Home of the JeffCo Vampyre

I have noticed within the past few years that people have lost the ability to complete Jack-O-Lanterns correctly! So I think I should give some tips to make a KILLER pumpkin-face for Halloween!

Tip #1 MOST IMPORTANT!: Buy your pumpkin(s) 1-2 days BEFORE Halloween and carve them out IMMEDIATELY! It is bad to buy your jack-o-lantern pumpkin 2-3 weeks before Halloween and let it sit around for weeks before carving, you will have a stinky smelly rotty mess! And those that carve their jack-o-lanterns 1-2 weeks before Halloween will have a wilty toothless dried out fire-hazard by The Big Day!

Tip #2: Be sure you get all the seeds and stringy "guts" out of the pumpkin before you put a candle in it! If this is not possible, please use a non-flame light inside the jack-o-lantern! Those "guts" dry out and easily catch fire when you light the candle!

Tip #3: Make it a family affair to carve out the jack-o-lanterns! They make all sorts of neat-o tool-sets for this that use kid-friendly cutters and whatnot that get the kids involved with it! I enjoyed jack-o-lantern carving when I was a kid, and all the kids I have done it with loved it too!

I am sure there are more, but these are the few I could scrape off the top of my head! Feel free to add more (because I KNOW there are more!)

Here is a few pointers in proper manners that people seem to be ignoring these days..Maybe a refresher course is required, so here it is!

1.  Driving while chatting away on your cel phone is not only dangerous, but rude and  totally unnecessary!  No one is that important that they need to take a call while operating a 2000 lb projectile!  This also goes for texting as well!

2.  Treating retail servicepeople and restaurant servers as uneducated morons or serving wenches.  They do not NEARLY get paid enough money to tolerate obscenities tossed at them for no reason whatsoever or being belittled!  This also includes chatting on your cel phone in gas stations, supermarkets, restaurants, quick-shops, etc.!

3.  Demanding changes in posted policies in stores and restaurants to suit you!  They do not spend the money and time to make those signs so that some undeserving rube can violate them to suit their purposes!  NO ONE IS THAT SPECIAL!

4.  Because you drive an emormous gas-sucking SUV does not give you the right to cut into lanes of traffic without signalling at the appropriate times!  Signalling a lane-change while already crossing the lines is NOT signalling!  This also goes for ANY high-priced vehicle!  YOU ARE NOT OUTSIDE THE LAW BECAUSE YOU PAID MORE FOR YOUR CAR THAN THE CAR YOU ARE CUTTING OFF!

5.  Contacting your attorney while in the process of getting a ticket is not only inappropriate, but rude to the officer writing you the ticket!  And, yes, THIS HAPPENS A LOT!  Also crying, shouting, or asking the officer if they know who you are or who you play golf with will not get you out of a 110-in-a-60 mph zone!

6. Slowing lanes of interstate traffic so one can rubber-neck a traffic stop or an accident is rude and EXTREMELY dangerous!  If there is a police car present, they do not need the assistance of passing drivers to "do their civic duty"!  The situation is well under control and you need to move on at the posted speed limits!

7. If you ride an import motorcycle and do wheelies on the highway, expect a ticket or a casket, most likely the latter!  You are not impressing ANYONE!  This also goes for souped-up import cars with loud "tin-can" exhausts.  NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR A LAWNMOWER ON STERIODS!

8.  There is no need for a car stereo to be heard in moving traffic!  If you paid more for your speakers than you paid for your car, you do not deserve to drive!  Those stereo systems do not permit the driver to hear emergency vehicles, and become a danger to the traffic around them!  They also wreck one's hearing (most of those stereos pump out more sound than a jet engine!).

This is a short-list of things I could think of that I have seen over the years that have irritated me about the world we now live in....I am sure there are more, and I would LOVE to hear any others anyone else has!

humans being held directly responsible for global warming is an idea that just smacks of pure hubris!  This planet was here long before us and it will be here long after us!  Al Gore winning an Nobel Peace Prize for perpetuating a myth is ludicrous and cheapens the whole award as a whole!  I am curious if I am the only one out there that thinks the idea of humans causing the climate changes on this planet...Well, am I?

Oh, I see how this works in St Louis now!  If you are a "respected member of the community", you are not guilty of murder for "forgetting" your baby in a hot car, but if you're an under-paid and over-worked day-care worker then you are most certainly a vile murderer!  How in the name of all that is holy and unholy could you POSSIBLY forget a baby in a hot car???????  Guess it REALLY is all about your status financially as to who's a murderer and who is just forgetful......Ladies and Gentlemen, MURDER IS MURDER NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY YOU MAKE!!!!!  Let's quit sending out the message that if you are rich and successful, then you can do whatever you want whenever you want...even murder!!!  Those Wash U. researchers are just as much baby-killers as the day-care worker....and nothing anyone can say can make a difference to me or to anyone else with functional brain-cells!  Can you tell I am upset??  I am!!!

I saw the blurb on the news this morning regarding the pending law suit against the Parkway School District, holding them responsible for the suicide of one of their students.  I was quite upset when I heard this.  Why is a school district being held liable for a situation that should have been noticed at home and dealt with as a family?  Is it not a parental responsibility to properly assess their own child's health?  Why should this duty be shirked off on a school district? 

Yay!  Warm weather seems to be oozing back in!  Just in time for my days off work!!  I can actually get some outdoor stuff done!

Tis the season for spring storms, and I am ready for them!  They have a distinct smell to them (like ionized air) and smell em!  Sounds weird, but it's true!  I also have meteorological knees, which are quite accurate...It's mad-painful when the pressure changes too