The Witch's Camp

So, this year I decided to try something new with our outdoor Halloween Decorations.  What I ended up with was The Witch's Camp.  I think it turned out pretty good and the boys love it.

Here we have the view during the day.  The witch does talk and cackle when she moves.  It's pretty fun.  I made the Spooky Trees out of branches from our wood pile.  Most of the components came from the wood pile, the dollar store or our pumpkin patch.

There's Collin and Liam hanging out with the witch (one of the few things that didn't come from the dollar store) and a number of the pumpkins from our pumpkin patch.

Here's the view at night.  It looks a little bit different now as I decided to add a little height to the spooky tree on the right.

It's Been A While

OK, so it has been just over 4 months since I last wrote a blog post. Here's a summary of what happened.

• After being out of work for month I got a job at a 3PL called Pro Star Logistics.
• I finished my yearly reading of Harry Potter.
  
• My new favorite currently running show "Once Upon a Time" premiered. (LOST is still my all time favorite show in case you were wondering)
  
• The 5th and Final Season of "Chuck" Premiered.
  
• We had a fun Halloween in which I dressed up as a member of The DHARMA Initiative, Alisa was a witch, Collin was a dinosaur coming out of an egg and Liam was a pea-pod.
• We had a fun Thanksgiving at Grandma Norberg's house and one at my in-law's house in Idaho.
• I began my yearly reading of The Lord of The Rings.
  
• We all celebrated Kari's return to her family.
• Season 19 of "The Amazing Race" concluded.
  
• The first season of "Terra Nova" concluded.
  
• Collin (or one of his little friends) threw something at my TV and cracked the screen causing an annoying black line that extends from the crack to the edge of the screen.
• We had a wonderful Christmas.
• 2011 ended.
  
• 2012 began.
  
• I began watching the 4th Season of "Merlin" via iTunes
  
• I lost my job at Pro Star and became unemployed again.
• "Alcatraz" premiered.
• Liam turned 1 year old.
  
• The 5th and Final Season of "Chuck" Concluded.
• Alisa and I started watching the show "Prison Break" on Netflix while up in Idaho and got ourselves hooked.
  
• I finished my yearly reading of The Lord of The Rings.
• Season 20 of "The Amazing Race" began.

So, that's about it. At the moment Alisa and I are waiting for the next few DVDs of "Prison Break" to arrive at the library but my main focus is job searching. Things are going pretty well. I have had several interviews and one coming up tomorrow and I'm actively networking. More posts soon.

The 2010 Pumpkins

Well, in spite of rumors to the contrary, I have not abandoned my blog. I've just been a little bit lazy in my updates as of late. However, it is now that important time of year were I present to the world the fruits of my pumpkin patch. As I indicated in previous posts, this year's patch has not yielded any big pumpkins. This saddened me greatly especially since this was the first year that I planted "Big Max." So, I had really been hoping for some mega pumpkins. However, 'twas not to be. At first I thought that the primary problem was the weather but now I think it was more of a problem with crop rotation. It seems that when you grow the same plant in the same spot three years in a row you don't get as good results. Who knew?! So, since I have a crop of diminutive pumpkins I decided this year to name them all after equally diminutive characters from some of my favorite (and not so favorite) books. A special Halloween treat to the person who can successfully identify the book that each and every one of these twelve pumpkins got their names from.* So, with no further ado, I proudly present to all one of you Ryan's Pumpkin Patch 2010!Back Row: Old Fatty Lumpkin (10.2 lbs), Frodo (4.4 lbs), General Woundwart (4.2 lbs), Reepicheep (4.4 lbs), Gorbert (7.8 lbs) - Front Row: Samwise (4.4 lbs), D.L.F. (6.0 lbs), Trufflehunter (4.6 lbs), Jenks (4.0 lbs), Griphook (4.0 lbs)

Roofintop Dobby (3.0 lbs) and Flitwick (4.0 lbs)

*Open to legal U.S. Residents. Void where prohibited; please see official rules (if there were any). My wife and my sister Shanna are not eligible because I've told them all or most of the answers at some point. No treat if you cheat by typing the names into a search engine.

Ryan's Pumpkins 2009

Well, I have just picked the last of my Halloween Pumpkins. Here they are! From Left to Right - Top Row: Ava 2 (11.8 lbs), Smooth Move (20.2 lbs.), Psycho Jack [This Year's "Big Mutha"] (22.0 lbs.), George (16.4 lbs.), Ava (12.2 lbs.) - Middle Row: Casper The Friendly Pumpkin (10.2 lbs.), Sadee (15.2 lbs.), Buck Rogers (14.0 lbs.), Ichabod (13.4 lbs.), The Jolly Green Giant (15.0 lbs.), Itty-Bity (2.4 lbs.) - Bottom Row: Half-Pint Harvey (5.4 lbs.), Wormy (4.0 lbs)*, Captain Buttless (6.2 lbs.)** - Insert: Collin (11.2 lbs.)

So, with 15 pumpkins totalling 179.6 lbs. I think "Ryan's Pumpkin Patch" did pretty good this year. There are a lot of green pumpkins in here so I am making a note to plant a bit earlier next year.

*This pumpkin had to be carved immediately. I didn't name it "Wormy" for nothing.

**This pumpkin is so named due to an unfortunate run in it had with a rouge weed-whacker that left it with a rather large hole in its bottom regions.