I felt like drawing another Halloween sort of maze. I will probably do some more. I wanted to give this a bit of color too. As always, I’d love it if you solved the maze on paper or on a screen, posted it so social media, & tagged me.
Have fun with this. Print it for your Halloween parties, to pass out with candy, or just for fun. Free to use, just don’t steal & sell it.
I really used to be super creeped out by spiders. Perhaps I should make a series of different kinds of spider mazes. The fly is kind of a blob here. I may do a cleaner version at some point. Still working out if I want the next book to have a theme or just be chaos (again).
You can get the black & white version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, mugs, & wall art at TeePublic & Redbubble.
You can also get the orange version on all kinds of stuff like stickers, T-shirts, hoodies, & aprons at TeePublic & Redbubble.
I know. I just made a shameless plug. After that though, I uploaded some new older Halloween mazes to both my TeePublic and RedBubble stores, along with some other stuff. Get yours now in time for Halloween!
Halloween Mazes by AiXelsyD13
I have some free Halloween mazes here from 2019 and 2022. I need to draw some more new ones. If you poke around my shops, you’ll find some other new stuff you may enjoy, too. There’s some more new stuff that I snuck in. Why not get a Sheetz Run sticker or a Wendy’s Maze apron reminding you to melt the cheese?
We recently went camping, and one of my favorite things to do when camping is cooking over a campfire. We did hobo packs the first night and mountain pies the second night. Both nights were a hit with the whole family.
Pretty much anything you throw in foil packet and toss over a campfire will work here. You can go right on the coals, but this was a recent fire, so I put them on a grate on top. There’s 2 layers of heavy duty foil here, but you don’t want it over a direct flame. These would work great on the grill too. I went for 30 minutes, flipped it, & let it go another 30 minutes.
I was looking for stew meat or cubed beef in the grocery store, but the Aldi on the way to the campground had beef that was marked as “Good for Carne Asada” and it looked perfect.
Ingredients:
Beef
Onion
White Mushrooms
Russet Potatoes
Red Bell Pepper
Orange Bell Pepper
Carrots
Zucchini
Butter
Spices!
Black pepper
Season salt
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Mrs. Dash’s Table Blend
What would you put on yours?
Mountain Pies
I have made mountain pies many different ways, but this time we went with the classic pizza ones, and some Italian sub ones for dinner. Everyone went rogue for dessert.
Mine were done up proper…
Pizza Mountain Pie
White bread
Pizza Sauce
Shredded Mozzarella
Pepperoni
Roasted Red Peppers
Black Olives
Mushrooms
Italian Sub Mountain Pie
White bread
Ham Lunch Meat
Salami Lunch Meat
Pepperoni
Turkey Lunch Meat
Sliced Provolone
Roasted Red Peppers
Black Olives
Italian Dressing
Banana Split Mountain Pie(This is the one I had!)
White bread
Jif Choclolate/Peanut Butter Spread
Sliced Banana
Mini Marshmallows
Strawberry Chocolate Mountain Pie
White bread
Sliced Strawberries
Hershey’s Choclolate
Powdered Sugar (on top)
In the past I’ve made Mountain Pie Reubens (on rye), baked bean pies, leftover vegetable soup (thickened up) pies, apple pies, peach pies, peanut butter cup pies, breakfast (eggs & ham) pies, and probably more. The possibilities are endless. Sloppy Joe? Chipped ham BBQ? Grilled cheese? Ham n’ cheese? Turkey melt? Cheesesteak? Hot PB&J? Hot dog & baked beans? Biscuit dough around something? How do you do yours?
Of course, this doesn’t cover all the possibilities of campfire cooking. There’s hot dogs, s’mores, campfire banana splits, campfire corn, baked potatoes, & more. What do you do over your campfires?
I don’t have a pedal-mobile like the savagely sardonic Pat Finnerty, but I do have some weird mostly cheap pedals. You’ve seen my guitars, you may have heard some of my musical output, but I need to set up a spot to rock again after letting chaos accumulate in my jam space.
Pedals-Schmeadals
I posited the following to social media, and AI:
How would you hook up the following components to maximize use/effectiveness of the given equipment for a guitar rig?
