byop in north jacksonville!

Bwah hah hah haha!

For those in the know, that's an inside joke... 

but I'll let you in on it.

"North Jacksonville" used to be Savannah-speak for the suburb of Georgetown, as that bedroom community was so far outside our city limits.

Nice, right?

This was nice, too, done up by The Koz with his usual suspects, including a couple of new clowns and a sand snake from one of the moons of Saturn.

It's up on the roof by the Jolly Green Giant, I mean, Frankenstein's monster!

Speaking of the ringleader of that merry band of ghouls, here he is: The Koz!!!

The time was just a little over two hours since my arrival, which was about an hour into pumpkin-carving time.

Why was he pointing toward the house and holding a remote bomb igniter???

The pumpkins had been judged and it was time to explode the one marked "most in need of improvement"... plus three others.

We were all calling "DAWN!!! DAWN!!!", waiting for her to emerge so the pumpkins could be like Napoleon.

You know: blown apart!!! Bwah ha ha!

Here she is, with The Koz, about thirty minutes earlier.

Their faithful Heinz-57 dog, Stella, was there, too, as the hostess and host of this massive party gave their opening address to the adoring crowd.

Whoop whoop whoop!!!

They think this might be the 14th year of their shindig, but they aren't for sure.

However, they were both very certain that this was all in memory of The Koz' mom, who died at 63 years old, just as my mom had.

Kudos to great mothers!

Then the pumpkin judging commenced.

Scariest pumpkin! Most innovative pumpkin! Pumpkin most in need of improvement!

The Koz and Dawn just announced the winners, but the under-12-year-old crowd were the ones who had done the selections!

I liked that one on the top row, in the middle, the best... and so had the throng of children!

I liked Dawn's Sweets Table, too.

The decor inside of the house was all her doing, with creepy ghouls on every surface and even cruising around on the floor!

But it was the dining room where her talents shown brightest, filled to overflow with tasty treats in scary packaging.

The centerpiece was another work designed by Michanne, with ooey gooey worms all over it... hiding delectable cake within!

Good thing the meats I'd eaten earlier had time to settle in and make room!

Yes, that's meats plural, all from Kenny's grill!!!

Ribs, sausage, hotdogs, shrimp with low country boil - a massive feast!!!

I'd taken refuge on the front porch, so I could eat in the company of the ghouls from AA and AAA time.

The Koz came looking for me, and when I told him I was "chillin' in the cacophony", he got it and gave me a quick hug before heading off.

Oh, yeah, he's most def a good egg!

Lookin' forward to next year's monster ball, y'all!!!