Happy Halloween and Spooky Story Time at BBHQ

Spooky Caturday Greeting Epic pals

Halloween wouldn't be Meowoleen without us sharing our spooky little tale from way, way, way back in 2016, so in true BBHQ Tradition let the spookfest begin.

And if mew missed our Halloween Crafting with Cats post earlier featuring Gordon the Ghost, do check it out, click the link here to visit.

is here and are mew ready for a chilling little tail, or we should say tale... muwhahahahahaha

A Spooky Tail on All Hallows' Eve 

It had been a frosty day; the air rather piquant with a fresh, zingy taste.  We'd just finished decorating the bunker in the most spooktacular fashion, and even if I do say so myself, it looked as scary as the scariest place mew could effur imagine.  White glistening cobwebs hung in thick swaths covering the walls and ceilings, bats dangled on invisible bungy cords, and there were pumpkins galore were effurywhere.  

Spooky spectres glided along the bunker corridors wailing chillingly, and animated weird-wolves popped up and howled when mew least expected it.  The smoke-machine was on offurdrive, and a white, filmy-mist swirled around rather hypnotically just above floor level.  Shocking shrieks and muffled bumps sounded through the comms systems and to be honest, I nearly jumped out of my fur several times. 

The Control Room had been transformed into the Halloween Hub, and all the pawty games were in place as an eerie bell tolled and a gruff voice announced:

'Get the pawty started!'

Parsley aka The Saucerer was bobbing fur nip-laced apples.  Posie aka The Mummy was lurching around unable to see due to a severe bandage malfunction.  Humphrey was wearing his invisibility suit and kept creeping on effurypurrdy, whispering in their ear in some strange foreign accent, "I'm vatching mew... muwahahahahahahaaaaa!"

Smooch, Amber and I all had the same idea and were dressed as witches and warlocks. [note to self, I need a new costume for next year]

Anyhoo, there we all were having a wail of a time; screaming like gurls while a sinister sound-track played in the background, plus we were enjoying some rather strange brew that Smooch had concocted in the laboratory.  He'd even made it in a cauldron for added effect and to be honest, I could have sworn at one point I saw a tentacle rise up out of the bubbling neon-green liquid, then sink below the mist-swirling surface, but he said, and I quote;

"Trust me! I know what I'm doing, here drink this!" 

I did have several reservations hurtling through my mind, such as;

really?

mew sure about that? 

it looks a funny colour! 

and why is it smoking like that? 

did I just see a tentacle in my drink?

But I thought what the heck and aftur several shots I found it rather entertaining when an eyeball appeared in my glass and stared right at me; it was like a surprise bonus, and we all laughed and laughed and laughed.

As the night progressed things did start to get a little outlandish, Snowie aka The White Phantom got tangled up in the suspension wires she'd rigged to her costume and hung upside down like she was trapped in some giant spider web and we just laughed and laughed and laughed.

Mid all this hysterical laughter the lights suddenly went out, and we were plunged into darkness.  The inky pitch-black of a total power failure.

"Don't wurry," I laughed. "The back-up generator will kick-in in a couple of seconds!"

Time ticked by, and we were all still sat in the dark.

"Basil?" Smooch said bumping into me, then forcing another drink into my paw. "Why's the genny not wurking?"

"Ssssssshhhhh," Parsley hissed as we all giggled, too much nip and who-knows-what will do that to mew. "Do mew hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" Posie said as she tripped offur her bandages and landed with an ungainly thwump on the floor.

Scratch... scratch... scratch...

We all paused, listened and then laughed and laughed and laughed.

Scritch... scritch... scritch... 

"It's getting closer," Parsley said, sounding much sober than he had five seconds ago.

Scratch... scratch... scratch... 

We all paused, listened again and then laughed and laughed and laughed.

"DUDES!" Parsley said tersely; obviously, he hadn't had as much cauldron nip as the rest of us. "Something is coming down the corridor!"

Scrape... scratch... scritch... scrape... scratch... scritch...

We all paused, listened again and then laughed and laughed and laughed.

I suddenly heard a sickeningly soft hiss, and it made my fur bristle in all kinds of disturbing ways, or maybe that was the cauldron nip, at this point I couldn't be sure for sure.

"Guys, was that one of mew?" I asked as my highly honed senses suddenly burst into life and began to eke out in the darkness. "Do mew smell that? It's rank, fetid and has a rather old dead odour..."

Amber took huge offence to this and said rather snappishly. "No, I haven't been eating eggs again!"

"No, not mew," I said.

Scrape... scratch... scritch... scrape... scratch... scritch...