The Amps:
Gorilla TC-35 (Combo)
Fender Blues Jr. (Combo)
Positive Grid Spark (Combo)
Lil’ Smokey (Combo)
Orange Micro Terror (Head)
Laney 2×12 (Cab)
Yamaha MSR 100 (PA)
The Pedals:
D’Addario/Planet Waves PW-CT-04 Tuner
Ernie Ball 6185 Wah
Quinnamp Dirt & Ernie (Distortion/Boost)
The Spamp+ (Amp / Preamp)
Ammoon Pock Loop (Looper)
LiveWire Solutions ABY1 ABY Box
Joyo BAATSIN (Overdrive/Distortion)
Crazy Tube Circuits Unobtanium (Overdrive)
Mooer E7 Synth
DigiTech Trio Band Creator + FS3X Footswitch
Is there a good order to the pedals? Typically I have the Trio going out to the Yamaha PA, and the ABY going into the Micro Terror/Laney and the Blues Jr. Ignoring the Spark & (sadly) the TC-35. I’m not sure which way to order the pedals, though.
Also, do I split the signal early & put different effects to each amp? I have done that with the wah and it sounds neat.
I get that it’s all subjective, but I love to over-think things… so help me do that.
I did ask Perplexity, ChatGPT, & Gemini for advice, and they seem to provide pretty standard stuff that you may see in guitar forums.
From Perplexity:
🎸
To set up your guitar rig effectively, the goal is to optimize signal flow for tonal clarity while integrating the ABY box and DigiTech Trio Band Creator with your PA system. Here’s a structured approach:
Pedal Order Recommendations
Tuner (D’Addario PW-CT-04): Place first to ensure a clean signal for accurate tuning136.
Wah (Ernie Ball 6185): Follows the tuner, as wah pedals interact best with an unaltered guitar signal135.
Distortion/Boost (Quinnamp Dirt & Ernie): Early gain staging preserves dynamic response. Stack with subsequent drives145.
Overdrives (Joyo BAATSIN, Crazy Tube Circuits Unobtanium): Order these based on preference (e.g., lower-gain first into higher-gain)146.
Preamp (The Spamp+): Acts as a tone-shaping buffer. Place after drives to avoid coloring their response34.
Synth (Mooer E7): Position after drives for consistent tracking. Synths can behave unpredictably with distorted signals45.
DigiTech Trio Band Creator: Place here to analyze your processed guitar signal. Route its output to the Yamaha PA for bass/drum separation24.
Looper (Ammoon Pock Loop): Last in the chain to capture the entire signal, including the Trio’s guitar input. This ensures loops include all effects34.
ABY Box (LiveWire ABY1): Split the final signal to your Orange Micro Terror/Laney 2×12 and Fender Blues Jr.2.
Enable ground lift/isolation if using both amps simultaneously to avoid hum2.
Amplifier Configuration
Orange Micro Terror: Connect to the Laney 2×12 cab (ensure impedance matching).
Fender Blues Jr.: Use as a standalone combo.
Yamaha PA: Dedicated to the Trio’s band mix for a full stereo/backing track experience24.
Key Considerations
Experiment with Drive Order: Test the Joyo BAATSIN and Unobtanium in different sequences (e.g., BAATSIN as a mid-boost into the Unobtanium’s higher gain)14.
Synth Placement: If tracking issues arise, try moving the Mooer E7 earlier (post-wah)5.
ABY Ground Noise: Use the LiveWire ABY1’s ground-lift feature if humming occurs2.
This setup balances conventional signal-chain logic with your specific gear, ensuring the Trio’s band tracks and dual-amp rig work cohesively. Always test and tweak to suit your playing style!
Perplexity would not generate a schematic, but ChatGPT & Gemini did… or they tried. They look cool upon first glance, then get real weird when you zoom in… and they don’t even follow the advice of the chain setup. Clearly there is a disparity between the text generation & the image generation. Some of the pedal representations are really cool though, especially with GhatGPT. I can’t help but wonder where it is stolen from. Guitar mag/website rig rundowns?
I dunno when Fender started using orange tolex & separate heads… but the pedals look fancy.
It clearly used the Dirt & Ernie art for the Unobtanium, but it stole that gorgeous Micro Terror from somewhere… and WTF is a Crazy Tauloc? Sounds like an extra on Star Trek.
Granted, I am generally a plug-in, crank the gain, and keep the volume low kind of player. I don’t so effects much. I would like to monkey around with that I have.
