Lucy's a Real @#$%&!, Charlie Brown

Originally posted in 2014. I thought it was time to revisit some of oldies but goodies.

For several years, I’ve followed Chris Sims and his Funkywatch blog which details the endless cycle of misery endured by the cast of Tom Batiuk’s “Funky Winkerbean” comic strip.  What began as a lighthearted strip featuring high school students in humorous and sometimes improbable fantasy situations devolved into a spectacle of death, misfortune and schadenfreude firmly grounded in hell on earth.  While many believe Batiuk invented this comic form, Charles Schulz mastered the art of morale-crushing criticism and shaming with Lucy Van Pelt.  Existing solely for the purpose of antagonism, Lucy’s constant berating and belittling left an indelible and incurable swath of emotional duress, angst and disempowerment.

Let’s take a look at the atmosphere of menace and hostility imposed by Lucy and its effects on the well-being of her family and “friends” through the pages of these coloring books from the 1970's I recently purchased. And I swear I didn't modify the captions on any of these.

Lucy begins her devious mission.  Who will she choose to pick on?

And To All, A Good Fright!

And it is with a touch of melancholy that I leave you with this last post of Halloween 2025 and The Countdown to Halloween.

As promised, here are photos of my own home haunt.  It's mostly the same as previous years (hey, I know what I like), but there are a few additions.

Haunted Homes

Well, once again the day is here.  It seems to go faster and faster every year.  I can't believe October is over.

The last few years, I've started taking photos of decorated homes I see while out garage and estate saling  Here is this year's offering.  I actually went back to a few after dark to get the full effect.  The great thing is, in my experience, people are always welcoming of you to walk on their property and taking photos of their decorations. Enjoy!

Die Cut Blow Out

Well, once again we find ourselves at the day before THE day.  Traditionally on this blog, today is the end of garage sale content with tomorrow reserved for photos of my home haunt.  Believe it or not, our outside still isn't decorated (as of writing this).  We had a new roof put on a little over a week ago (tornado damage last March) and I didn't want the decorations damaged by flying shingles.  Then it began raining (after a 3 month drought). And raining. And raining.  Today (10/30) is supposed to be cloudy but dry, so I'm going to go into overdrive and get the outside decorated.  Hopefully photos tomorrow will prove I was successful.

But for today, I thought I'd do a photo dump of all the diecuts I have heretofore not shown on this blog.  Some of these are from this past season, others I've found in prior years, but never posted (to my knowledge. Honestly, I didn't go through the blog and look).

Up first is a find from this year.  It's a giant version of the classic Beistle skeleton, measuring in at 54" tall.  I picked him up for $10 which I thought was a good deal.

Wax Scarecrows

 At the sale where I found one of my grails (heretofore known as the "grail sale"), I also picked up these 2 fellows.

First up is a classic Gurley candle dating from the 1970's.  Technically, it's a Suni candle, but W&F Mfg. owned both companies and used the same forms.

Ben Cooper Masks and Memories

I did pretty well with finding vintage Ben Cooper Halloween masks this past year.  I found this Frankenstein's Monster and the Skull below it at estate sale, untouched by everyone that had passed through the room prior.  They are made in Hong Kong and date from the 1970's.

Halloween Jigglers

 What's Halloween without some rubber bats and spiders? Boring, that's what!  These jigglers (technically, the bat doesn't jiggle, but he falls in the same class) were made in Hong Kong and date to the 1970's.  First up is this green bat which is one I hadn't seen before finding this one.  Image Googling him didn't provide any matches.