Yesterday, as I was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, half way through my stuff, the power went out.  The generators kicked in but the phones were dead, including ATT cell phones.   I could not pay for my stuff – they took my signature and let me go on my merry way.

The power didn’t come on and the entire town was wondering about this all important Friday night football game.  Playoffs are upon us and we cannot miss a game!
Not to worry, this is “small town U.S.A”, as you all know, and the game went on only a little later than scheduled.  That may have been due to the ambulance getting there late.

The Traverse City Record-Eagle had the following to say:

” Darkness dominated Benzie County on Friday night due to power outages, but light was shining on a Frankfort 21-14 Division 8 football playoff victory over Mio.  …
Cummins Bridgeway of Traverse City had generators to Lockhart Field by 6:30, a half hour before kickoff and Olson electric of Frankfort had the field’s lights up and running.”
In the article Coach Stapleton was quoted as saying: ” Pretty incredible, the only place in the county that had power was at Lockhart Field…”.

Even with all that rain coming down sideways, the stands were loaded with fans.
For me the reason to go was that Tyler and the JV team, who have now moved up to Varsity, were suited up and may have a chance to play.  But after a quarter and a half of getting rained on from the south side, I made my way back to my car and moseyed ( <—–my spellcheck says that’s not a word)  on home to see how Marc was getting on all alone in the dark house, with only Bear to keep him company.

 

I decided to go and see what Ed Moody is up to this week, with Halloween coming and all.  Ed Moody (google him) is the premier pumpkin carver around these parts of the world.

The rain has finally stopped, so this would be a great opportunity to take some pictures.    Ed was actually working on one of the pumpkins as I drove up.

I asked Ed if he ordered the pumpkins or if they were offered to him and he said “neither”.  He goes to all 5 weigh-ins here in Michigan and gets them there.  The 5th weigh-in is right here in Frankfort during Fall Festival always the second weekend in October.

Ed and his wife live on Leelanau Avenue and he estimates that about 15000 visitors come by during the season.  Also he says that they give out a little over 1000 full size candy bars on Halloween night

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He fashioned the teeth from the white pumpkins laying in front of the big head and he sticks them in place with toothpicks. Ed says that they swell with the moisture from the pumpkin and therefore really hold the “teeth” in place.  Oh and he works with only a fillet knife and a boning knife, nothing else.

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And then, across the street from Ed Moody’s house, there is this haunted garden full of headless creatures:

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Back again in Ed’s front yard there is a big pumpkin that Dr. Franke started to carve. Not bad for only his 2nd. pumpkin, but for a dentist, the teeth leave a lot to be desired, heheh

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And all this carving gets done under a golden canopy and with woodpeckers looking for food

 

Get out your pumpkin carving tools and get to work people.  Email me the pictures of your works of art, I’ll post them here on the blog