<a class="proll" href="https://www.Writing.Com/main/books/item_id/1051691-Gemini-Rising">Gemini Rising

(E)
Let your spooky poetry shine. Oct. 13th 12:01 am WDC time. - closes 11:59 pm WDC Oct 25th
#2328177 by A Warped Witch I Be

in 2024 which honestly was a big challenge for me considering my schedule, and again I hunkered down and did it! Update October 2025: I had so much participating in the challenge last year, I did it again for 2025 and successfully completed it. There's some great spooky poetry to be found in October and the blog earned the following merit badges:

Big Thanks to A Warped Witch I Be

for hosting the contest!

Find me at:

WEBSITE:
http://www.stephanieburkhart.com

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/StephanieBurkhartAuthor

GOOD READS:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4031660.Stephanie_Burkhart

YOU TUBE CHANNEL:
http://www.youtube.com/user/botrina?feature=mhee

WARNING

I intend to be open, honest, and forthright. No topic is off limits from religion to you name it, I'm going there. If you think you might be offended...back up now - this blog isn't for you. For those who "dare" check out the "Gemini Rising..."

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10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

BIG BAD WOLF is Howling

about 18 hours ago
In response to "I'm your Ipad, Baby! "

Nothing wrong with a recycled costume.

🌻 pwheeler ~ love joy peace

a day ago
In response to "Trick or Ipad? "

Either one works if you ask me!

Oct 30, 2025 at 11:37pm
In response to "Trick or Ipad? "

I happen to have a cape and Viking headband. I might wear it.

I also happen to have a princess crown so... that's probably more likely.

Oct 30, 2025 at 8:23pm
In response to "Clean up! "

Andy likes it because all of the lakes and water and scenery and well, we like it too. We'll see what shakes out.

WebWiԎch

Oct 29, 2025 at 5:39pm
In response to "Clean up! "

Meredith is cool.

Good luck on all your Zillowing!

Hey, that's half the fun. It's never to early to at least see if you love a town first before making a decision. Best way is by trolling it!

Oct 28, 2025 at 6:57pm
In response to "World Series Thoughts "

Soldier_Mike

Honestly, a Mariners-Brewers would have been good with me. I feel you about being torn. When the Dodgers played the Red Sox in the 2018 World Series, I rooted for the Red Sox. Hubby understood.

Jeff

No worries, I get it.

if it was the Giants and the Blue Jays I'd be rooting for the Blue Jays, too! I do remember going up to see a couple of Giants games up in SF in 2003 (I still have the ticket stub) at SBC Park. It's a really nice ballpark. Pretty cool you can plunk a home run or foul into the bay!

Jeff

Oct 27, 2025 at 11:36pm
In response to "World Series Thoughts "

I'm rooting for the Blue Jays. In part because they haven't won a World Series since the early 90s, and in part because - as a Giants fan - I generally root for whoever's playing the Dodgers.

2 Like

Soldier_Mike

Oct 27, 2025 at 10:00pm
In response to "World Series Thoughts "

I was kinda hoping for a Mariners - Brewers Series, as neither team has ever won one and the Mariners have never even been there. As things stand, though, I'm a little torn: the Dodgers are a National League team, just like my Colorado Rockies, but they're also a Division rival, so...

Oct 25, 2025 at 7:52pm
In response to "Day 12 - Here Lies a Troll "

I honestly, never saw this movie, but after I was watching the trailer, I think I want to!

Soldier_Mike

Oct 24, 2025 at 10:47pm
In response to "Day 12 - Here Lies a Troll "

Ernest excels at getting into trouble. Fortunately, he's almost as adept at getting out of it. KnowhutImean?

November 1, 2025 at 7:58pm

#1100661

I'm your Ipad, Baby!

Well Halloween has come and gone here in Southern California and I had to work last night. I was kind of blase, about dressing up. I mean, the past couple of years I put some effort into my costumes and no one gets it. I was a zombie, a steampunk aviator, and Ally Sheedy's character from the Breakfast Club. I've been a donut, a whoopie cushion and Spongebob. So this year I decided to recycle my constume. I had this costume made in 2014 for Halloween. I thought I'd keep it simple and be an Ipad. Well, it was the only year it worked - I won 3rd place that year in the contest. So instead of fussing out what I was going to be I just recycled my costume 11 year later.

