A bonfire isn't a bonfire...

...when there's no one to share it with.

This is a wonderfully blurry picture (hey, I didn't have my camera with me...only my phone) of the burn pile I spent several hours watching yesterday. Faire site needed some clean-up and what is the best way to get rid of evidence...er...trash? That's right! Burn it! But back to the blurry picture. I think it looks like lava. What do you think? Maybe if I had gotten closer, it REALLY would have looked like an erupting mountain! I couldn't get any closer though...that sucker was HOT!

Man, it was really goin' there for a while. Of course, I didn't think to take a picture of it until everyone else had moved on to different jobs and I was left watching the fire. By this point, it was almost out. I was wishing I had marshmallows.

Oh, and the giant stump there in the middle? Yeah, it's still in the ground. And boy did that thing stay solid! Apparently we're going to have to try a different removal method.

My car is so embarrassed

I was rummaging around in my glove box the other night looking for...actually, I don't remember what I was looking for. But it was quite dark and I might have been driving.

I glanced over the next morning and saw this piece of tissue hanging out. How embarrassing for my car.

Do you think the other cars are trying to signal mine that there is something hanging out of its glove box?

Regional Quirks

Ok St. Louis. I have to know. What is it with your Halloween traditions?

I went over to a friend's house last night and we sat out in the front yard with the fire pit, drank some beer, and handed out candy. But something wasn't quite right... Where I grew up the kids spent at least a month thinking about what they were going to be on Halloween and when the day came they all got dressed up, visited every house in the neighborhood, said 'trick or treat', got their candy and left. Boy is it different here.

First of all, I was shocked at how many kids either weren't dressed up at all or really hadn't made much of an effort. I saw plenty of young teenage girls in pajama pants, a few polyester 'tattered' robes (you've seen 'em, they're standard Halloween issue), and quite a few that were dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt with a meager attempt at 'scary' face makeup. The only ones that really had costumes to speak of were the youngest kids since their parents dressed them up.

Another thing that threw me was the 'trick FOR a treat'. The first time my friend asked a kid if he had a joke, I really didn't think much of it. But after the next five or six, I was beginning to see a pattern. I finally asked about it and was informed that "of course every kid has to tell a joke or do something for the candy". We never had to jump through hoops to get our candy. And correct me if I'm wrong but it's Trick OR Treat, is it not? I was taught that it went something more like this. When I say 'trick or treat', I'm telling you that you have a choice. You can give me a treat, or I can play a trick on you.

I don't know. I guess I've found several things about St. Louis that are different from the West Coast. This is just another in a long line of regional differences. See, diversity is fun!