Tales of Halloween, 2024

[BlackOak2]

Welcome to my Tales of Halloween, 2024.
As some of you may be aware of, Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. Like some people, I'd like to expand it from not just one day or one week, but all month (and maybe longer than that ). This year, especially since we had such nice barns offered to us last year, I wanted to post an ongoing narrative for the season.

Please enjoy the fun and (hopefully) slightly spooky exploits of my avatar on my farm. Plus, if you swing by the barns included in the tales, you may just meet some of the characters.

Day One: Hi, just call me Oak. Everybody does. Or Blackoak, that's pretty popular too. I've been around here in the HWO universe for awhile. And each year, about this time, spiders fall from the skies.
Spooky, huh?
Okay, after the first year and when they came back the following year, I ended up looking forward to the event. After all, they're just so CUTE! I mean, how can't you just fall in love with them!
Okay, they're not for everyone, but they really are cute.

No sign of them yet this year, but it's still early. Plenty of time for the spider rain to appear.

Last year was a little different, something surprised my jodhpurs off... Not the spiders, they were just as cute as ever. And I had some scary moments, too.

I thought it was a one-time thing, but apparently, as I look around my farm... They've Come Back.
The stables that I had torn down when I purchased the farm, to rebuild some sturdier [and newer] structures, have returned! Again. This is year two.

When I investigated them last year, I encountered some horses that haven't been seen in awhile, some ghosts that made my blood run and a bunch of weird gravestones. And, though I never planted any, there were suddenly pumpkins all over my farm!

Overall, last year was frightening, but survivable. I wonder what encounters I'll find this year?

Please feel free to share your own farm exploits and remember, this is halloween but we also have younger members around. Too scary may not be too okay. Fun and friendly encounters are just as great as scary and creepy (think no worse than Schwartz and Gammell).

[ScarlettDeath]

This is amazing! I can't wait to read more! I haven't been on around the holidays so it's nice to hear there is some fun things that go on!

[BlackOak2]

This is amazing! I can't wait to read more! I haven't been on around the holidays so it's nice to hear there is some fun things that go on!

Yuppers! Around christmas, we usually have such things like secret santa and freebie giveaways.

I won't be posting daily, but I will have at least ten between now and halloween for some awe-insp... spooky-inspiring fun.

[BlackOak2]

A Haunting Reunion

Day Two
After a good night's sleep, a strong cup of *ahem* spiked tea...I mean, spiced tea, I looked again at the first barn I tore down.
Planted right next to my Training Barn, I had thought it was the place to build a nice, first-seen-when-you-drive-in, public access. And I had been right. Although it took me awhile to decide just how to have it built, longways to the right or left... which way...

Anyway. It's staring back at me.
That Barn.

And I had to make sure it was safe. Even if it's back just for the season, I couldn't risk some stranger visiting my farm, striding up that ramshackle aisle and breaking his ankle on a fallen board or something.

So I swig the rest of my spiced tea, yank my hat a little tighter on my head and stride toward the barn with much more courage than my fleeting heart was whispering.

I slip between the tree trunk and peer inside the door. Was it open when I had it torn down? The door itself seems still a bit intact... I reach for it and it screeches as I try to move it. Needs a boatload of oil though.

But the darkness inside was certainly hauntingly murky even with a bright day outside. Really. Not a cloud in the sky.
I look up through the leaves of the tree. Hadn't yet turned for fall, but it's twin already had. Beautiful yellow leaves.

My eyes again try to make any sense within the dark interior. How can the light not penetrate? I can't even see beyond the door frame.

I slowly step inside, hoping that there wasn't a fallen board with a nail poised to strike my first footfall.

*Screee... ththththth*

I heart drops to my feet and I'm instantaneously frozen in place. The loud cry and hissing comes from my left at almost my hip height and just outside of my reach. I take a few breathes. Just enough time for my eyes to adjust to the inside.

After crossing into the darkness of the barn, I realize that it's not really that dark inside. A lot of light has made it inside through the holes and missing slats in the roof.

Oh. One of the geese has taken residence. I just purchased a couple but haven't been able to build the pond yet for them. Seems they just find whatever, wherever and plop themselves a new home. It's not yet used to contact, at least not from me. Although it doesn't attack, it hisses at my presence.



Down the aisle a bit, I hear a *shush-shush* sound. Looking up, peppered throughout the light, I can see an old bale of straw. Well, it's not old. It looks brand new. It must've been from the recent delivery. How did that make it in here? I also see some relatively new piles of hay too.
*munch-munch*
Uh...???

The darkness shifts nearer the back of the barn. Then two bright eyes peer out from that darkness. *mawhhh* Corny. My heart skips a beat as I realize one of the goats had wandered in as well. And it just had to be one of the black ones.