I'm an Ipad for Halloween

Guess what? I won 3rd place again! I won't complain.

And the best part? Practically NO ONE at work remembered the first time I wore it 11 years ago! That's how much personnel have changed over. I'm not complaining. I'll take 3rd place and be happy.

There's always a lot for me to do on the first of the month and it's hard because I have limited time. I'm hoping for some down time at work to really catch up tonight. We'll see. I didn't have much time yesterday. I was working as a supervisor and the radio was OFF THE HOOK. All kinds of crazy parties with 1000 ppl plus ACTING STUPID. Then we had La Cresenta LASD ask us for some assistance with a cemetery on the border between us and them. Seems a male and female went to the cemetery and I don't know HOW but the dude was shot D-E-A-D in the chest. Self inflicted? She did it? Or some gruesome satanic ritual? Don't know. Don't know if I wanna know.

Anyhoo - while I was at work, Hubby was passing out candy. He reported maybe 10 kids came to visit. Kind of a bummer, but I suspect all the kids who were kids Andy's age have moved on and the neighborhood is a bit "older."

That said, here are my projects:

Gotta catch up the

GROUP

Steph Bee's Bee Hive

(E)
Steph Bee's Home for Busy Bees and the Honey Pit
#1134558 by StephBee

- Shouldn't be hard as no one submitted any surveys. Bummer.

Gotta Catch up the

GROUP

Veterans Group

(13+)
A group for honoring all veterans of all services. OCT 25 update
#433283 by StephBee

- November's our big prize month so I gotta take my time and make sure I get it right.

Need to do my reviews for the Angel Army and Bee Hive, and I've made it my goal to spice up the Angel Lounge a little bit. Ambitious I know considering.

Smiles to all
Steph

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October 31, 2025 at 7:09pm

#1100566

WDC Happenings

Very excited to earn

FOLDER

The WDC Angel Army

(ASR)
A group dedicated to promoting positive WDC spirit! Join us today!
#1188305 by iKïyå§ama

Reviewer of the Month again!

Reviewer of the Month ribbon for the Angel Army

Also happy to pick up this Merit Badge:

I'm trying to read 5 books all at once. It's not easy. Maybe 2 is more realistic, but gosh, I'm in the grove! lol!!

I have a sneaky feeling that November is going to fly by. Hard to believe I'll be married for 34 years in November. Where does the time go?

I'll updating the Bees and the Veterans Group soon!
Smiles
Steph

The Best of the Rest at the Bee Hive

October 30, 2025 at 8:26pm

#1100486

Trick or Ipad?

My work is sponsoring a Halloween costume contest on the 31st. I'm thinking of recycling my costume and going like an Ipad. Does anyone else dress up?

Comment • View 2 comments

October 29, 2025 at 4:36pm

#1100418

Clean up!

Well heck, I had a rare Tuesday night for Wednesday off so I did 3 loads of laundry!

Then I came to WDC to clean up a little bit.

I found out it was WebWiԎch

National Day of Care here on the website and showered her with care. Caught up on my emails, reviews, got my 5 "gotta" does done and decided to prune my emails.

I ordered

from her to support her fundraiser and who knows, maybe SoCal will get some rain.

Yikes. I had like 15 unopened Merit badges from June 2021!! I felt wicked bad. I need some CARE now. I must have been busy with Scouts (as the boys were still scouting - in Fact - that summer - I took the Boy Scout troop to Emerald Bay and then Joey and I went to New Hampshire for 2 weeks) so yeah - It was really easy to miss those merit badges.

From the bottom of my heart to everyone who sent me a merit badge back in June of 2021 for helping to judge the Quills - ((Thank you))

Nothing too exciting going on - still editing my story "Gifts" and making some good progress on it.

I haven't been much of anywhere lately and as soon as Halloween is over the Fam will be working on Thanksgiving. I'll have an update on my Canadian Key Fob highjinks tomorrow when I go to get a replacement key from my after market guy. Crossing my fingers...

Best of the Rest needs some surveys!

