Is that dog grimacing? Read on.
At Readlarrypowell.com we see Halloween as a fun holiday with no sinister intent – no satanic intentions, at all. Maybe we don’t read enough of the right literature, eh?
Or, perhaps for us it’s a fun holiday because we grew up in the 1950s and 1960s when all the big threats were overseas and movie theaters were filled with such chills as “The Tingler,” “Not of This Earth” and “Invasion of the Saucermen.” Oh, and “I Was a Teeenage Werewolf.”
You know – real terrifying things. If we wanted goosebumps, we plopped down 50 cents for the double-feature at the Strand Theater, Texarkana’s “second-run house,” to use a now-defunct movie term.
Nope, Halloween wasn’t sinister – it was fun. Heck, once I was even “The Wild Man From Borneo.” Grrrrrrr. Sent chills up your spine, didn't it.
That was at the Highland Park Elementary School Halloween Carnival in Texarkana – yep, we had actual Halloween carnivals in those days not “fall festivals.” I was in the sixth grade and was volunteered to sit in an unlit fake cage in the dark basement of the school and growl and make a racket and scare the passers-by. Possibly the greatest performance of my life.At any rate, rather than present our usual Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap feature this weekend, I figured we’d post some photos of costumed critters. For some reason people love to dress their dogs for Halloween and show ‘em off. Not sure why nobody costumes a cat, but, we do have a dog costumed as a cat.
Now that mug shot appears to be a dog grimacing about her Shrek costume but her human, Jacque Hagerty says< “She’s really not as mad as she seems. I just caught her on a badly-timed blink. I will admit that she hates the costume though – it’s Shrek, in case you didn’t recognize it.”
Well, of course, I didn’t. When I was a kid (and when my kids were kids!), Shrek hadn’t been invented. We had to depend on the old school costumes: Zorro, skeleton, hobo, princess (that was a tough sell in a house of boys)...
That photo of Jessi was taken two Halloweens ago, Jacque says. Still cute, though.
***I’ve known Melissa Boesch since she was a teenager – three or four years ago. I’m kidding. We go back further than either of us needs to admit, though I am, of course, much, much older.
The whole time I’ve known her she’s been an animal fan. In particular she is a big fan of her Beagle, the fabulous Nemo.
And, as you can see here, she keeps a camera handy when Nemo is around.Well, you asked for it,” Melissa wrote. “Here is Nemo in various costumes, past and present.”
Nemo’s attire, as described by Melissa:--“Chinese costume – this was Halloween 2010. A friend brought this outfit back to us from China, so it is authentic.
--“Superdog – one of my favorites.”
--“Rooster.”
--“Harley biker due – this was one of his first costumes, so he is 1 ½ - 2 years old in this picture.-- “Fisherman – this is our costume for this year. Unfortunately, none of the photos I have show both his outfit and the wagon to their best advantage. His fishing vest is complete with lots of pockets, and the hat has actual fishing flies attached to it. The wagon has been made
into his "boat", with blue waves down the sides and his bait bucket and fishing pole inside.”
As you can see, Melissa and Nemo have a longstanding tradition of costuming for Halloween.
Kind of nifty when you think about it – a human enjoying the company of a costumed dog and a costumed dog going along for the ride n a red wagon.
***
Did I mention “pirate costume” earlier?Well, here are some examples of the local prairie’s pirates.
Or, as Donna Bean wrote, “Here are some costumed critters for you.
“Captain Scraggly Beardm feared leader of The Dastardly Trinity River Horde.”Yep, that’s the Horde all posed for the photo.
“Captain Scraggly Beard is played by Emmett. The Trinity River Horde is played by Oliver, Dickens and Lance.
“Emmett and Oliver live with Marlene Bean and Dickens and Lance are mine.”
***
That cat?He belongs to Karen and Dennis Lee.
Karen writes, “This is Barkley, our 17-year-old, 15-pound 'Rottie' mix! Haha! That's what he thinks he is!
"He hates cats and was not happy about this costume but he'll do anything for a piece of chicken.
"We adopted him 15 years ago from Homeward Bound Animal Rescue. He is THE BEST PET IN THE WORLD!! He is our angel!!”