Then as I try to ha-ha my nerves back into place, I see a white blob out of the other corner of the barn. I had been so distracted on my left with the goose, I had never actually taken a thorough look at all of the inside.

Holding onto my hummingbird heart, I turn slowly... doing so as The Three Stooges enters my head:
"Slowly I Turn.... Step By Step...
Inch By Inch..."



What The Hay! And what'm I gonna see???

My eyes just about pop out of their sockets.
A horse in a sheet. Really... Did one of the stable hands make this up as a joke???

'How did you get in here anyway?'

I take a closer look and pull the sheet off. Oh! It's Brutal Demise, one of my leopard tarpan colts. He's been in board for quite some time now. How'd he get here??

Brutal Demise


I pat his shoulder as I grab up an errant brush and start brushing the little yearling down. I really should get back to breeding them. They're just starting to look how I want, but half of them are still grades and I haven't even started breeding them toward saddleseat.

But he's quite a looker.

Oh! Ha-ha... Brutal Demise... I get it.

Funny, whoever thought of it.
Really.
Funny.

[BlackOak2]

The Terribly Terrifying Resurrection

Day Two
Yesterday wasn't too bad. I still don't know how my tarpan project colt got over here from the boarding farm. But, no big deal, I guess. It was great taking a new look at my project. I'm a bit excited to get back to breeding them. But I have other projects right now. It'll have to wait. And that colt doesn't need to go back anytime soon. It'll be nice having him around the farm for a little bit.

As I'm looking around my farm today, I can't feel a little bit tepid about what I'll find when I investigate the second of the three returning barns. I'm sure there where others that I probably tore down, but my memory can't exactly recall where they were and in what shape I found them.

My eyes alight and get stuck on a weird new addition to the front of my farm. Where did somebody get such a creepy jack-o-lanter and why oh Why! did they plop it right outside the door to my Training Barn??? What's more, it's absolutely HUGE!! Nearly comes up to my hip!



If any of the horses get free from their stalls or pastures, I'll have pumpkin all over that public area... At least it appears they remembered to not put a candle inside. Farms with hay, sawdust and straw don't mix well with open flames. -_-

The second returned barn sits adjacent to my Training Barn. I planted a tree after I took down that barn, to remind me... of something... I can't remember anymore. Funny, I remember having to remember something... but what it is...??
*shrug*
I irritably slap the napkin from the doughnut I had just finished, into a handy trashcan and march toward the second errant barn. I'm sure there'll be something strange in there and my faint heart is certainly not growing any stronger.



As I stand and stare up at the old barn, I wonder, was it always this big? It's still taller than the tree and the tree's quite tall. My eyes trail down to the front aisle, open to the outside and toward the floorboards. It looks like quite a few of them are warped beyond salvage. Probably why I tore it down. Not thinking about the condition of the roof. And if I remember right, the loft was nothing but a rotted pitfall.

I walk around to the short side and open one of the doors. Although badly rotted, the frame itself was still intact and the halloween-like squeak was just perfect... for the season, at least. Just like the first barn, the darkness seemed possessive of it's territory and the bright, blazing sun wouldn't be allowed to penetrate. Keeping in mind of the geese and ducks I just purchased, I peer inside before I enter, but like before, I couldn't see anything immediately.

My footfalls are silent as I cross the threshold and wait for a minute as my eyes adjust. Again, remembering yesterday, I let my eyes scan the entire floor. Nothing here but a couple of fresh straw bales and some newer-looking hay piles. Were one of the farmhands dumping some supplies here because they think I'd be using these ramshackle buildings?? Are they nuts?? Probably condemned to be falling on top of my head. That's why I tore them down instead of trying to restore them. Eventually even barns foundation and skeletal structure can't stand from years of neglect. And fools for believing a hundred-year-old-barn won't fail just because 'it's built of stronger stuff'. Look at that lean! And that dip!! The supports are falling.
*mutter* Risk MY health and life walking into one of those... yeah... Right.

But if this hay was fresh, then that farmhand who put it here, would've had a reason to do so, right? Otherwise, it'd still be in a bale.

After another scan of the barn, I find my footfalls crossing the floor to the hay pile. I sit down on one of the straw bales and kick halfheartedly at the hay.
*Yeaoch!!*
My toe connects with something solid. I shuffle the hay around and reveal a bone sticking out of the ground. My eyes grow wide. I don't remember any bones in any of these old barns!



It looks larger than a horse bone though. Maybe it's fake?? Oh, I'm hoping it's fake! I grab a tight hold of it and start pulling.

