I sat on the front porch with Amanda handing out candy.
























The kids came in groups, shepherded by parents.

























An hour an a half to hand out half a grocery sack of candy. Lots of rotten teeth.



All Soul's Day Procession is a week from today. Evan is coming down, along with Brian, Craig, and Jesse from Phoenix. Evan and I are probably walking as deceased Victorian gentlemen.

This video shows portions of the parade and the show afterwards.

I escorted Mark and Patrick to Richard's estate for the pumpkin carving party.
























Handsome host Richard.

The macaroni and cheese I made was really, really good. The Romanian Apple Cake was more of a bread pudding, but it was also praised.

























The carvers set to work.

I was creative this year and brought along some decorative gourds to enhance my pumpkin.




















Completed pumpkins.

Roger and I discussed our ideas on the perfect house. We are directly opposed in that regard, I like having a formal dining room. We did not come to blows.

























Roger's pumpkin had many teeth.

I admired Ray's Amish beard. I discussed how envious I was of Cobban's visit to Prague.




















My pumpkin has big ears.

I called Evan while sitting next to the pool.



















The lights make pretty patterns.

Later, Patrick burned things and I became coated with smoke. I did not mind.

























Pyro-Patrick.

I had left-over cake for breakfast. Today I may go shopping for a top hat. I have to say, my life is pretty darn excellent.
Halloween Macaroni and Cheese!



















I'm going to a pumpkin carving party tonight with Patrick.
I really need a tophat.

Pat Buchanan has written a book in which he whines about how people of European origin will soon be in the minority in the United States.

I've been reading through old microfilmed newspapers at the U of Arizona library (I know, my life is exciting). On the way to and from the library I get to observe the students. The future of America is made up of people of many ethnicities, skin color, modes of dress, and so on. Pat Buchanan's dreaded future is already here. And they are spending hours studying, attending college, preparing themselves for life.

It must be awful to be filled with that much fear of the future. You know, it sucks to be an old racist white man. The train has already left the station and one day one or more of his grandchildren or great grandchildren are going to make a baby with one of those other races. I hope he lives long enough to see it.
Halloween Cake Poll

I'm going to Richard's pumpkin carving party on Friday night and of course I have to make a cake. VOTE on which one I should take along:

A). butternut squash cake
B). coconut cake

I'll probably do a lemon cream cheese frosting.
We had a late supper on Friday night and slept in on Saturday. Then we got busy and went to Mesquite Valley Nursery and bought pretty flowers and herbs, planted them, had leftovers for lunch, went to Native Seed Search where Evan bought a bunch of seeds for his garden, and made pumpkin pie from scratch (except the crust, Joy of Cooking recipe). Not all in this order.



















Blurry pumpkin pie.

Doug is in town doing a National Park event and he came over and we went to Rosa's for supper. We all had our usual. Afterward, I made whipper cream and we all had some pie.




















Doug, with Joey and Puff.

Evan and I watched the original War of the Worlds and enjoyed it. This morning we made ghosts for my front porch.



















Evan and Puff are scared!!!

Another lovely weekend.
I haven't been to the Farmer's Market in a while, but stocked up today.



















- two eggplants
- three yellow tomatoes
- four big beefsteak tomatoes
- a small pumpkin
- half of a butternut squash
- red potatoes
- yellow potatoes

I had a yellow tomato and mozzarella cheese sandwich for supper. I'll be making potato salad with the red potatoes. And a scratch pumpkin pie. Eggplants will probably end up as eggplant mozzarella. Have to feed Evan a nice supper after he gets here tomorrow night.
Happy Anniversary!

When I arrived in Flagstaff, Evan had got me some flowers!





















Orange is one of my favorite colors.

Friday night we watched Raiders of the Lost Ark and I assure you that I do not go around smashing Egyptian tombs.

The next day we were busy- running around to some stores. Bought a couple of Holiday gifts. Then back to Evan's place where we went on a hike and were unsuccessful at seeing elk.




















No elk!

We made hummus, tabouli, and spinakopita.
























Spinakopita.

Later, my stomach really hurted and then this morning I had some undesirable things happen. As it turned out, the organic curried lentil soup that I thought was vegetarian wasn't and my body reacted in a horrible way. Lesson learned.

We made salsa with Evans red and green tomatoes, but I forgot to take pictures. Now I am back home and it is too quiet.
Puff does not want his picture taken.

























He has been super needy lately, often waking me up in the middle of the night wanting to be petted or held. I am already having 4:00 AM insomnia. It makes me just a bit grumpy and I tell him he's going to be spanked, but of course that never happens.

What usually happens is I ignore Puff and then he goes and finds Joey and picks on her, so then Joey comes and wants me to put my arm around her, because that makes her feel safe.

Is it any wonder it is 8:11 and I am still groggy?
Whenever Tiny sees me she runs to the fence and holds her little legs up so I can pick her up and hold her. She is so happy to see me. Some mornings we sit in my car and she sniffs me for cats and then licks the side of my face.
























Tiny slobbery kisses.

She really is the sweetest doggy ever.
My friend Patrick won first place in the moustache category in the 2011 National Beard and Moustache Championship held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Los Angeles Times covered the event.


























Last year he told me some of the secrets of his moustache. I am sworn to secrecy.

I spent the weekend cleaning my house. It was disgusting. Cat hair and dust in unexpected places. I finished five of the seven rooms. It was a lousy time.

For my birthday Tom sent me a book on cocktails and someone sent my a Martha Stewart book on wreaths. I am pleased with both. I think Evan and I will make some cocktails and do craft activities. That will be our Radical Homosexual Agenda.

