Colorado Hauntings – Happy Halloween
Celebrating a spooktacular Halloween all month on My Say What Blog, so today is the final haunting article about Halloween. What’s not to love about Halloween? One day out of the year you can dress up and pretend to be anything you want and people don’t think you’re crazy. Okay, well, not as crazy as if it wasn’t Halloween!
One of the highest haunts in Colorado is the Stanley Hotel at an altitude of over 7,500 feet. Bawawawa! You know the one that claims to be the 
inspiration for Stephen’s King’s The Shining (REDRUM – MURDER) . The Hotel was built in 1909 by Freelan and Flora Stanley of Stanley Steamer fortune. Originally, they came to Colorado in an attempt to alleviate the symptoms of Freelan’s tuberculosis. They fell in love with Colorado and purchased property and built a home. The Stanley was built as a summer resort for guests Freelan and Flora entertained during their extended vacations in Colorado.
It’s believed Flora haunts the hotel to this day, enjoying one of her favorite pastimes of playing the piano late at night when no one is around. Tales abound of visitors claiming sounds of revelry occurring in the empty ballroom. Room 217 is purported to be haunted by the ghost of a long-term housekeeper. If you gain her favor, she’ll help you unpack. If not…. Well…. It is the room allegedly occupied by Stephen King at one time. Inspiring The Shining?
I don’t know about that, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up as I took photos of The Stanley Hotel outside in broad daylight.
Want to know more about haunted places in Colorado? Click on the link.
Speaking of Hauntings!
Did you know, most present day Halloween traditions are traceable to the ancient Celtic day of the dead? Halloween consists of mysterious customs, but
each has a history, or at least a story behind it.
Take wearing costumes, and roaming from door to door demanding treats. This behavior can be traced to the Celtic period and the first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and about, along with fairies, witches, and demons. Offerings of food and drink were left out to placate them. As the centuries wore on, people began dressing like these creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drink. This is where the practice of trick-or-treating began. To this day, vampires, witches, ghosts, and skeletons are among the favorite costumes.
Our Halloween also retains activities from the original harvest holiday of Samhain, such as bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, (pumpkins) as well as the fruits, nuts, and spices for cider associated with the day. Although at my house, hot chocolate is pretty popular, since Halloween almost guarantees the first snow of the year.
Looking for a fun Halloween Read? A Witch’s Journey is full of meddling ghosts, shapeshifters, sexy witch, a ruggedly-handsome Navy SEAL. An exciting story of redemption, wildlife rescue and Halloween festivals. Available at Amazon.com, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. And I let you in on a little secret. A Witch’s Journey is available in audiobook, so grab yours! After you’ve read A Witch’s Journey, you’ll want the sequel, A Witch’s Holiday Wedding, also available in audiobook Amazon.com, 
Well, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to don my vampire costume, custom fitted fangs and pull up a stool in the shadows. With a candy bowl beside me, I sneakily turn on the fog machine. Out of the mist, I’ll greet the little trick or treaters or scare the bejeebers out of the older ones with bats hanging over head and screeching on my command. Won’t you join me? Happy Halloween!
Views: 1010
Posted in For Fun, Holidays, My Say What Blog and tagged All Hallows Eve, Colorado, ghosts, Halloween, Haunting, Lobster Cove, shifters, Stanley Hotel, wildlife, Witches by Tena Stetler with 35 comments.
WOW! RomCon 2016 in Denver – What a Blast!
I survived my first RomCon in Denver, but barely. What fun! Friday, I participated in Author Jeopardy, wow did I learn a thing or two about romance authors. Then did my best to gather all the items for the Scavenger Hunt. No such luck, but met lots of new authors and didn’t do too bad collecting the items. I participated in Author’s on the Hot Seat, where readers posted questions to us authors until nearly midnight. Yep, nearly turned into a pumpkin by the end of that one.
Saturday morning I was up at the crack of dawn to join in the fun. First up I attended a panel on the publishing industry, then on to Speed Date an Author and the book signing. It was a whirlwind but I enjoyed every minute of it. Met bunches of readers, sold lots of copies of A Demon’s Witch, A Witch’s Journey. Since Charm Me is only in ebook, I gave out charmed book marks on it and all my books. I certainly hope the readers enjoy them as much as I did writing them. I talked about my new holiday release A Witch’s Holiday Wedding. You can pick up a copy December 9th or pre-order sometime in November, I’ll tell you as soon as I know. Fair enough?