Here is where I solicit your advice in the comments and on social media. 🤘
I have been feeding the birds forever, and enjoy watching all the critters on our suburban landscape… even down to the bees pollinating in my zucchini flowers. I have enjoyed the Merlin Bird ID app for identifying birds that I have observed at my feeder since we moved here over 10 years ago. There’s a nice flowering tree out back that you can see perfectly from the kitchen window.
I started out with it out back by the old feeder, and a picnic table squirrel feeder from Amazon. The deer got crazy close and I was afraid of them destroying it… so I got a pole and moved it to the side of the house, right outside the window… and now the cats enjoy it there, too. I had to get the Pro Perch add-on, too.
So, of course, I got another pole and another Birdfy camera without the feeder attached and a solar panel from Walmart(they’re weirdly cheaper there in person & sometimes on Amazon than they are online at Birdfy). I couldn’t now miss the action at my old traditional feeder & the new squirrel feeder.
I have since caught deer feeding on the corn and bird seed, squirrels, a chipmunk or two, and so many trash pandas in addition to all the birds.
I thought I’d share photos of my setup and some videos that I have taken since I have had people inquire about it. I can see myself getting a hummingbird feeder or the nest camera down the line. Ha ha.
I have dubbed the backyard area the Naughty Gnome Noshery, and I’ll eventually work out some signage. (My wife calls it “Bird Kennywood.”) I planted some pollinator mix around the base of the tree to hopefully obfuscate the seed casings & spent peanut shells… and provide some help to bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, & other pollinators. I hung one of my 3 insect hotels out there, too.
The Naughty Gnome Noshery
I ought to get a ground level camera for the rabbits, and I have seen the occasional red fox in the neighborhood, too.
I have gone through a few feed mixes, different suet block flavors, even suet pellets that no one liked, but I have arrived on mixing my own from a hot pepper or spicy sunflower mix, safflower seeds, and mealworms all mixed together (for now), with peanuts for the squirrels… but the blue jays and grackles like those, too. I have put out oranges and grape jelly to try & attract orioles to no success.
I do suggest getting both the Netvueand the Birdfy apps. I use the Netvue one for camera setup, and the Birdfy one to watch the videos. Sadly, the AI bird identification subscription service is per camera, not app… so I only have it on the first one, and I still use Merlin Bird ID a lot. I know my friend Jason has the Bird Buddy brand and he’s very happy with it. I’m sure there are lots of cool ones out there.
So, we all know I have a thing for guitars. I like ’em weird and I like ’em cheap. Anyone who plays & reads about guitars on the internet knows about the reality of G.A.S. and all its warning signs.
Rude Tech Falcondrive
I only have a few pedals. I mean, I could always use more. Right? I think the Falcondrive sparked this most recent attack. Eaglebones Falconhawk is the renowned stringman and Fender aficionado of the insanely fun band, The Aquabats!
It’s overdrive and distortion all in one… and I like all kinds of noise. I like high gain, overdrive, distortion, chorus, fuzz… all of it.
Eaglebones sounds great, and he’s a killer player… this takes two of his older beloved modified pedals and combines them all into one package. What’s not to dig about it?
Yeah. That got my interest piqued. Then between AliExpress and Amazon, I ended up in a cheap-ass pedal deep dive. I love cheap gear. But not garbage. We’ll say inexpensive gear.
How do the algorithms know? They’re listening.They’re reading.They’re watching.They’re pressuring.
I have sort of always been looking at an EHX B9 or the Earthquaker Organizer(or the EHX C9, Bass9, Key9. or Synth9 really). Honestly though, let’s face it; Most of my guitars cost as much as or less than these inarguably awesome quality pedals.
I found a super cheap and entirely crappy sounding sort of competitor online, then I found a slightly less crappy but seemingly more useful competitor online… still also pretty damn cheap.
That though, somehow led me to this, which does not sound super terrible: The Mooer E7 Synth. It is not quite as expensive as the big boys, but also doesn’t sound like a dying sound card from a Commodore 64. (Arguably, even that could be a valid fun sound to chase… but if you’re not going for that, then you probably don’t want it by accident.)
Why do I want a synth pedal? Because, for years when playing out in bands, one of the songs I always dug covering was “Cool Kids” by Screeching Weasel. It has two super short keyboard parts that I always just played on the guitar. I would be immensely amused by the 3½ seconds of satisfaction that would provide.