"Basil," Humphrey whispered in my ear, his cold breath making my ear-fur tremble and I nearly screamed.  Only just managing to swallow down my shriek Humphrey continued. "I'll go check, I've got my night vision goggles on plus I'm invisible, stay here dude."

"Great idea," I said, pushing him towards to door.

I could feel my fur-sibs draw closer towards me, and Smooch whispered. "Do mew guys have any weapons?"

I heard the distinct clicks of several safety's being slid off in the dark, and heard the collective reply of. "Of course we've got weapons!"

There was a light tap on my shoulder, and Humphrey hissed. "Basil, dude... I don't know how to say this..."

"Say what?" I asked with much trepidation, feeling the sudden pump of adrenaline flood through my body like an icy-wave crashing on the beach.

"There's a zombie cat in the bunker, and it's lurching this way!" Humphrey gulped.  

Amber screamed, then we all screamed and screamed and screamed!

**And Cut**

Happy Meowoleen guys, enjoy the Trick or Treating if mew're able to participate this year ~ be safe out there ~  sadly our little county, Nottinghamshire got locked down yesterday for the next few weeks due to covid-19.

We'll be back on the morrow with our usual selfies post, so we do hope to see mew then.   

In the meantime have an epically epic weekend.

Supurr spooky purrs

Wing Commander and The B Team xx

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com and www.pizap.com
pumpkin dividers, bats, Halloween banners glitter-graphics.com 

Spooky Crafting With Cats ~ Part XX ~ Halloween Special ~ How To Make Gordon the Ghost Spooktacular Meowoleen Snuggle Mat

Supurr Spooky Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining us for Part XX of our Crafting with Cats segment. Mew know we have so much fun making all this fun stuff for feline enrichment, and we hope mew enjoy seeing it and/or making it too. 

If mew missed any of our previous CWC posts, stop by the Crafting with Cats Page and see all our previous projects, and mew don't have to be an expert in anything to make any of them.  Plus we offer workarounds and no-sew projects for those who don't like to sew.

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**A quick note before we begin**

All Crafting with Cats ideas and creations are of our own design, and we share them for purrsonal/home use only.

  So purrlease do not copy fur commercial/resale purrposes.

Copyright ©BionicBasil®

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In today's Crafting with Cats, we're making: 

Gordon the Ghost Spooktacular Meowoleen Snuggle Mat

What We Used:

White felt fabric

Black felt fabric

Stuffing/wadding

Paper for pattern

Scissors ~ Sewing Machine ~ Cotton Thread in white & black

Let's Get Started

Furst, we suggest measuring one of your kitties to see how big your fabric needs to be, as not all kitty's are the same size.

1. Next, take your paper and cut out a ghostly pattern, we suggest folding your paper in half, as this way mew get more symmetry. 

2. Open out to check that it looks ghostly enough.

3. Cut out 2 x ghost shapes on the white felt.

4. & 5. Cut out 1 x ghost shape on the wadding. Sandwich wadding between the 2 pieces of felt and pin to keep in place, so now mew essentially have a ghostly sammich! MOL MOL

6. Sew all the way around the edge, we used an overlock style stitch. Trim off any excess wadding around the edges if any is sticking out, just be careful not to snip the stitching.

7. Next cut out 2 x eyes and a mouth on the black felt, these shapes are entirely up to mew. 

8. & 9.  Pin eyes and mouth to the ghost, and sew with the same overlocking stitch.

And now mew should have something that looks like this, minus Melvyn trying to squeeze the stuffing right out of poor Gordon! MOL #OOPS #Heathen

So we do hope mew enjoyed how to make Gordon the Ghost, and just to prove Melvyn isn't always a total heathen fur-child with the hashtag #thuglife proudly displayed on his fav badge, here he is being very cute in his Meowoleen outfit.

Doesn't he look epically adorable in his wizard's costume! 

See our previous Halloween Crafting Posts Below:

Check out the epically epic Spooky House and Catnip Pumpkins 

Click here

and

The Halloween Crafting Special from 2019

Featuring oodles of fun projects including this giant furry pumpkin.

Click Here

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And that furiends furry sadly brings us to the end of our 20th Crafting with Cats post, we do hope mew enjoyed it, and if mew decide to make your furry own Gordon the Ghost tag us on social media @BionicBasil.

We'll be back in 30 minutes if mew're here at the12:30 am launch of this post, with our yearly Halloween tradition of Spooky Story Time, and we know mew won't want to miss that, so we'll see mew on the next post.

Spooky purrs

MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 

Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another post!