I put all of my weight against it and start yanking.

Suddenly it lets loose and I fly backward, right into something hard, slimy and reminding me a lot of broken eggs.
*EEwwweee...* Pumpkin guts!



I landed on a pumpkin sitting behind the straw bales! Why didn't I see it before??

Yuck! Guess I'll be taking an extra shower today.

Finally remembering why I had landed in the pumpkin, I looked down at the bone in my hand. Catching an errant shaft of light, I hold it up to examine it. I'm not a specialist, certainly, but it looks way too large to even be a bone from a shire. But... it does look like it could. Turning it in the light, I realize it had begun to glow. As soon as I realize it, I drop it and scuttle away backward, scuttling right through the pumpkin slime.

What's better? Really? Being covered in slime, or being scared by a glowing bone??? that's... now transforming???!!!

A horse looks down at me. She huffs and blows toward me. For a moment, I'm not sure whether she wants to eat me or if she's scared at my own appearance in front of her. But there's something familiar about this mare. Sure, her skeleton's glowing like that bone I found, but I know her.

And suddenly it hit me. It's Demonic Visionary.

Demonic Visionary


A horse that was supposed to be in board at another farm. She's part of my competition line. Scary competition line. Descended from a record-foal producer stallion that's produced a couple more record-producing horses, she has almost no competition ability at all! It's like... it's like... well, it's scary, is what it is! I have no idea what foals she'll produce. She already has one, but it was a part of an event awhile ago. She can produce high quality LOOKING foals. But their competition ability? Who knows.

As my fear settles and my heart picks up it's pieces and glues them back together, I stand and start patting her. Seems she's gotten over her own surprise and remembers me too. She's a gorgeous, though a little lengthy mare but has a few good points for the project I'm breeding them toward. Although I can work with the complete lack of competition ability, I hope it won't be too long before I can get that bred back in.

I find myself whistling as I look closer at the glowing bones through her skin and find a nudge on my back, shoving me into her hip. She flipped her tail, but otherwise, like the great mare she is, doesn't bother further. After all, I named her for her for her lineage as well as her looks, not her personality.

Looking over my shoulder, I squeak in surprise! A pair of dark eyes are glowing out at me from a skull! I find myself having spun around and backed hard into my mare. But she hasn't bothered responding to my sudden panic. Long time horse partner, I took her clues and looked at this skull closer.

Oh. Wildcat Thunder. I laugh a little. My heart is NOT going to survive this!

Wildcat Thunder


He's another like the mare, but far worse. He had just absolutely NO... NO...!!! interest in competing at all!!! An entirely disappointing and heartrending outcome. Okay, perhaps it's entirely my fault. Neither of those parents had much of any specialty they liked either. I chose these two because of their points that did fall in line with my goals and not for the competition ability (or lack thereof) of the cross. But I still hoped the foal would result in Some Sort Of Discipline!

Really. Talk about a terrifying reminder of my failures. -_-

[ScarlettDeath]

I loved the new story additions!
And Brutal Demise is such a beautiful horse! I absolutely love his coat! He looks so cute in the sheet as well!
Demonic Visionary is definitely a big ol' girl! I love a mare that's hefty!
Wildcat Thunder looks amazing as a skeleton horse! I love the way the skull looks on his head! It sits perfectly and looks so natural, It reminds me of how native Americans would paint their horses!

[BlackOak2]

I loved the new story additions!
And Brutal Demise is such a beautiful horse! I absolutely love his coat! He looks so cute in the sheet as well!
Demonic Visionary is definitely a big ol' girl! I love a mare that's hefty!
Wildcat Thunder looks amazing as a skeleton horse! I love the way the skull looks on his head! It sits perfectly and looks so natural, It reminds me of how native Americans would paint their horses!

I thought so too! It was coincidence however. I went looking for a good horse or two that went with my theme and only afterward, saw how he looked in the costume. So, very, very happy coicidence.

Brutal Demise is what I'm hoping to get (the looks anyway) when I get back to breeding them. Although, I have to finish making them true-full leopards. But he is definitely what I'm aiming for.

[ScarlettDeath]

I loved the new story additions!
And Brutal Demise is such a beautiful horse! I absolutely love his coat! He looks so cute in the sheet as well!
Demonic Visionary is definitely a big ol' girl! I love a mare that's hefty!
Wildcat Thunder looks amazing as a skeleton horse! I love the way the skull looks on his head! It sits perfectly and looks so natural, It reminds me of how native Americans would paint their horses!

I thought so too! It was coincidence however. I went looking for a good horse or two that went with my theme and only afterward, saw how he looked in the costume. So, very, very happy coicidence.