IN & OUT

(E)
OCT 2025 Contest is open! Submit your Favorite Surveys!
#1134192 by StephBee

Don't forget to your Veterans Challenge items in:

FORUM

Honoring Our Veterans - Challenge

(ASR)
Celebrating Veterans Day every day
#423698 by StephBee

Bard's Hall has a great "Something Horror" contest this month

The Bard's Hall Contest

(13+)
November Prompt: Dear Mom/Dad, from exchange student
#981150 by StephBee

and if you're looking to get your spook on here's a great poem that would like some love:

STATIC

Pennywise

(ASR)
A Rondeau horror poem
#2329791 by StephBee

Hubby and I have been looking on Zillow for houses in New Hampshire. It's a little early for us to buy, but I figure no harm in looking, right? I found a house in Meredith that I really liked and it's nice on the outside but a tad zig zaggy on the inside.

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October 27, 2025 at 9:28pm

#1100294

World Series Thoughts

Well, my husband's team is in the World Series. He's a big Dodgers baseball fan. I've always enjoyed baseball myself, being a Boston Red Sox fan. (I did grow up in New England after all!) I remember when I was 12, I put my name in a drawing at a local grocery store to get a tour of Fenway park and my name was picked! I got a great tour of the ballpark and an autographed baseball from Carney Lansford and Dave Stapleton.

My husband's family would go to Dodger games but they could only only afford the Top Deck. Mind you the top deck is very affordable if you're poor.

When I came to Los Angeles we always tried to sit on the field. The tickets were affordable about $40.00 each but now they're not affordable. I field seat might be between 80 to 120 dollars. Sigh...

I'm rooting for LA since it's my husband's team. We'll see what shakes out.

Here's a pic of my husband and boy #1 back in 2006-2007. Gotta be into sports if you're a boy mom. Go Blue!
Brent & Andrew, 28 JULY 2006

Here's a pic of my husband, Boy #1 and Boy #2 in 2019. We went and saw the Dodgers on the 4th of July.

July 2019 - The family goes to a Dodger game.

Are you rooting for the Dodgers or Blue Jays this World Series?

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October 26, 2025 at 6:53pm

#1100205

October WDC Reflections

Well, the 13 Poetic Days of Halloween

FORUM

(E)
Let your spooky poetry shine. Oct. 13th 12:01 am WDC time. - closes 11:59 pm WDC Oct 25th
#2328177 by A Warped Witch I Be

are over and I had a great time. But again, it's all about the definition. How do you define great? For me - it great included budgeting my time so I had time to work on creating the poems. That said, I hadn't watched any of these movies (except maybe ET when I was a kid) so I had to do some research. I watched all the movie trailers and reading the Wikipedia pages so I had a "feel" for the characters. I also had to research some of the poetry forms so I made sure I was accurate with them when I wrote them. The most challenging poems for me were the Shape poem and the Limerick poem. Out of all the movie inspired poems I'd be intrigued to watch "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Trick r Treat." oh - and "Practical Magic."

I can't imagine organizing and hosting and keeping track of the posters is easy so let me give a BIG SHOUT to A Warped Witch I Be

who did a great job keeping us poets all together.

During

FORUM

Habit Heroes

(13+)
A challenge to inspire positive daily habits and friendship. You can earn cool prizes too!
#2165720 by 🌻 pwheeler ~ love joy peace

this month, I was able to finish one of my Dear Me 2025 Reading goals - finish my Shana Galen Romance, which I did!!

If You Give a Rake a Ruby (Jewels of the Ton Book 2) (Rated: ASR)

ASIN: B00A2XV158
ID #115942

Product Type: Kindle Store
Reviewer: StephBee

Review Rated: E

Setting:
Story Plot:
Length of :
Usefulness:
Overall Quality:

Amazon's Price: $ 7.99

View Review · Buy Now!

And, because of Habit Heroes, I've been slow, but steady progress my edit for "Gifts." It's a Christmas story, and I don't know if it will be ready for Christmas, but if it wasn't for Habit Heroes, I wouldn't have made the progress I have. I'm about 3/4 done. I'm going back and doing a bit of a content edit before I work on the ending.

I do know as the holidays gear up - finding time to work on personal projects will be challenging but hey, life is what happens when you're busy doing other things.