This was the first time I’ve participated in a large group author signing. What a rush! Readers asking questions about your book, you asking what they like to read and how your books fit with
their interests. I learned that 99.9 percent of the readers attending the conference like, no… Love series. They like to get to know the characters and enjoy their adventures, book after book. I was over the moon to hear that since A Demon’s Witch is a four book series, the second of which I hope to have out in 2017 with the others following in a timely manner. A Witch’s Journey has only a sequel so far, A Witch’s Holiday Wedding out December 9th, as I said above. But you never know, other characters from those stories are haunting my thoughts and dreams regularly. LOL
Hey, don’t miss the multi-author signing in Colorado Springs at The Gallery in Cottonwood Center for the Arts,
427 E Colorado Ave., Colorado Springs CO 80903 on Saturday, October 8th from 11 a. m. to 2 p.m. I’ll be there signing copies of A Demon’s Witch and A Witch’s Journey. Please come by, stop and say Hi. I’d love to met and chat with you. Want to know more? Check out http://www.jmarsink.com/
On to Halloween we go, I have a hauntingly good post planned for the Halloween Blog Hops I am participating in. Snarkology Halloween Hop, October 26th – 31st and A Haunting Halloween Hop, October 24th – 31st.
And something different for fellow author, Chrys Fey, A Blogfest. Her challenge for the Blogfest is the host blog owner, me, will answer the question: “If I were a Mobster…” My answer is Death in Beauty, Profile of a Female Assassin to be posted October 21st on Author’s Secrets. You don’t want to miss it. Just click the Author Secrets tab on October 21 th and take a peek. Check back often this month for haunting tales from Colorado.
Views: 35
Posted in For Fun by Tena Stetler with 3 comments.
Dog Walking – Loose Dogs
Okay all you dog lovers, I need some advice. Over the past several years, I take my dog for a walk early morning. We really enjoy the crisp morning air and the quiet, peaceful surroundings of the neighbor before everyone is up and active, and the empty neighborhood park. Increasingly, there are more people walking their dog during our time out, which is fine. I like talking to them as we pass by. But there seem to be an increase of loose dogs, in the neighborhood and at the park, even though there are signs stating all dogs are to be leashed. There are also leash laws in effect in the city. I think that’s best for the enjoyment of all person’s and dogs at the park that people keep their dogs leashed. After all it’s for everyone’s enjoyment. It’s not a very big park, but is a wonderful place to walk several circuits around it on a nice even sidewalk.
My dog happens to like to play on the playground equipment, run up the stairs and barrel through the tunnel. Of course, we always make sure there are no small children playing on the equipment or in the tunnel. Safety first. Though my dog loves children, I realize not all children like dogs.
We’ve met several elderly individuals, carrying sticks to protect themselves from loose dogs. Doesn’t take much for a large or medium dog to knock down an older person. When did we become so inconsiderate of others?
My question is this, am I wrong to ask people who have their dogs off leash to put them on lead while others with dogs on leash are enjoying the park? I know dogs love to run, but there are plenty of off leash dog parks in our city for the purpose. In fact there is a dog park not more than three miles from our park.
My dog doesn’t like dogs running up on her and she will let them know it. So far my run ins have been without harm to anyone involved. However, to my great surprise, some of the dog owners are less than cooperative when asked to put their dog on lead. Going so far as to state,“if their dog got hurt, or killed, it was their own fault, and not to worry about it.” Yes, those were their exact words. To say I was shocked, is an understatement. Don’t worry about it!!?! What do they think such an incident would do to my dog’s psyche and mine? What kind of dog owner says such a thing?
Unfortunately, I’ve seen several incidents recently of loose dog vs. leashed dog turning ugly. From what I’ve read, it’s not unusual for a dog to be defensive when a strange dog runs up to them, ignoring canine good manners, regardless of the intentions of the dog.
It’s getting to the point that I spend our early morning walks nervously watching continuously for loose dogs, rather than enjoying the walk with my dog. So do I forfeit my walks for safety sake, or do I risk asking the people to put their dogs on leash? Leaving my dog at home seems very unfair.
I’d appreciate your thoughts! Okay, I’m putting my soap box away, at least until next week. Have a wonderful week!
Views: 275
Posted in Food for Thought, For Fun, My Say What Blog and tagged Dog, off leash, on leash, park, walk by Tena Stetler with 2 comments.
Camping a Recipe for Summer Treats & Reads
My hubby, our dog, bird, turtle and I love to trade the jungle of civilization for a few days of paradise relaxing in the cool quiet of a Rocky Mountain campsite with a mesmerizing book and evening campfire. That’s my idea of Summer Treats and Reads. Okay, let me qualify what camping is to us. We have a fifth wheel trailer with all the creature comforts required, left tent camping behind a long time ago. LOL
Favorite camping areas in Colorado are: Rocky Mountain National Park a stones throw from Estes Park is a great hiking and biking destination. Twin Lakes in the Pike & San Isabel National Forest is wonderful for kayaking and mountain biking. Both these areas are dry camping, no services but with a generator or solar panels you are all set.
Another fun place is Steamboat Lake, a Colorado State Park, the kayaking is good, hiking with your furry friend is excellent. Electrical is available on some sites. Not far away is Pearl Lake, nice kayaking area, lots of wildlife early morning or around dusk. No motorized boats allowed. It’s also primitive/dry camping but there are several sites large enough for a 30 foot fifth wheel trailer.