That’s how G.A.S. works, right?
That led me to the Mooer Pitch Box. I don’t even need a pitch box, but is sure sounds cool. And it’s cheap. Damnit. That just led me to the even cheaper VSN Harmonizer. And a drummer pedal! The struggle is real. The pedals have gained sentience and are conspiring.
Then, I found the Flamma FS01 Drum Loop, which looks like ridiculous amounts of fun.
Then there are the other pedals that I can’t forget. I love my Orange Micro Terror. Apparently they make it as a pedal now, The Terror Stamp. I use an A/B/Y sometimes to play through both the Micro Terror and the Fender Blues Jr. at once. It would be fun to Orange-up the Blues Jr., or to play the Terror Stamp into the Micro Terror to make the Orange even more Orange.
That got me to seeing about the recent Acorn Amps Solid State pedal made to emulate an old Peavy Decade amp made famous by Josh Homme. That made me nostalgic for my first amp, the Gorilla TC-35. It had a “Tube Crunch” knob, but no tubes. After I got a larger amp to be in a band setting… we used to use it as a PA at AiXeLsyD practice, and I think even at some living room and basement shows.
Is it possible to make into a pedal? I don’t have the skills. I have a soldering iron, but I am no good with it. I used to do drafting in high school, but I am lost on the schematics for electronics. It looks like at least two people have made the combo into a head(…OK, one was for bass). A schematic exists online. Someone even has a circuit board which emulates the circuits for the amp, but is small enough to fit in a pedal. Why make a $200 pedal for a $50 amp? Yes. Why? Also, why not?
I wrote all of that, and still don’t know the point. To relieve G.A.S.? I would guess it should only serve to exacerbate it.
YesFX
I mean, I do have a few pedals. They’re not even on a board. I had them on the cut-off bottom of a milk crate, but then I wanted to remove one. They are fun, and they do indeed do things.
This, hive mind, is where I need your help. Do I want more pedals? Yes. Do I need more pedals? Also, yes. They are sure to spark creativity. Use your wisdom to teach me. Can anyone build me a TC-35 pedal? I can get my wife to Cricut the logo in vinyl! Ha ha. Which pedals should I go for? What would you go for? I’m looking for those people experienced with these cheap pedals all over the internet. Send me your thoughts, reviews, & opinions!
The kids like to garden. They helped plant once again this year, and have been great at watering, upkeep, & harvesting. They really did most of the planting work this year, and are learning about how to keep weeds out and when to pick ripe peppers. (They’re already pretty good at tomatoes.)
This year, by accident, I picked up a jalapeño plant when shopping at Home Depot. I meant to get 2 each of yellow bell peppers, orange bell peppers, and red bell peppers. I came home with a jalapeno and only one yellow pepper. We also planted some sweet banana peppers.
When I brought it home, Ian was determined to plant it & try some. He was true to his word! Molly & Ian did both try it! I put the video up on YouTube and IGTV.
Decide for yourself if you think they liked it:
I haven’t ever grown hot peppers despite all my years growing tomato, pepper, & a slew of other stuff.
I asked on various social media platforms on how to tell if your jalapeno is ripe and I got a handful of differentiating opinions. I got…
When they turn red. (Was told they turn black before they are red.)
When they start to get little brown lines/wrinkles.
At around 3″ long.
At around 6″ to 8″ long.
Look at the photo on the plant tag.
bury match heads to make them hotter.
So, how do you tell when they’re ripe?
Share your hot pepper ripeness tips & any other tricks below on the comments.
Have an recipes to share too? I would like to hear your thoughts on gardening, jalapeno peppers, or the video below!
This has been a fun gardening journey. It is exciting to see them learn about composting, growing food, and then trying it & even cooking with it. We have had plenty of beautiful snap beans, sweet banana peppers, & a few varieties of cherry tomatoes so far.
This morning I felt like playing the guitar. I didn’t feel like jamming in the basement by my work bench where all my stuff is set up. I didn’t bring up the Laney 2×12 or the Orange Micro Terror. I brought out the Fender Blues Jr. & a Yamaha MSR100 powered speaker so I could run my new DigiTech Trio into two different outputs.
