Family Matters: 10/ 14/2011, A Parade of Doggie Halloween Costumes

It's October and with children, matters of Halloween have come up.  What to wear as costumes is of prime importance to Miles, and Gabby, although she feigned indifference over the past couple of days, was originally excited at the concept of being a Peacock (perfect for her because she's so beautiful and no, I have not informed her the female peacocks are reserved and brown and it's their male counterparts that display the beautiful tail feathers), and now thinks that she will wear her riding clothes out for trick-or-treat.  Although I loved the peacock idea, it could turn into something quite expensive and the riding idea not only will be something that we won't see coming and going, but she already has everything she needs on hand.  Her prime directive there is to gather enough candy (aka inventory) to make a fortune on selling at school (the movement to remove candy and other sweet treats from the campus was stupid as the kids just bring it in and sell it anyway, taking profits out of Los Angeles Unified's pocket), so the less money spent on a costume, the better.

For Miles, all he wanted to be was a character out of Halo.  Now he knows that Halo is not a game that I will allow back in this house again, but I agreed that if he wanted to be a character, I could live with it.  Unfortunately, the only thing he has found in that area so far runs well into the $150 range and there's no way we're spending that much money on it, so I'm not sure what he has in mind.

We take the kids to an Ultimate Trick-Or-Treat zone in Calabasas, a very rich community just outside of Los Angeles, and we go to the "poor" zone where the houses only cost slightly over a million each, and they're long and narrow and set very close together.  The candy they give out in that neighborhood reflects the generalized wealth of that area and because so many people visit them, a large number of the residents put on terrific displays and many even have shows!

Our own neighborhood, because the houses are large, set far apart, set far back on the properties, and most of which have fenced permiters, gets no trick-or-treat traffic at all, so that frees both Eric & I up to go with the kids.  We enjoy that activity an awful lot.


Many people take their dogs out in that neighborhood when they take the kids, dogs in costume too.  Last year we took Lucy, wearing her bunch-of-grapes costume.  Sunny was just too old to participate in such a vigorous activity although he enjoyed wearing his costume during our wedding reception.  I actually think he probably enjoyed having the entire house to himself while we were gone.  I can't say that for sure, but Sunny was exceptionally intelligent and I know how I feel during those precious moments that I'm here alone.  Free to do whatever I want... to be productive or to take a nap without interruption.  But back onto topic.

This year we have Lucy and Sophie.  Both dogs love to go places, Sophie is certainly young enough (and interested enough) to participate, and while we have the grape costumes on hand again, truth be told, my original idea for our wedding reception was for the dogs to wear skeleton costumes.  Sadly, only one showed up, and that was not only too late for the reception, but for halloween as well.  I was going to return it, but never got around to it.  In the end, that was terrific because we didn't want to repeat costumes this year (first because it would be boring but mostly because Lucy cannot resist attacking Sophie's grapes - lol!) and the skeleton fits Sophie perfectly!  Sophie is not the least bit disturbed by wearing clothing, so we now have to decide whether to get a matching skeleton for Lucy or something else.  I'll take pictures of the dogs in their costumes on Halloween and share them for you, but for now, let's just say that a black dog wearing a black outfit with a glow-in-the-dark dog skeleton imprinted on it is a very effective look!

Anyway, we started looking at pictures on the internet, trying to figure out what to do for Lucy, and were very happily surprised at the options that presented themselves!

Although this Dogzilla is in Extra Small, I have a feeling that if we looked around, we'd find one big enough for Lucy and gawd only knows that the theme would be appropriate for her personality!

Cave Dog!

Shark Eating the Dog!

Here's the Skeleton we already have.  It looks much better on our dogs.

 

Hmmmm... This is also a costume based in black and certainly the Bee would be appropriately humiliating for Lucy, not that she'd notice.  

 

Could we get this Elephant on Lucy before she tore the trunk off in play?

 

There's no way!  Lucy would rip the skirt of this Witches costume to shreds as soon as she took the hat off and played with it to death!

While this Devil costume is very tempting, do we really want to encourage Lucy?