***
Then there is this dog Cricket – we got this available adoptable’s costume photo from Rekka Melby of Take me Home Pet Rescue.
“This is my foster dog Cricket. I've been fostering her since August 2010 after we rescued her and her 8 pups from an abandoned house. She is super sweet, loving and affectionate and is available for adoption through Take me Home Pet Rescue. Folks can email [email protected] for info.”
So, what’s the story on Cricket’s family tree? “If you're asking about breed, most folks guess pittie, Boston Terrier and boxer -- who really knows though?” Rekka says. “! I've come across a lot of dogs but don't think I've met one with a bigger heart than Cricket. She just wants to love you and be loved; she's a real sweetheart. About 2 years old, 38 pounds, housetrained, knows basic commands. Sadly we have not had one serious inquiry on her over the past 14 months. I've been really surprised as she's a great dog! It's probably because people think she looks to have some pittie in her and some folks just don't understand that she has 4 legs and a tail just like any other dog!”
***
Finally we come to a costuming partnership. We got this photo from Liz Zelandais of Madison, Wisc.
Liz wrote, “This is my coonhound Jazz. Her costume is just a simple veil--she won't stand for much more. We do volunteer work with visitations to schools, nursing homes, etc., through our local Dane County Humane Society as ‘Jazz & the Fairy Dogmother’.”Well, of course, you really want to know a little more about these two. Jazz is a “rescue from the human society” who enjoys “a ride in the car with head out the window, sausage biscuit at McDonald’s, 3 ½-mile run (which she actually likes), steak from the table, nap in a sunbeam” and, Liz says, Jazz will “then whine because she knows that SOMEWHERE some dog has it better than she does.”
Before you jump to a conclusion, as I did, that Liz is wearing a costume, when I asked her about it she replied, “OK, you’re on to me. The nice suit I wear to my UW-Madison job is the ‘costume’ and Fairy Dogmother is the real me.”
Happy Halloween, all you animal people and all you animals. animals dressed as people and people dressed as animals.
***
(Closed circuit to one reader: Yes, in that costume, you look quite appropriate as that end of the horse.)
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(Next week we return to Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap, so send your photos of the slumbering treasures to [email protected] and include your name and info about the critter/critters. Remember, sleep isn’t always something that happens to other people.. It doesn't happen to insomniacs.)
***
A personal note just after the final World Series game and if you don't care about baseball, don't bother to read this: I work with words but I am incapable of telling you just how lousy I feel about the Texas Rangers. In my cartoon mind I am imagining the door opening on the team plane on the flight home and a few pitchers being hurled out into the night air toward hard splashdowns in the Mississippi River. Of course, if they fall like they pitched, they'll miss the target.
Baseball is a team game but some parts of the team stunk. And if the Rangers give one of those parts the $80 million he allegedly wants for his next contract to pitch, every Texas fan ought to avoid the Ballpark like it was the birthplace of bedbugs.
Despair. That's what I feel. Thank you for allowing me to express my disappointment. And, as we close the 2012 season, one more time, "Go Rangers" and you know where some of you can go. Oh, I feel bad about saying that but I'm not making millions to hit batters and put my team behind the 8-ball by never winning the opening game of a series.
Look, I'm gloomy about this. But Martha is angry -- she's angry in a two-word phrase, the second of which is "off." She couldn't stay in the room with the radio or the TV.
I love baseball. I've loved it since before there were color broadcasts and before there was a big league franchise in Texas and before designated hitters. I will stop in a park to watch kids I don't even know play -- it is a great game, a sport where individuals become teams and teams become adored and, yet, at the end of the entire major league season, when it was all over, when all 30 teams had played their 162-game schedules, there was just one champ and then there was everybody else. The fact that the Texas Rangers are lumped with "everybody else" again makes me want to cry. I'm probably not alone. And I'm not just talking about the gamblers. Help me off this soapbox before it collapses and I hang my spikes in my stirrup socks and wind up on the DL. Heck, this particular night, contrary to the famous line from A League of Their Own, there is crying in baseball.
