Happy Birthday Wisdom!

My puppy girl turned five this year! Hard to believe it's been that long since she was born in my bedroom.

(These photos were actually taken back in October, since fall photos of Wisdom always seem to turn out the best. This year, I decided to get shots of her before the leaves turned all brown and brittle.)

The Bachelor

I snapped these photos just three days before Nugget's new friend, Chism, arrived. As such, these are the last photos of our boy when he was the lone bachelor on the grounds.

Meet Chism

Guess what--we cloned our burro!

It certainly looks like we did, at least. Though our burro team was rather hoping for a jenny (female donkey) to take on the role of companion to our dear Nugget, we were informed by Longhopes that they wanted to give us a gelding instead. They told us about two burros in particular which they thought would make good companions to our own donkey. Our team reviewed all of the information on the two geldings and even played around with the idea of visiting before making a final decision; however, with the cold weather moving in so quickly and lack of availability of time, we decided to go with our gut and pick the gelding that had stood out to the entire group.

And so we have Chism! He arrived at the museum on the seventh of this month and hit it off real well with our Nugget boy. There is, of course, still a bit of restlessness amongst the two, but Nugget has established himself as the dominant and Chiz seems to have accepted those boundaries.

Say hello to Chism

Nugget (left) and his new buddy Chism

Chism begging for treats at the gate

Chism (foreground) and Nugget grazing in the round pen

The dynamic duo out to pasture together for the first time (Nugget is heads, Chiz is tails)

Clownin' Around

For the most part, I start working as soon as I hit the haunt and don't stop until I finally get into my vehicle and head home. Whether it be one of our directors, my fellow Fire & Safety person, or myself, someone always has a task or three for me to do. I have, of course, wanted to get some photos of the rest of the staff (or at least those I've befriended) this entire season, but have not had spare time. CoolBreeze and I broke that pattern on the twentieth, however. We arrived ridiculously early in the afternoon so as to finish our tasks well ahead of time, giving us some spare moments in which to photograph our fellow haunters. Here are a few of my favorite shots from my own photography ventures.

Giggles the chainsaw wielding clown.

Giggles and Gigi -- don't they make an adorable pair?

Our two entry fellows (and some of my favorite guys to boot) with Gigi.

Three of my favorite actors taking a stroll across the property.

What I've Done

(Props to anyone that catches the song reference in the title.)


Whilst working on my other posts earlier this month, I thought to myself, "Self, I think perhaps it's time to get some photos of what's had you so busy that you've hardly had time for photography this year." This isn't quite a photo essay, but is an explanation of sorts.

How are all of these rather varied subjects connected, you might wonder? And further, how in the world have they been the cause of the author's busyness?

Back in June, I got involved in an industry I hardly gave a thought previously: the world of haunted houses. That's right, those cheesy Halloween attractions that attract the souls who enjoy subjecting themselves to scares. Until I started working at this particular haunted house, I'd never even entered one of these supposedly enjoyable venues. I very reluctantly started by doing a bit of clean-up work for a friend and kept getting dragged back to help out. In the blink of an eye, I was working eight to thirteen hour days at the haunt, doing everything from clean-up to construction. Before long, I knew how to use table saws, circular saws, speed squares and such. I was laying roof ties, climbing twenty-four foot ladders, applying siding, and so much more. I even have a tool belt now.

But it didn't stop with construction; my fire marshal friend wound up being put in charge of the fire and safety team that the haunt requires during operation. Naturally, I got asked to join her team.

The twentieth was our first operational day of the season. I've been able to watch our customers and actors from the roofs of the haunt (dubbed the "security catwalk"), which has been an educational experience. (I bet you didn't know that about ninety percent of the groups that go through haunted houses hang onto one another for dear life the entire time.) While I still don't understand folks' attraction to being scared, I must say that I'm grateful to our patrons for visiting our haunt. Without them, we wouldn't be able to do what we do.

As a conclusion, feel free to check out The Haunted Mines website and if you're in the area, come by and visit some time.

Fire Rehab

Some recent shots! Just took these yesterday while visiting my fire marshal friend at her station. This is one of the three pieces of apparatus they have stored at said location.

Fire rehab is a section of the department dedicated to the well-being of the firefighters. Rehab sets up on the fireground to provide firefighters with nourishment, rehydration, and any medical attention they may require (ie: treatment for smoke inhalation, heat stroke, etc.)

This particular fire rehab truck is not active, but is retained by the department as one of their antique pieces.

Balloon Glo

I'm not working chronologically in my effort to get caught up on my blog posts. I will be posting pictures that I snapped throughout August later, but for now, I'd like to share my most recent shots.

Anyone from Colorado knows about the Balloon Glo--for anyone else, here in Colorado, we have this massive gathering of balloonists annually called the Balloon Classic. I didn't make it to the mass ascension the Classic hosts, but my sisters and I did make it to the Balloon Glo. The Balloon Glo being the inflation of the balloons without ever launching them.

One of my rare highly edited photos.