging pure cane sugar than eating that stuff.

Oh well, 41 years is a pretty good run.

For dinner on Halloween, we had mummy dogs, fried worms, witches brew beans and pumpkin punch. Is that the cutest thing ever or what? Kelly goes all out and we all love her for that.

I love our house in the Fall. It is always adorned in the fall colors and pumpkins or scarecrows or cornucopias, the horn a' plenty, or any other number of accoutrament that decry Fall. It always smells like fall too. What with the candles and the fires and us feeding the kids pumpkin and spices so their diapers smell like it too.

Halloween marks the beginning of my favorite time of year. I hope I savor it all this year.

Greatest Halloween commercial of all time...

it actually is the greatest commercial of all time.

Happy Halloween!...

This is the day for all things spooky. Jack-o-Lanterns of all shapes and sizes. Ghosts. Witches. Spiders. Vampires. Frankenstein. Werewolves. Goblins. Skeletons. Democrats.

Man, that's some scary stuff.

Halloween is a great day. Dress up in costumes. Trick or treating. I have actually bobbed for an apple. As kids Halloween was a pretty big deal. It seemed there were kids everywhere. It was the one night we ruled the streets. Everyone participated. All the houses were lit up and giving candy. Or at least it seemed that way. It was probably just how I want to remember it. I have made return trips to playgrounds of my youth where the slides were as tall as trees and never seemed to end only to realize they were just normal slides not much taller than I am now.

Funny how that works.

It's not the size of the slides that matter in life; it's how we remember the size of the slides.

Halloween, despite some peoples misgivings, is a wonderful holiday meant to purge the earth of its evil souls. The original Celtic celebrations consisted of huge bonfires and animal sacrifices. But we stopped doing that in 1987. The modern day belief that Halloween is for devil worshipers is just that, a modern day belief. The Druids and Celts who are most associated with Halloween were pagans not Satanists. A pagan worships many gods. A Satanist worships Obama Satan. And nowhere in any historical text does it say that Druids or Celts worshipped a god of death.

Halloween has gotten a bum wrap over the years. It is the middle child of holidays. Thanksgiving and Christmas get all the accolades. Halloween is left holding the bag. Pun intended. Since it is around my birthday and I am a middle child, I have an affinity for Halloween.

I just don't like the teenagers who don't dress up and use a pillow case for a bag just to get free candy. Punks.

And finally for your viewing pleasure, The Doobie Brothers do Halloween!

You can't make this stuff up II...

Erica Jong, that was my reaction too, apparently she's an author/feminist gave an interview about the election. Here are her choice words...

"The record shows that voting machines in America are rigged."

"My friends Ken Follett and Susan Cheever are extremely worried. Naomi Wolf calls me every day. Yesterday, Jane Fonda sent me an email to tell me that she cried all night and can't cure her ailing back for all the stress that has reduces her to a bundle of nerves."

"My back is also suffering from spasms, so much so that I had to see an acupuncturist and get prescriptions for Valium."

"After having stolen the last two elections, the Republican Mafia…"

"If Obama loses it will spark the second American Civil War. Blood will run in the streets, believe me. And it's not a coincidence that President Bush recalled soldiers from Iraq for Dick Cheney to lead against American citizens in the streets."

"Bush has transformed America into a police state, from torture to the imprisonment of reporters, to the Patriot Act.

In the immortal words of Maxwell Q. Klinger "Weeeeeeeeooooooooooooooo!"

Excellent Pro-Life video...

You can't make this stuff up...

CHAPEL HILL (AP) - Shawn Turschak of Chapel Hill was tired of someone stealing McCain-Palin campaign signs from his yard.

So the man with a degree in electrical engineering hooked up a third sign to a power source for an electric pet fence Monday. Turschak also put up a surveillance camera.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that Tuesday, a 9-year-old boy with an Obama-Biden sign grabbed the McCain-Palin sign and got a jolt.

The boy's father, Andrew Noble, then showed up at the Turschak's door, upset his son had been shocked. Soon an Orange County sheriff's deputy also showed up at the Turschak's home.

Noble says his son just wanted to see how the sign was put together. Turschak says the boy intended to swap out the signs.

Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said he doesn't plan to file charges.

If I had told Dad that I just got shocked while I was grabbing someone elses property in their yard I think I would have gotten a spanking. Yes, my Dad would have gone ot the guys house...with me in tow to apologize to the home owner for not respecting his property.

The good old days.

What is it about a blanket...