 

Tinkerbell.   Hmmm.... tempting! 

A Pirate.  Another very tempting choice!

The costumes above are all available on Amazon.com.  But of course, I didn't want to completely ignore Etsy, my favorite hand-crafted buying forum.  So here's a few of my favorites available there:

A Doggie Hula Costume!  I really like it.But it's only displayed on a stuffed dog.  How would a real dog feel about it?

There's little question how this dog feels about this monster hat.  Now that's the Halloween Spirit!  But I don't think that Lucy could be taken down so easily.

 

Bat Dog!!!!!!

I can't believe I ate the whole thing1  I feel like such a Cow!

Maggie Simpson, anyone?

Carmen Miranda!  Now this is tempting - lol!

Now if you're serious about dressing your dog up, there are many places to go to buy them.   This is but a small selection that I found on line, and you can find them in many brick-and-mortar stores too.   Please enjoy the holiday and be safe, and if you can enjoy committing your canine to participating too, then happy shopping! 

Monster In the Closet

When we're little, we often think that there are monsters lurking in the dark, ready to carry us off. They live in the shadows, under the bed, in the closet. They are most known for coming out at night, after our parents turn out the lights. Whether we really believe they are there, or if it's a ruse to stay up just a little later I don't know. In all honestly, I don't remember if I ever believed in the monsters. It's been too long.

On the other hand, I have age and wisdom behind me now, and I know that the monster in the closet exists. It does not take the form that most children imagine, but it is there all the same. It resides in my hall closet. Since I'd addressed my bedroom and studio closets as well as the floors and carpets in those rooms, it was time to do battle at the next location.

Behold, the monster in the closet!
I have a philosophy about closets that serves me well. That is, the closet is not full until, when forced closed, the door pops back open again. At that point, the issue must be addressed.

My hall closet is particularly susceptible to this philosophy. Centrally located, it is immense. Shelves line one wall and rods the other two. There is a ton of floor space too. It's where I store roving and fleeces, assorted junk, a cedar trunk full of old Persian rugs, dogie barriers, and assorted *crap* . In the past, I've stored bicycles and tricycles, picnic supplies and fiber dying pots (still in there); medical supplies and clothing, files and computers, and even dog beds. It all fit at the same time. Such is the power of my closet.

In all honesty, under normal circumstances, it would not have been time to do anything about it yet. After all, the door still closed with ease, and since I didn't use anything in there on a regular basis, why bother? It was easier to ignore the rumblings in the monster's belly. But enter Vennie into the picture.

She's coming. She's coming next week. And she will be here for close to a whole week. YIPPEE!

Last time she visited, she lived in my bedroom. The whole Fab 4 were here then; Beth in the studio aka "Beth's Room", Claudia in the living room. Me and my dogs in my room. And Vennie located on her mattress at the foot of my bed.

But this time is different. Because she will be here by herself, the chaos that rules during mass visits is not appropriate. Vennie will stay in the studio. And her luggage and clothing will be easily accessible in the hall closet. (The studio closet houses a number of large pieces of weaving equipment, rendering it useless for guests.) That system worked really well the last time Beth was here on her own. But of course, that meant that I had some work ahead of me.

So I entered the closet and stuff started being tossed outside. Cosmos was fearful of the fracas , but when I stepped outside for a breather, the monster stopped making noise too. He stepped up to investigate what had been regurgitated so far. A mixture of Goodwill donations and trash. Heavy on the donations.

And then, sooner than I would have anticipated, the monster was tamed.

I must keep it subdued for the next couple of weeks. I don't want to have to deal with this again. Better to move forth and conquer other issues like scrubbing out Vennie's bathtub, and maybe cooking-and-freezing some easy meals for us for after she arrives.

It's quiet in the hallway now. Nothing amiss. Nothing rumbling just beneath my level of awareness emanating from the closet. But I am not secure in this state of affairs.

For I know how it works. I know what's going to happen. When Vennie goes back home, the monster will be hungry, and far be it from me not to feed it.

Thirty posts in thirty days. This is day 8.