These are just a few of the exciting camping area’s in Colorado. Last week we enjoyed a fun filled vacation at Lake Vallecito which I detailed in the prior post.
Mueller State Park is close and a great weekend trip to the mountains. Cheyenne Mountain State Park is centrally located for visiting all the Pikes Peak Region has to offer and is open all year around. It is usually our final destination of the season. The park offers full hookups, tent pad and campfire ring on each site.
Now for the Treats: Chocolate Cherry Dumpcake Recipe. Quick and easy.
2 cans (21 ounces each) cherry pie filling
1 package (about 15 ounces) Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake mix or your favorite Chocolate Cake mix.
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 X 9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Spread the pie filling in prepared pan, top with cake mix only, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. pour butter over top, covering cake mix as much as possible.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool at least 15 minutes before serving. Make 12 to 16 servings. Now for just my husband, myself and a couple of friends, we cut this recipe in half and use a 9X9 inch baking pan or a cast iron dutch oven. Yummy!
For Reads: Obviously, I’d like you to check out my books,
A Demon’s Witch, Charm Me (its on sale for .99), A Witch’s Journey. Otherwise, The Wild Rose Press has lots of wonderful authors with a wide variety of books. I like cozy and regular mysteries, paranormal romances books categorized as fun reads. I’m not into thrillers or weepy books. Happily Every After and feel good novels are what I read, anything else, I can get by turning on the television or internet and I don’t call that entertainment. Just me.
Please visit the other blogs listed below for fun, games and prizes. To be entered to win the $10.00 Amazon gift card I’m giving away, like my facebook page and sign up for my quarterly newsletter on my webpage at https://www.tenastetler.com. Winner will be drawn at random and notified at the end of the blog hop. Also the author’s of The Wild Rose are giving away a Kindle Fire as a grand prize. Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter below. Good Luck! See you next time with tales of the unexplained. Got your attention now! <giggles maniacally>
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Check out all the fabulous writers and their blogs
in the SUMMER BLOG HOP below!
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RV Memory | Visit blog
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Tricia Schneider | Visit blog
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Anna Durands Spunk & Hunks | Visit blog
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Judy Ann Davis Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Spicy Summer Treats with Mia Downing | Visit blog
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Linda Nightingale. . . Wordsmith | Visit blog
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Jana Richards – Journeys with Jana | Visit blog
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Summer Memories of books well read @ Peggy jaeger. com | Visit blog
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Summer on Cape Cod ~ Kathryn Knight books | Visit blog
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Summer Fun at the Beach, with Katie OSullivan | Visit blog
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I Believe Ill Go Canoeing – C. B. Clark | Visit blog
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Summertime Love is Sweeter with. . . Frozen Mango? @ Kimberly Keyes blog | Visit blog
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Wild Rose Summer Treats Blog Hop @ Brendas Blog | Visit blog
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Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Midsummer Magic on the Isle of Skye! | Visit blog
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My Guilty Summer Treats from Lori Sizemore | Visit blog
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Wild Rose Press Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Hywela Lyns post for the WRP Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Wild Rose Press Summer Treats & Reads | Visit blog
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Camping is a Recipe for Summer Treats and Reads | Visit blog
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The Snarkology | Visit blog
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Summer Survival Tips @ Nitty Gritty Romance | Visit blog
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Wild Rose Press Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Nell Castle – Summer of the Sweat Lodge | Visit blog
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Myth, Magic & Wonder Susan Edwards, Breathing Life into the Past | Visit blog
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Romance with Spice, Sydney St. Claire | Visit blog
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Author Kat de Falla | Visit blog
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Anni Fife. Exciting new author of Steamy Romance with Irresistible Heroes | Visit blog
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Summer Vacation, Victorian-Style, AND a Giveaway | Visit blog
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Wildfires, Monsoons, and Mojitos – Author Susabelle Kelmer shares how she keeps cool in a climate that is on fire! | Visit blog
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Casi McLeans recipe for Hot Reads and Cool Treats | Visit blog
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Cool Summer Reads: Jeannie Halls Romantic Suspense Blog – Where Hearts Tremble From More Than Attraction | Visit blog
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Summer treat – Adult Slushie | Visit blog
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How to Rediscover the Magic of Bicycling | Visit blog
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Charlottes Tips on How to Stay Cool in HOT New York City | Visit blog
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Caryn McGill | Visit blog
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Views: 594
Posted in Camping, For Fun, My Say What Blog, The Pikes Peak Region and tagged Anne Hillerman, Authors, Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Chocolate Cherry Cake recipe, Cozy Mystery, Lake Vallecito, Molly Harper, Mueller State Park, Nancy Atherton, Pearl Lake, RMNP, Romance, Steamboat Lake State Park, Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop, The WIld Rose Press, Twin Lakes by Tena Stetler with 18 comments.
