All Hallows Eve Spirit Search and Halloween Safety for Pets!

All Hallows Eve (Halloween) only eight days left!  Can you believe it? Toil and Trouble continue their search for the Halloween Spirit. This week, you won’t believe what they found. LOL! But Toil and Trouble’s quest for the Halloween Spirit continues. Do you decorate for Halloween? What do you do? Do you dress up your pets for Halloween? Do they hate it or enjoy the fuss you make over them when they’re dressed up? Let me know in the comments.  I’d love to hear your experiences!

Well, October is here with cooler days, chilly nights and snow on Pikes Peak.  Yippee! As we continue the annual All Hallows Eve (Halloween) countdown, the aspens have turned to gold and the Colorado high county received its first snow.   Toil (Unicorn) and Trouble (dragon)  are hard at work in search of the All Hallows Eve Spirit. This week they discovered pumpkins and ghosts who’s seen the Spirit. Talking with each ghost behind dead trees and carved jack-o-lanterns Toil and Trouble determined they were really close this week and called Dave told him.

Their friend, Dave (Skeleton), from Texas (thank you Jessica)  after a days search for the Halloween Spirit, after calling in friends to help in a long day of searching, Dave, Mort, Buster and little one took a much needed rest enjoying the beautiful October weather. Though the wrong dates continue on his pictures. Eight days Dave and Jessica!

Each week, on Friday, there will be new pictures of where Toil and Trouble are searching and how Dave is helping.  As the month of  October draws to an end, will their search been successful? Check back each week to find out  This week Toil, Trouble and Dave will help me list Spooktacular tips to keep your pets safe on All Hallows Eve.  Do you suffer from Samhainopobia? Its the fear of Halloween. LOL I sure don’t. !

Only eight days days until All Hallows Eve! Where is the Halloween Spirit? Bwwwaaaaaaaaaa!!!! 

Spooktacular Tips for Pet Safety on All Hallows Eve!

  1. Treats – Chocolate is poisonous to both cats, dogs and parrots. The darker it is the more toxic is its. One ounce of dark chocolate can poison a 50-pound dog. Keep these treats out of your pets’ reach. Make sure everyone in your household understands, especially children, how crucial it is that human treats not be given to pets.
  2.  Alarming sounds and sights – The constant doorbell, ringing, unfamiliar guest and little monsters running around is a recipe for disaster for your pets. They could try to escape or display unexpected aggression.  Keep your pet sequestered in a section of the home where they can avoid this anxiety-causing activities. Provide food, favorite toys and check on them often.
  3. Don’t leave pets outside! Pets have been know to be abused or killed on Halloween night by cruel people. I owned a black cat for twenty-two years, he was the best cat ever. But we made sure to keep him inside several days before Halloween and several days after.
  4. Never take your dog trick or treating for all of the above reasons. Dogs can easily be spooked by all the Halloween hubbub. If they run away or bite someone it will end your evening of fun.
  5. Dangerous Decorations – Electrical cords and batteries used to operate the exciting Halloween decorations can be hazardous to your pets. Chewing on cords can cause electrocution, chewing on batteries  can cause chemical burns, if swallowed can cause intestinal blockage. Artificial cobwebs look cool as heck, but they can also present a choking or entanglement hazard to curious pets.
  6. Nightmarish Pet Costumes – Most pets are happiest in the skin they were born in. LOL Yet
    pet owners will dress their fur, scaled, or feathered babies up for Halloween. Don’t put your pet in a costume unless they are completely comfortable with it.  I admit I dress up my dog and parrot for Halloween. I choose costumes they’re comfortable in, do not hinder movement, sight, hearing or ability to breathe, bark, scream, or meow.  Yep, my bird meows.
  7. Eerie Glow Items – Glow necklaces and Glow sticks can help keep people safe on Halloween, but pets not so much.  They can cause gastrointestinal distress and chewed fragments can pose a choking hazard.
  8. One last thought – Opening the door repeatedly for trick-or-treaters creates the possibility of pets to slip outside. Collars and tags work if someone locates and collects your wayward pet. Make sure the information on the tags is up-to-date. Microchips offer permanent identification. Just make sure your information is correct with the company who supports your pet microchips.

Plus a Halloween themed book from my collection will be featured each week:  You do know I write paranormal romance/mystery. Right? This week, we are talking about Witches!  What’s Halloween without witches, spells and curses and things that go bump in the night? A Witch’s Journey.  So hurry grab your copy and join the #magical #fantasy #MYSTERY #adventure! You won’t believe what happens at their Halloween Festival.

All Hallows Eve, Halloween, SamhainA little about A Witch’s Journey:

Pepper McKay comes from a long line of powerful witches. Unfortunately, magic brings her nothing but trouble. She learned the love of wildlife rescue and rehab from her Aunt Ashling. After graduating from college, Pepper works for Salem Wildlife Sanctuary and lives from paycheck to paycheck until she inherits the McKay property in Lobster Cove. With the family land and resources, she dares to dream of starting her own wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center.

Lathen Quartz, a former Navy SEAL turned handyman maintains the enchanted McKay property for the McKay estate. But someone is trying to steal the McKay magic. Lathen offers to help Pepper achieve her life-long dream of building a wildlife center. During the long hours spent together on the project, their mutual attraction can’t be denied. But each harbors a deep, dark secret. Will they overcome their demons and give love a chance?

A peek at the All Hallows Eve prep in A Witch’s Journey:

Lathen put his hand on her shoulder. “Where’d you go? Been sitting there, knife extended above the pumpkin, for fifteen minutes. Are you going to carve it or just threaten it?” He guffawed and wrapped his large callused hand around hers holding the knife, brought it to the pumpkin, and made carving motions, then tried to hand her an erasable marker. “Try using this first.”

She pushed his hand away and frowned at him. “Oh, stop it. I was thinking about this evening after the celebration. I don’t want anything to go wrong.”

“It won’t. We have a solid plan and several powerful witches to bring it to fruition. So relax and enjoy the festivities of your favorite holiday. But the decorations will be lacking if you don’t get to carving. We need twenty-five jack-o-lanterns, by your own count, for the gazebo and surrounding area tables in the town square. I have the candles and holders for each right here.” As he swung the bag in front of Pepper, the tinkling sound of glass clinking together had her frowning.

 

Hope you enjoy Toil and Trouble’s search and  Spooktacular Tips for Pet Safety on Halloween , along with a snippet of my book A Witch’s Journey. Happy Halloween.  We are nearly down to the wire, check back next week and see what Toil and Trouble have discovered as well as the haunting of Cripple Creek, Colorado!

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Colorado Hauntings – Happy Halloween

IMG_5623Celebrating 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 2006-estes-park-the-stanley-hotel-008inspiration 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.

2006-estes-park-stanley-hotel-2It’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, buthalloween image 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.

AWitchsJourney_w10497_medLooking 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, greenwitch

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!

 

 

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