I’m Back…with Menacing Clowns.

I’m back–miss me?  Well, I missed you, so there.  I got a lot done during an unplanned hiatus–lots of outdoor work, including planting next season’s garlic, cleaning out the garage so I now have a junkyard of old machinery in the driveway to sell for scrap later this week, and a lot of administrative work done in my various public service and volunteer incarnations.  The local high school football team lost a heart-breaking game over a blocked extra point in overtime, and the Steelers got shellacked by the lowly Cleveland Browns in a performance that opens up a lot of weekend time for the rest of the fall.  No way do I give time in my schedule for a team that seems to lack discipline and drive.  I’ll forgive a lack of talent, but not a lack of will and character.  I went to a party and a parade.  I even got interviewed on the radio and didn’t sound like an idiot.  Rare for me.  I wrote 8500 words of novel, too–not run at the mouth (pen? keyboard?) first draft, but good, hard, sharpened prose boiled down from about 12,000 words of blabber.

I do not return empty handed.  I bring you this headline–an overflowing cup of delicious awesomeness.

Mysterious Clowns Terrorizing California City

This isn’t something I made up–a group of people, probably including some copycats, has been dressing up in clown costumes and posing for eerie pictures in California and posting them on Instagram and Twitter with predictable, viral results.  I am in love with this prank.  If any of you were here at the beginning, you might recall that the very first Old Road Apples Post included scary clowns, so I’m feeling a little sentimental.

When you click over to the link on that headline, make sure that you read the comments, which are even more wonderful than the article–which is saying something.  Especially if you’re a Scooby fan.  Here’s just a sample.