My fave treaters

The kids next door 

Happy Halloween

 Happy Halloween Everyone.  Sorry to be so scarce lately but the holiday does keep me busy.  Today I dressed up Liathach the wonder horse as "Death Rides a Pale Horse".  For Liathach's part, since he is a white horse, not a pale horse ( that refers to a palomino), he made sure he was covered In urine and poop stains that turned his otherwise alabaster coat to something resembling old cigarettes. I appreciate his efforts to get into character as death's mount.

So without further adieu I give you - "Death Rides a Pale Horse".

Happy Halloween to all my dear readers and everyone who has visited during the countdown to Halloween.  Hope the spirit of the season possesses you!

Skele's with dogs, birds, and in chairs

The skeletons of Manitou Springs just keeps coming.  Today our team of three goes out to judge so I wanted to make sure to share this last extensive group with you.

Here paying homage to Manitou's hippy past is Mountain High Gallery and Gifts' meditating hippy.  The New York Times once referred to the town as "Hippy Mayberry" and it kind of stuck.  No more hippies remain - just a lot of liberal old boomers who support the arts and education.  It starts the first of my series called skeletons with dogs.

Here is the Manitou Outpost's morning sunshine skeleton.  I like her fuzzy dog slippers.

Ruxton Trading Post has this dogs gnawing on the bone of a competitor's skeleton. They just put a cowboy hat on their window skeleton - a minimal effort in my opinion.

Mountain High Sportswear wrapped their skeleton as a mummy and gave him a cute dog ghost companion.

Next we have a group of skeleton I like to call those in chairs. Bela Terra has an angel of a skeleton with a rather menacing skull.

Adams Mountain Cafe, a great place for vegan eats and one of the only businesses on the east side of town participating, has this lovely day of the dead painted skeleton.

The Vault has this dapper gal dressed in their boutique finery sipping on a mule.

The Hemp Store which already had that cute little stoner, has added a seated witch to the display.

The Olive Tap has this cute little chef seated on the wall next to a pallet?? Strange.

Finally here is a little section call skeletons and birds.  We've seen this pirate before, only this year he is wearing his mask.

Eagle Dancer is also reusing a previous design with this dead frontiers man and his crow friend.

Well must go judge.  Who is your favorite this year??

Christmas Rearing Its Ugly Head

Snow softly falls all around the graveyard as Jack 

Frost once again screws with Halloween. Our high today will be 14 degrees.  Hopefully, all this snow will put out the fires still raging in Colorado.

Skeleton Saturday

 Here are some fun skeletons I met while braving the miserable weather yesterday to wander the streets of Manitou.

Swirl picked up on a theme of 2020  - the Karen.  She has written a very poor review of the business.

Twin bears also has a 2020 theme with this depressed incline hiker.  The incline is a 2,500 foot staircase that leaves from Manitou and has been closed a lot this year - first due to covid and then a little wildfire in early October.

Armadillo Ranch has brought back the Grateful Dead theme they did last year.

But they added this little gem with no hands.

Manitou Springs Realty which always has an excellent design has this bit of spider food.  Looks like he has been sucked dry!

Olde Thyme Photo Shop has paid tribute to our frontline workers and first responders.  That is a wildland firefighter and a nurse.

The Loop Mexican Restaurant has this amigo shit faced and socially distanced.

Our new business called Barn + Swallow has put together a skeleton affectionately known as Janis Joplin.  It is a business with a purpose, a nonprofit that helps woman with job training and support.

Cherokees has a pirate and a window filled with witches and magic.

Spooky Masks

Manitou is full of spooky masks this year perhaps in response to covid.  Most of these won't keep you safe But they are a lot of fun.

Deja Vu

Here are some of the skeletons you have seen before as they are repeats of years past.  However, if you are one of my new followers, you might be charmed as many of these design either won or received honorable mentions last year.

Commonwheel Artist Co-op has used this skeleton for four years now.  Last year, I commented that with all that creative talent, you think they could come up with something new. Still waiting for that!

Southwest Silver has a Day of the Dead fortune teller.  Last year they received an honorable mention.

She is joined by this vampire fellow with crystle mohawk.  He was their skeleton two years ago.

Whickerbill has some nice spooky stuff going on in the window.

Their skeletons, Bogey and Bacall are back again - last year they received an honorable mention.

Mountain West has brought back Harry Potter, last years first place winner.

Theos Toys has resurrected their pirate for the third year.

 Yesterday our Emma Crawford Challenge team spent the afternoon trekking about Manitou using the clues to pick out features of the city.  We think we performed pretty well on most and were only stumped by a few.

Here are a couple of snaps of the team.  We named ourselves "The Royal Dead".