Music Monday: October Song

Zombie Apocalypse: It matters to me and it should matter to you

If I was smart, I’d be writing about pumpkins right now.

As I’ve mentioned before, the post here on Dee Says that gets the most hits is one about pumpkins that I wrote back in 2009. And I’m using the term wrote very loosely here. A couple photos, a short blurb...that’s it. And it gets more hits then anything else I’ve posted ever. Even in months that are not October. But it’s not just the one post. I have other pumpkin related posts that also get a good number of hits, especially as we get closer to Halloween. The internet has spoken: They like it when I write about pumpkins.

But I don’t want to write about pumpkins.

Instead I’m going to write about Zombies. Not that zombies really have anything to do with Halloween. Except that they are kind of scary and make an easy costume (or an elaborate one. You really can go either way with zombie costumes). 

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I’m pretty concerned about zombies.

Unlike vampires, werewolves, ghosts and other paranormal/scary creatures, zombies could happen. Don’t roll your eyes at me. Science is pretty screwed up. And awesome. I mean, we clone sheep and make glow-in-the-dark cats, for god sake. You think an experiment gone wrong couldn’t create a zombie? Who would in turn make another zombie, and on and on until the world is in shambles and we’re fighting for our lives. And what about the other popular zombie premise: The Virus. A bit more of a stretch. A new, unknown virus that makes humans rise from the dead. But is it possible? Even in the remotest sense? I think you’d be hard pressed to say that it’s not with 100% (no margin for error) certainty. (Seriously, any Virologists out there, I would like an answer, especially if I’m wrong. Please comment!) 

You might think it’s a waste of time to prepare for a horror that does not yet exist. I say when the hordes of walking dead descend on our streets, it may be too late. Sure, you might fumble your way through, becoming an expert slowly but surely (trial by fire, as they say). Or you might end up joining the ranks of the risen dead army sooner, rather then later. I don’t know about you, but I like living.

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“Why would I devote my life to something like this? Well, let me put it this way. I’ve never had my house catch on fire, but I have a smoke alarm. I’ve never been in a car accident, but I have an airbag. I’ve never gotten scurvy, but I drink orange juice at breakfast.” –Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide

If you are prepared for zombies, you are prepared for just about anything life could throw at you. The CDC had it right: Preparing for zombie survival is much like preparing for any other disaster. With a few twists that they strangely left out of their article.

When preparing Zombies, you should start by preparing the same way you would prepare for any disaster: By making a plan. Your plan should include things such as escape routes, evacuation plans, family contacts and meeting places. Make sure you have multiple options for each, in case routes are blocked or meeting places are unsafe. Hint: If you’re already considering a disaster plan ICoZ (In Case of Zombies), it’s not much extra work to include plans for other disasters that could happen in your area. For me that would mean snowstorms, floods and hurricanes. Think about the types of disasters that might happen in your area, and if they might need adding to your plan. Plus, what if there was a mega-disaster like a hurricane hits at the peak of the Zombie Apocalypse. Mother nature doesn’t stop because of zombies, ya know.

Next steps: Make a disaster preparedness kit and hone important survival skills. More on that coming soon.

Are you preparing for zombies?

Farewell October

Tomorrow is the last day of October! How time flies! I posted an update halfway through the month. So, what did I accomplish with the rest of my month?

I installed a new template for this site, which I got from BTemplates. It makes everything look all clean and spiffy and....right. Ya know? Should have done it a long time ago. I also got on top of posting regularly and hope to keep it up in the future.

I not only got caught up on my photo editing (up to this week), but I've gotten them all posted to flickr too! This is an enormous feat, considering that at the end of August I was still posting May's photos. I've also taken a ton of Scavenger Hunt photos. Update post coming soon!

I got my first Moleskine. Actually I got this set of three. I really like them. I suspect that I'd like a regular moleskine better, but these are what I got. I'm using the first one as sort of an art-ish/inspiration journal. I'm drawing inspiration from Wreck This Journal, How to Be an Explorer of the World and Living Out Loud - three books that I hope to buy at some point, but for now I'll have to be content with Amazon's Look Inside! feature. I'm more of a writer and a collector then an traditional artist(i.e. I can't draw), so it's mostly writing and found objects.The Second one is being turned into a day planner, and I already like it way better then any day planner I've ever bought or seen in a store. The third one is thus far blank.

I learned that pealing and slicing avocados is not as difficult as I'd imagined. It wasn't even any more difficult then my regular method of scooping it out with a spoon. Plus, it's prettier. On the flip side, pealing and slicing kiwi fruit is just as annoying as I remember.

    Two Other Things I Learned: 

1. Dancing is the best activity to ward off dementia 
2. The most expensive cow ever sold went for 1.3 million dollars at auction.

New things tried: Trader Vick's Macadamia Nut Liqueur (AWESOME), Curried Squash Soup (My mom made it and it's excellent), Fuzzy Duck Dark and Stormy (it was ok. Wouldn't buy again.),  Vex on The Beach(liked it, tastes like peach juice), and a Propeller Pumpkin Ale (kinda weird, but good. Has a pumpkin pie-ish aftertaste). Although most of the new things I tried were alcoholic, I did not actually do that much drinking this month.

Best Halloween costume story I heard this week: a girl at work has a daughter who is about 4 or 5. Yesterday she says "For Halloween, Phoenix wants to be Cinderella, Snow White, AND a Fireman."  made me lol



Did you have a productive October?

 

Incredible 3D Pumpkin Carving

Recently it came to my attention that my most viewed post is last year's Three Awesome Pumpkins. At first I thought it was just that there was a recent surge because, ya know, it's October. But no, that is my most viewed post of all time. It's had almost a thousand pageviews. For perspective, the next closest has 64. It's kind of insane. So, since it is October, I might as well give the people what they want: More Pumpkins!

Something I just found out about is 3D pumpkin carving. I don't know, maybe I'm late to the game Whatever. They really are amazing. I can't even do the standard jack-o-lantern (seriously, my pumpkins are terrible), so of course I'm impressed. These take some real talent.
 

 These first two I found over at Band Of Cats and they were carved by master pumpkin carver Scott Cummins. Isn't Puss in Boots perfect? And the tiger...the detail! Love it. Speaking of Scott Cummins, click on the link to see his 2007 gallery, and explore the site to see more of his amazing work. Like this turtle pumpkin from last year:

There's also photos of them all lit up, which are super cool too.

If you like your pumpkins a little more gruesome, check out Ray's Pumpkins.



He's the two time winner of the Food Network's Outrageous Pumpkin Challenge show and he has a tutorial on 3D pumpkin carving.

Have you ever attempted a 3D pumpkin? What's the coolest pumpkin you've ever seen? Share in the comments!

Happy October!

Photo by Brian Hathcock

Happy October! The leaves are changing, pumpkins are showing up all over the place (and the Kentville pumpkin people have started to pop up!), and Thanksgiving is next weekend! I'm still waiting for that crisp autumn air (today it's going to be 25°C...seriously, what's up with that?), but otherwise, my favorite season is definitely underway!