Disclaimer:

We at BionicBasil HQ are not responsible or liable fur any injuries to person/s and/or cat/s, crafting addictions, glue on cats, paper cuts, misplaced pins and needles, cats stealing your supplies, broken scissors, cat fur stuck on your projects, or your project not turning out as planned.  By using this information you hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless BionicBasil and staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages of any kind arising from the use of any Crafting With Cats posts we may share.

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com and www.pizap.com

Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #142 **HALLOWEEN EDITION** featuring **The Magic of Halloween Night** by Kathi Daley PLUS Friendly Fill-Ins

Hello gorgeous library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks today, as mew can see I got Melvyn to decorate the library and I got my best witches hat out for the occasion too, well it is my favourite holiday.

Also today, I'm so excited to share the October **Feline and Fiction box with mew.

Melvyn was on paw to make sure it was displayed propurrly, and it was a bumper haul.

We loved everything and Melvyn had his eye on the cat food, MOL, so typical of him. 

Another extremely gorgeous box full of lovely, lovely things; the P.A. has always wanted some sparkly cat ears, so she's thrilled to bits, and she's got some candy and a squeaky pumpkin toy too, oh no wait that's for us! MOL  

Now I'm not reviewing the book from the box, A Friend Like Ben today, as I've had a fab Halloween book waiting in the wings to share with mew for months now. So I'll review A Friend Like Ben at a later date, it's been added to the pile, which I must say is growing almost daily right now, if I didn't know better, I'd say I've got a rather benevolent book fairy, and this is what I think to that, "About fluffing time and keep adding those lovely new books to that pile next to my desk."  In my humble opinion, one can never have enough books.

(**This is not an affiliate link)

Today the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.

1. I keep _________, but _________.

2. I don't need a_______, but I want _________.

3. I would want _________ to be etched onto my tombstone.

4. If I heard something go bump in the night, _________.

The P.A.'s answers are...

1. I keep trying to write my books, but life keeps getting the way. No sooner do I get some time, then something crops up to ruin my plans.

2. I don't need a new house, but in my dreams, I want a beautiful, big old farmhouse with lots of land and a bunker just like The B Teams with 16 levels of pawesomeness. 

3. I would want 'moderately eccentric cat lady' or 'what the fluff!' to be etched onto my tombstone.

4. If I heard something go bump in the night; if it was a paranormal bump, I'd roll over and go back to sleep. If it was a threat to my life, like a zombie, vampire or werewolf bumping about I would get my shotgun.

Let's see what I've got to show mew this time!

This week's top book pick is...

Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

The Magic of Halloween Night

A Cat in the Attic Mystery Book 5

by

Kathi Daley

       Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

How is one to start again after losing the one thing that speaks to your heart and fuels your passion? After a serious accident leaves Calliope Rose Collins unable to continue with the career that has owned her soul for most of her life, she returns to Foxtail Lake, Hollister House, and Great Aunt Gracie. After solving the murder of a local girl she begins writing freelance articles for the local newspaper. This turns into a full-time career and a new passion and inner healing is found.

Sorry about Fudge photobombing the pic above, he just loves to be involved in everything!

This is the 5th and final book in the Cat in the Attic Mystery series; I know I'm working a little back to front right now, so many apologies for that but it's Halloween, and mew know I always share a suitable offering for this spooky event.

Here are the titles of the other four books in the series:

The Curse of Hollister House ~ 1

The Mystery Before Christmas ~ 2

The Case of the Cupid Caper ~ 3

The Secret of Logan Pond ~ 4

 I will be reviewing all of the above in due course, they are on the to read/review pile! MOL 

Anyhoo on with the review, so what did I think to this; the story is centred around Callie, who due to an accident had her career as a pianist cut short and she finds herself moving in with her Great Aunt. As Halloween comes to Foxtail Lake, so does murder once again, and Callie is on the trail to get to the bottom of this cozy mystery. The token feline in the book is called Alistair, he's a lovely grey kitty and belongs to her Aunt. 

There are a lot of fun characters, plots twists, a curse and occasional red-herrings as mew would expect from any well-crafted cozy mystery.  If mew like your cozy mystery books and are looking for a new series, this is definitely for mew.

A purrfect Sunday afternoon in front of the fire read.

• Paperback: 181 pages
• Publisher: Independently published

My Ratings Scale

Ratings of:

The Magic of Halloween Night

Overall Enjoyment

I really hope mew enjoy the book as much as I did if mew decide to read it.

Don't forget mew've still got time to enter my birthday giveaway from last week if mew haven't already.

But sadly it's time fur me to say BFN or bye-fur-now as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time and I'll be back next week with another specially paw-picked book just for mew, and don't furget that all my previous reviews can be found on my Book Review page.

Until next time...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 

Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another review! 

 graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com