LongTom

They have to be breathing, and don't paw me....

Can't shake the image of Cheeky and Darth Vader.

Don't throw them out, Lily, just paint over the top! (Love your drybrush job on the gargoyles, btw. I'm sure your tombstones are similarly excellent.)

My one innovation in halloween decorating is quick and dirty faux granite. Looks like this.

Directions on how to do the painting are here.

Can't wait to see your pictures, Patrick!

BWHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA, Dorian! That's just evil!

(trying really, really hard not to imagine the threaded socket on the kitten)

Such a wee thing, and already stalking mice!

Mullah Nasrudin was seated among his friends one afternoon, sipping Turkish coffee and discussing the concept of marriage. Nasrudin leaned back, stretched, and said, "Ah, my friends, let me tell you of my search for the perfect wife. In my youth I was quite particular about what qualities my perfect wife must have. She must be beautiful above other women. She must be intelligent and well educated. She must have an ample dowry to bring to the marriage." And on and on, quality after quality.

"For years, I searched for this woman among women. And then, one day," Nasrudin declared, "I found her! The perfect woman! There she was...beautiful, rich, young, charming, well traveled, a refined intellect...everything I had been searching for. And single!" His friends leaned forward, excitedly. "But Nasrudin, here you are, still without a wife! What happened? Why didn't you marry her?"

Nasrudin shrugged. "She was looking for the perfect man."

Those ghosts from Party City, that travel back and forth on a single line? You know, the ones that look like a cartoon and wouldn't scare a three-year old? They don't have to wear their original shroud...

Some preliminary pics of my in-process Frankenstein lab. Things still need final assembly and painting, rather than just being stacked on top of each other, but here's the general idea.

Your right Tom it was very expensive..Four bags of blood over three days was over 15 grand. However im still taking iron four times a day and hoping I will not have to have more blood again.

Good Lord, four times a day?!?! Well, that would explain your magnetic personality...

I found out some more information about "Replacement Credits" aka donating blood in someone's name.

- Some blood banks participate in this program, some don't. Red Cross does not. You'll have to find one in your area that does.

- The size of the credit is between 20 and 30 dollars. Appalling, when you consider how much they charge per unit to put it in.

If you are going to be donating blood anyway -- and you should be donating blood anyway, provided you are eligible-- you may as well make the donation go a little farther by taking advantage of the credit ... provided it makes sense. In my case, the nearest participating blood bank seems to be two hours away. It would cost more than the 20 dollar credit just to drive there, so it's not a good option for me. Your mileage may vary.

Dear David, Kim, and family,

That's what friends are for.

I wish you all good health, much prosperity, and great joy.

Today's news, for those of you following this topic:

I'm pleased to report that the first set of contributions have been sent and received. The response from Black Syren's family can be seen here.

Together we raised and sent four hundred fifteen dollars, as well as some nice cards expressing well wishes. This total does not include the auction of Capt Bo's fine sword. I apologize for not being able to get to that just yet. I really didn't want to fire half-cocked on that venture, and risk letting such an excellent contribution go for less than its true value because I didn't know what I was doing.

I want to acknowledge and thank those of you who have stepped up to the challenge. These fine individuals deserve recognition:

* Haunting Lily

* Rusty Barrels

* Capt Bo of the WTF Co

* Anonymous donor

You all have much to be proud of. It is my fond wish that giving of your heart will open you all to abundance in your own lives as well. Also, thank you for extending your trust to me, in this age of a scammer behind every keyboard. I know it seemed a crackpot idea. Thank you again.

In the words of Long Tom...

"We seem to have created pirate flag tinkertoys".

Uhh...I don't get it?

Okay, maybe not Tinkertoys. Colorforms, then. (anybody remember those?) Meaning creative cut and paste work with existing art. A skull from here, a sword from there... Mix'n'match. Plug'n'play. Paint by numbers. That sort of thing.

For what it's worth, I don't much mind the reuse of the skull I drew, particularly as I consider that one a first draft. (Blast it, why does my skull look better on your flag than it did on my own? ) Others may feel differently. Folks may want to consider executing their own rendition of the final version, once the general layout has been established with the available "template" material, as it were.

Lily, WOW! (prostrates self, kowtows before the goddess of haunting) we're not worthy!

Oct 1st. I can finally start getting stuff out of the attic without getting The Arched Eyebrow. My boys and I are working on a Frankenstein's lab machine.

Did my entire weight workout last night, for the first time in several weeks. (I've been slacking.) It felt good to be back on track.

We do have some longer term initiatives to check in on...

I'm just getting started with the auction of Bo's sword.

The benefit music CD sounds very intriguing.

Iron Bess, did you get any answers from the legal eagles at Disney?

It has been a month, give or take a few days, which means it is probably time for me to forward to Syren the donations that have come in thus far. I'd like to thank the folks who have stepped up to the challenge. You are good people.

I still have some matching funds available to double your donation with, if anyone feels moved to join in now. Give five, I'll make it ten. Give ten, I'll make it twenty.

(Okay, to be perfectly honest, it's not like I was going to withhold any of that second hundred dollars, when the time came. But I did hope that it would draw a few more of you out of the woodwork, who otherwise are thinking "What good is ten dollars going to do?" Again, every little bit helps. Many small donations add up to one big result.)

Any takers, please PM me for logistics.

(takes out list, crosses out item number 1: "Rum" and replaces it with "Sense Of Perspective.")

Broke out a 15x4 foot section of concrete patio with a maul, and carted the shards to a safe place in the yard. I'd say that counts for something.

Some seriously odd yogurt. Plum, honey, and ... lavender. Says it promotes calm. Yeah, calm would be a good thing for me.

I love all sorts of smells. Whenever a smell enhances a situation I revel in it. It's like it makes the world more vibrant and colorful.

Garlic and onions frying for a fresh batch of spaghetti ... vanilla, egg and sugar, for homemade ice cream ... cut grass and a watered lawn at the end of a day of yardwork ... nice perfume ... sun-warmed skin...

Aye.

creme brulee. Mmmmm....

Arguing with people online. very bad habit, but hard to break.

It was left by an evangelical time traveller from the future, who just wanted to seriously mess with the heads of us darwinists.

Bo, that is a princely gesture, worthy of the gallant Captain. I am humbled before you.

Yes, I will take that on, as you wish.

However, that brings up another point. Figures like Bo quotes are getting big enough that structuring donations as a charitable contribution for tax purposes would be helpful. No reason not to extract as much "silver lining" out of these clouds as possible, and if Uncle Sam is ready to assist, he's welcome to join in, too. Does anyone have any information on whether it's possible to set up such a beast for this sort of situation?

I've gotten some good advice in the last hour or so. Red-Handed Jill astutely points out that the nature of the problem changed with the magnitude of the debt. This isn't going to be the sort of thing that can be dashed off in a month of ad-hoc passing the hat.

(Though I'm under the impression there may be a serious cash flow crunch right around the time of the surgery. That may be the time for a quick donation drive, to cover immediate living expenses. )

We'll get this figured out eventually.