At work I am finishing up the clearance letter, telling the City the archaeology has been completed for my last project. I am also completing the report on the previous project, which took place within the boundaries of an abandoned cemetery. As a side project I am compiling a list of people buried in that cemetery. It is a Poltergeist situation, where several thousand bodies were left in place and then houses were built on top.

Mummy arrives on November 12th. She is looking forward to spending the winter here, although she has already warned me that she is getting old (she is 79 1/2). I intend on getting her walking around and getting more exercise.

And that's the way it is.
Evan made me this glass iris for my birthday.



















Home-made presents are awesome.

Well my buddy Donny killed himself, going out in a particularly vulgar way that endangered other people's lives. He was always a drama queen.

We had many chats on Facebook and at one time he planned to visit Tucson. I always felt he had a brilliant mind, similar to my friend Sam who died last year. He also seemed to be living a sped up version of life, so honestly I can't say I was surprised to learn about what happened.

I wish things had turned out differently for Donny.
Dig Day 17. Last day of fieldwork, the crew spent the day excavating two outhouse pits to their base.




















Allen and Tyler's outhouse on the left, Chris and Barry's on the right.

We excavate the outhouses in eight-inch-deep levels, excavating half of the pit then drawing the profile (showing soil layers and artifacts) before doing the other half.
























Chris excavating.

All of the soil is screened through 1/4-inch mesh and we collect the artifacts and put them into buckets, sorting them at the end of the level.




















Adam and Barry screening.

It got really hectic at times because we were finding so many artifacts towards the base of both outhouses. The people using them threw a lot of trash down into the pits back in the early 1900s. Among these were bottles whose paper labels were sometimes partially legible.
























Raspberry preserves from England.

In one level in Chris and Barry's outhouse we found 39 unbroken bottles.



















Most are for medicine or alcohol.

My favorite was a small bottle shaped like a boot.




















Boot!

In the afternoon I climbed down into Allen and Tyler's outhouse pit and dug for a few minutes. Of course I ended up finding one of the coolest artifacts I have ever found on an historic site- a hand-carved ivory tube. On one side it has a hunter standing next to a tree and holding a rifle.

























Hunter.

On the other side is his hunting dog.

























Dog.

At the moment I don't know what the tube was used for, Mike at work thinks it came from a powder flask. I'll have to do a little research to see whether that is correct.

Tomorrow I will work on the clearance letter and then I get to work on another report. I'm pleased to have work lined up for the next six months or so.
Dig Day 16. We were supposed to finish today but the two outhouse pits are deeper than I expected and are filled with huge amounts of trash from the 1890s to early 1900s.

Allen and Tyler's outhouse yielded some interesting items early in the morning- a hard rubber comb (the fine teeth suitable for removing lice and lice eggs) and a clay pipe. You don't find many of those in Tucson, most people smoked cigars and cigarettes.



















Comb and pipe.

The adjacent outhouse, where Barry and Chris worked, seemed like it wouldn't have much at first.
























Barry cleaning off some bottles.

But all of a sudden there were a zillion bottles. My favorite is the one with purple ink still staining its interior, 100 years later.




















Bottles from one eight-inch-thick (20 cm) level , there were many more broken ones.

Back in Tyler and Allen's outhouse, the number of bottles also dramatically increased.



















Complete chamber pot.

Also found were a clock, a huge brass thingy, a corset, shoes, enema bags, a coin, dolls, figurines, a vaporizer, dishes, a glass pitcher, buttons, a hot water bottle, doll dishes, etc.



















Bottles (I recommend clicking on the picture to see things better).

Also found, the skeletons of dozens of chickens and doves/pigeons. In some cases the dirt around them was stained brown from their decomposed bodies. Apparently some chicken disease struck a coop and the people just chucked them down the outhouse shaft. That must have been very smelly.

I can already tell that healthcare will be one of the topics my report focuses on. There are many prescription and proprietary medicine bottles, along with a large number of medical devices (we must have over a dozen enema devices).
The leaves on the aspens are just turning yellow in Flagstaff. The weather was beautiful and on Saturday Evan suggested we go for a hike. I was feeling all allergy-filled, but the hike took care of that.
























Evan.

Still, the elevation was about 5,000 feet higher than Tucson, so I had to stop a few times and rest.




















Topless!

The geology of Red Mountain is all volcanic and erosion and less than 6,000-years-old if you believe many prominent Republicans.
























I wonder if the Ark drifted by these rocks?

Not to get all theological, but why do Christians worship a fucking genocidal pedophile? Their "God" killed everybody except Noah (including babies) and then, for the second time, sanctioned rampant incest. Of course, then there was the 4,000-year-old "God" sticking his invisible penis inside a teenaged Palestinian girl. That's just grody.

We came across a baby serpent, who did not tempt us to eat forbidden fruits.



















Snake, smaller than it looks.

It calmly posed for a close-up.



















Snakes have a bad reputation they don't deserve.

On the way back I admired the pretty red flowers. There were also many varieties of pretty yellow flowers and some purple asters.



















Red.

There was snow way up high on the peaks, but it is difficult to see here.




















Vista. With many yellow flowers.

Saturday night we made home-made pasta sauce with all organic, local produce. It came out really nice. Then on Sunday morning we went and looked at some sites near Evan's domicile. As always, I admired the pretty ceramics, but carefully put them back where I found them.
























Black on white.

The weather was so nice I didn't want to come home.



















Yellow.

We made chocolate mayonnaise cupcakes and eggplant mozzarella and falafel for lunch. Then I got back in the car and arrived in Tucson four hours and one minute later. Tonight I actually yelled at the television during the Amazing Race. Tomorrow is the last day of the dig and then I get to be inside writing for a while. The fall approaches rapidly.
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