Brutal Demise is what I'm hoping to get (the looks anyway) when I get back to breeding them. Although, I have to finish making them true-full leopards. But he is definitely what I'm aiming for.

Well you do amazing with the breeding I'm telling you! I haven't seen a horse like that before on here, I have seen the ones with bigger spots and ones with a blanket like spotting but his is just so cute with it being on his face and legs and such tiny dots!

[BlackOak2]

I thought so too! It was coincidence however. I went looking for a good horse or two that went with my theme and only afterward, saw how he looked in the costume. So, very, very happy coicidence.

Brutal Demise is what I'm hoping to get (the looks anyway) when I get back to breeding them. Although, I have to finish making them true-full leopards. But he is definitely what I'm aiming for.

Well you do amazing with the breeding I'm telling you! I haven't seen a horse like that before on here, I have seen the ones with bigger spots and ones with a blanket like spotting but his is just so cute with it being on his face and legs and such tiny dots!

He's actually a fewspot, two copies of the Lp genes. If you want to get some additional eye candy, check out the leopard fields on the board account, Oaken Fields Farm, there's four of them at the very end.

But I'm not the only one that has a couple fields full of eye candy.

[BlackOak2]

Skeletons In The Clos....Stalls
Part One

Day Three

Yesterday was fun! I had the opportunity to be reminded of my successes and incredible failures. But building a line and keeping it functional as well as breeding certain genes in... it can be an uphill trial.

I still don't know who's been transferring these horses from boarding accounts though. I spoke to a number of the stable hands and they've just been shrugging shoulders and tossing hay. At the very least I've had them checking in and taking care of the recent returnees, I need to get them sent back, but for now, they're welcome reminders.
I also had my maintenance team take a look at the barns. They said that although they could use a lot of work, structurally they're sound. Except for the lofts. They said to not let anybody in the lofts.

"Not going to come down, then?"
"Naw, not unless a tree falls, then... eh... maybe, maybe then."

Not really building my confidence, but they do know what they're doing. I'm sure my empty smile made for more laughs. After all, it is Halloween.

And then it finally happened! The spider rains came.

I was so excited to see it begin! I found myself twirling as the spiders fell! Then almost had one land in my mouth. Okay, enough of that, after all, although they're quick to run out from underfoot, I don't want to start squishing them... let alone accidentally eating them.
*a shiver runs down my back, eating spiders is not on the menu!*
I have no idea where they go after landing on the ground. You'd think they'd start piling up all over, just like tumbleweeds, snow... rain. But they disappear somewhere and they disappear quick. I don't find them hiding anywhere, at least not on my farm. Maybe others get them building up on their farms??

Overnight a few more things appeared on my farm. Including an irritating pumpkin patch popping up right in the middle of my mini dressage ring. Just because it's only half built doesn't mean it's not used!!! And it's not like I can just pick up and move the pumpkins. It appeared complete with a tree and a gravestone. I mean... Come On! Give me a break. Although I wonder who's grave it is?

Did they eat the pumpkins? Was the unfortunate found under this tree? Was it a magnolia tree? I mean, it's long dead now (and having appeared where there wasn't a tree here even when I purchased the place), but is that what it was? And, there wasn't a grave here either, so how old is this grave??
...
Was the horse's name Delicious?
That would've been neat.

So now I have THAT to deal with too. I said that they can use the pumpkin patch as a distraction... I mean, to help them learn how to deal with distractions. The quizzical looks I got... well, we're all facing these hurdles. I can't really do much but bulldoze and if it happens like it's done in years passed, they'll disappear once the season is over.

I'm just crossing my fingers that a pumpkin patch doesn't appear in the barrels or jumping sections. Well, the barrels are big balls, so it's easy enough to move them, but I don't have another open area large enough for the cloverleaf pattern right now. Not one that's safe enough and doesn't interfere with other riders.

And now lets talk about the latest addition to the farm's seasonal decorations. The largest and structurally scariest of the barns that I had torn down.

It once stood as a backdrop and side of a large paddock. In fact, it appeared at one time, to have had one of the doors converted into a run-out. Not really the best setup. But that was before my time and although I wouldn't do it... well, to each their own.

I do remember these trees though. Well, the one was just a stump back then. But they still existed. Bulldozer took care of all of that.


As I approach the front of the barn, I reach out to touch the bark of the one tree. I wonder sometimes if there had been any life left in it.


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Ehh... eheh...
Luckily I don't have any lumps on my head.
As I pick myself up from the ground, I wonder briefly how long I was out for.

There wasn't any ghosties last year.

As I eye the hole in the tree, I back away. I have to find my lost heart before I take a look in this barn.
I need some more of that spiced tea.