Of all the things I do in this world, there is none that brings me more joy than tucking my kids in under a blanket. There is something symbolic about it. Whether it be in their bed at night or on the couch to watch cartoons or in my bed to watch cartoons or in my chair to watch cartoons, the blanket lets them know they are safe and warm and comfy and dry and happy and loved.

Madison was curled up on my chair the other night and I put a blanket over her. She said she was very comfy. She told me when she sees people who are comfy she wants to get comfy too. Not a bad mantra for all.

This morning I put Ian into our bed to watch his morning cartoon and I pulled the blanket up on him and he turned to me and smiled. In that smile, he relayed all of the things I said above. It warmed my heart.

Chompy isn't a blanket person yet. I have a feeling she will be.

I even had use for a blanket the other night. I mentioned to Kelly how I hated this time of year on TV because every station had a scary movie on. You can't flick through the channels without catching a glimpse of something you don't want to see. And after the Amityville Horror incident of 79, if I never see another scary movie it will be too soon. I still hear that music in my head and it scares the beejeebus out of me.

Anywho, the other night I had a dream. A bad one. It was one of those dreams that even after you woke up and went back to sleep it just picked up right where it left off. Kelly and I had bought a new house. A big southern mansion type place. Of course it was haunted. We saw faces and shadows and heard screams and noises. You may be asking yourself, "If you're such a weenie why didn't you just leave?" My answer to that is, "Hey, I'm not a weenie." Well, OK I am. I don't know why we didn't leave. We never slept in the house. The dream took place only over a couple of hours as far as I could tell. The end of the dream occurred when Kelly was stuck in a closet and couldn't get out. I was kicking and pounding on the door to get it open all the while Kelly was crying hysterically and it sounded like she was saying no to something trying to hurt her. I finally got the door open and as I went to hug her I cried out "Go away!" Only it wasn't my voice it was some demonic God-awful cacophony of noise that chilled me to the bone. As I was saying these words I woke up. I could hear myself saying the words as I woke up and I am not a talker in my sleep.

I used the blanket to hide under until morning came. I couldn't go back to sleep. Or maybe I didn't want to go back to sleep.

When you go on a picnic what do you bring besides the food? A blanket to sit on. Doing something cold outside? Bring a blanket to keep warm. When we were kids we would go to drive in movies. We would bring some lawn chairs and set them up in the stall next to the car and sit in those and have blankets over us as we watched Herbie the Love Bug or Benji.

Blankets, quilts, afghans, what have you. Just get under one as soon as you can, alone or with someone else, and enjoy the warmth and security these magical cloth polygons provide.

I think this country needs a big ole blanket.

Happy Birthday...

To Me!!!!!

I am 41 years old today. Born in 1967 at 12:34 PM. A wish minute baby. I was lucky from the start. Wish minute baby? A wish minute is 1:11 or 2:22 or 3:33 etc. and 12:34. During this minute you wish. It actually works too. I don't know how many wish minutes I spent wishing Kelly would marry me.

On this date in 312 AD Constantine defeated Maxentius to become the defacto ruler of the Western Roman Empire. This was the battle where Constantine was greatly outnumbered but in a dream saw God. He had the soldiers paint crosses on their shields. He won in a landslide.

In 1636, Harvard was founded.
1858 - Macy's opens in NY.
1886 - Statue of Liberty dedicated.
1919 - Prohibition begins.

People born on this day:

Joaquin Phoenix, Terrell Davis, I'm ashamed to put this one down being the liberal puke that she is Julia Roberts, Lauren Holly, Jami Gertz, Bill Gates, Lauren Tewes the cruise director on the Love Boat, for a long time the only claim to fame I had was her and Bruce Jenner. That, my friends, is slim pickins. Sipowicz himself Dennis Franz, Randy Newman of Short People Fame, Charlie Daniels and Jonas Salk.

All good Scorpios.

Today is National Chocolate Day. Could there be a more apropos day for me? Strangely enough it is also Plush Animal Lover's Day. I had quite a collecion of plush animals when I was younger. In fact, one of the best Christmas' I ever had was when I received a 4' Yogi the Bear. It was outside the bathroom when I came out. I had opened all my presents so I didn't think I was getting it. But there it was.

I hope to leave work early today and bask in the chilly weather. Don't you just love it? Had our first fire last night. Cold night. Fire. Fall in the air. It don't get any better than this.

Thanks everyone for being there for me. I love each and every one of you. I truly do.