The Trio was a birthday present from my wife. It was on backorder from Sweetwater for a while & we have been really busy so this was my first chance to try it out. I set it up like this…
It started out as a pile of stuff in the corner. Then I remembered that I had an old RCA-Victor TV cabinet in the garage purchased from our house’s previous owner that I thought about turning into an amp someday. The Blues Jr. fit where the TV went, and the Yamaha PA fit underneath where the speaker grille is.
Then I had a cabinet and I pile of pedals. So, I cut up a milk crate and made a goofy pedal board with a Donner power supply & some zip ties. The “board” fits inside the cabinet with the blues Jr. too. It was a morning long project but it felt good to get it done & know I can jam a lot more easily. It may be tricky if I just want to use the Trio & some headphones.
I do have a Dirt & Ernie pedal & an A/B/Y that I use to run the Jr. & Micro Terror at the same time. Maybe a board extension will eventually be in order? How cool would it be if the doors came off & were the pedalboard?
Oh well. Enough monkeying. Time to jam.
I will eventually have to give a serious(?) evaluation of the Trio. I do already know I want a looper now. Ha ha. It was pretty intuitive & loads of right out of the box. My 4 year old told me to turn it down right away, so it had to be cool. Right?
Monkeying with the DigiTech Trio:
I apologize for the “living room while the wife and kids are home” volume, and the Crocs.
My little dude seemed to like the idea. He has all the moves down. Maybe some day he will want to play too!
Do you have a living room, bedroom, or other small setup rig? Share some in the comments! Any thoughts on any of this equipment? Any tips for the Trio? You can comment below here at the blog with WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, or a Gravatar login.
So, tonight for dinner I made a new (to me) one. The wife has made it several times and it’s always a hit with the kids. I think her original recipe was entitled Santa Fe Stuffed Peppers. This takes out a bit of the spice and she’s not a huge fan of black beans (which I would have included). Everything here came from Aldi, except the slices of white American cheese. We just had that on hand, and no shredded cheese. It worked well.
Our 3 year old daughter wolfed down about a pepper and a half worth of filling, skipping the outer pepper for some reason. (She would possibly eat it all, or just the reverse tomorrow.) She said that we should have it every night for dinner. I noted that she really likes these, and her mom’s homemade Manwich-like sloppy joes, and that we should start a food truck that specializes in ground meat and call it “Ground Around Town.” She said we have to paint it pink. I asked if she wanted to cook or wash dishes. She chose cooking.
Out of all the stuff you think kids might be picky about, they gobble this up. (3 yo & 18mo). I like these better than the more traditional meatball w/ rice stuffed in a green pepper & covered in spaghetti sauce or tomato soup. For some reason, I can dig the rice & ground meat mixed… but I do not like rice in meatballs. The red, yellow, & orange peppers are very sweet too. I like them more than the green ones. Also, if you mention that you like your peppers stuffed with sausage, you can just close this tab and move on.
2 lbs. ground beef (we have used Turkey before, from Giant Eagle)
6 red, yellow, or orange peppers
6 slices of white american cheese (or whatever kind you like)
All I did was…
Cook the rice & set it aside. I used the liquid from the can of tomatoes & a beef bullion cube in the water.
Cut the tops off of the peppers, pull out seeds & weird white stuff off of the inside. (Bethany parboils them first, I didn’t. I liked them a bit crunchier.)
Brown the ground beef, season to taste. I added onion powder, garlic powder, & seasoned-salt. (We have also used ground turkey for this. It’s delicious.)
Mix the fire-roasted diced tomatoes into the ground meat after draining the fat off.
Mix the rice & beef/tomatoes together.
Put the peppers in a glass baking dish. Pack the peppers with the tasty rice & beef goodness. Two didn’t stand up well on their own, so I made little foil stands.
I cooked them in a preheated oven at 375° for 20 minutes, then added the slices of cheese for 5 minutes.
Like I said, Bethany parboils the peppers so they’re a bit softer, so she cooks it at 325° for 20-25 minutes.
Next time, if I make this, I may cook the rice in tomato paste or other tomato flavoring, and add the black beans. Not sure what the kids would think. Maybe a little bit of heat would be nice too? This reminds me of Spanish rice in a pepper.
Do you make anything similar? Do you do stuffed peppers a different way? Do you stuff acorn squash like this? Do you do different seasonings? Make ’em meatless? (Toasted garbanzo beans & black beans might be really good in this!) Let me know in the comments!
World (and Lunar) Domination 