Happy Halloween from the Bucket of Blood

 

Happy Halloween from the Bucket of Blood

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for October 31, 2021 

We had a fox stop by our yard for a visit this week.  We've been seeing them in the neighborhood this year, but this was the first time we had a personal visit from one of them.  I thought they were more of a nocturnal animal, but this guy was out and about around lunchtime.  He didn't stay long.  Just a quick visit to stop and itch himself and then he was on his way.

My neighbor had a Halloween party on Saturday night and we had several friends join us to attend the festivities.

 We've lived across the street from Mike & Laurie for about 20 years now.  Their golden retrievers gave birth to our dog, Blue, and the mother and one of Blue's brothers still live with them so we stop by for lots of visits with "Mudder & Brudder".  They decided to have their first annual "Bucket of Blood" party this week and we were excited to join them.

Their house is on Prior Lake and parts of it were built way back in 1916.  Some of the original stone walls are still in place which gives it a very unique feel.  During the late 1920's, there was a period of time where the home was considered a "Speak Easy" known as the Bucket of Blood.  Apparently it was a very popular place until the repeal of Prohibition and the return of Beer and Liquor.  

They announced they were going to have a costume contest so many of us followed suit and dressed as we would if we were going to a Speak Easy in the twenties.  It made for a really neat atmosphere.

When Karl and Tina arrived, I was excited to see that we would fit in well together.  They're quite the Dapper Couple.

Jimmy took things a little more literally and arrived as an actual Bucket of Blood.  He brought a couple bottles of stage blood and said we could help him by splattering it all over him.  That stuff seems like real blood and creates quite the mess.  I didn't really want to keep my white dress shirt much longer anyways.

He even went so far as to have T-shirts made to commemorate the party which was a real classy move.  Thanks for the shirts, Jimmy!

John and Kara are some other neighbors of ours who also followed the Speak Easy theme.  Those blow-up guns looked pretty scary.

Sue and Ron showed up as a pair of sneakers, but didn't really appreciate it when I kept putting my feet in their faces all night.  I thought it would be fun to try to wear them around.

One of the highlights of the party was the DJ and Karaoke set-up.  We had a ball singing some classic tunes.  Although I ended up killing my voice after only a few attempts.  I tend to be more of a screamer than a singer.