Smiles to all
Steph

Day 13 - Jack's Nightmare before Christmas

October 25, 2025 at 7:24pm

#1100128

Day 13 of

FORUM

(E)
Let your spooky poetry shine. Oct. 13th 12:01 am WDC time. - closes 11:59 pm WDC Oct 25th
#2328177 by A Warped Witch I Be

Today's poem is Free Verse inspired by the 1993 movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Enjoy!

****

Oh, spooky night when the ghouls come out
Jack Skellington finds his way,
And yet repetition a has made Halloween
A dull, dull day.

Woods and Trees and portals be
Leads Jack to a new discovery.
There’s a new town in the woods
For Jack to terrorize and scare.

A plan is hatched,
A plot devised
And poor old Sandy Claus
Finds a home in Jack’s Halloween hallow.

The night is gray, the moon is clouded
The air hints of chill and something foul
Little children open the gifts
To sights of horror and gruesome heads

Jack is stunned to discover this revulsion
And heart of hearts drives him
To make things right. Off he goes to
Find his hallow.

Slish and a slash and it all comes
Tumbling down. Sally and Sandy are
Safe at last. The ghouls have their spiders
And the children delight in presents.

Line Count: 24

Day 12 - Here Lies a Troll

October 24, 2025 at 7:05pm

#1100053

Day 12 of

FORUM

Day 11 - Pumpkinhead Poetry

(E)
Let your spooky poetry shine. Oct. 13th 12:01 am WDC time. - closes 11:59 pm WDC Oct 25th
#2328177 by A Warped Witch I Be

Today's poem is an Epitaph inspired by the movie, "Ernest Scared Stupid."

An epitaph is a brief poem inscribed on a tombstone praising a deceased person, usually with rhyming lines.

Here lies Trantor the Troll
He was an ugly old cursed soul
Until Ernest P Worrell let him out of his sinkhole
But a little love and a lot of milk in his bowl
Sent the worm to his hellhole

Blogger's note: I did not realize I needed 2 epitaphs for this prompt so I'm cruising in late (10/25/25 at 402 pm PDT time to be exact.) I wanted to forfill the prompt so enjoy my Epitaph for Old Lady Hackmore:

Old Lady Hackmore lies here
They say her house was full of fear
All the townsfolk said stay clear
Trantor the troll made her family disappear
When family returned she died of cheer

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October 23, 2025 at 10:52pm

#1099959

Day 11 of

FORUM

(E)
Let your spooky poetry shine. Oct. 13th 12:01 am WDC time. - closes 11:59 pm WDC Oct 25th
#2328177 by A Warped Witch I Be

Today's challenge is shape Poetry with inspiration from the movie, Pumpkinhead (1988). The shape to use is a pumpkin. Mind you, Shape Poetry is not my strong suit, so I hope I got my pumpkin in the "ballpark."

Night
Is rich
With troublemakers
And teenagers in a sea of leaves.
Younguns injure their own and a father is heartbroken
There must be accountability, there must be revenge and so
The father seeks out a hillbilly witch to exact his price on those who
Have wronged him. Haggis takes no gold only a corpse mixed with
Blood. Toil and curse cannot stop the Pumpkinhead, but remorse is
Here. Too late. Pumpkinhead and machete, pitchfork and chain on the
Hunt. Time exchanges pumpkin for human. Revenge is had but at a price –
Ed changes into that which he did not desire and the one
Left is an old, lonely witch waiting for the next Pumpkinhead.

Day 10 - Hocus Pocus and poof you're Gone!

October 22, 2025 at 6:57pm

#1099882

Day 10 for

FORUM

(E)
Let your spooky poetry shine. Oct. 13th 12:01 am WDC time. - closes 11:59 pm WDC Oct 25th
#2328177 by A Warped Witch I Be

Limerick Poetry ▼

The Sanderson Sisters

There once was a witch named Winifred
Who owned an old spellbook lettered red
An old black cat named Binx
Proved to be a wicked Minx
And Winifred turned to stone in her bed.

Sarah was a dumb but beautiful witch
But the townspeople thought she was a bitch
She liked to flirt and sing
But, gosh it wasn’t spring
Bang bang, Sarah’s new home was a ditch

Mary’s a witch with a nose from hell
Kid, goblin, gremlin, goat, she can smell
Oh dear Salem the sun
One hour until its done
Hocus pocus look poof goes the spell