My World Tuesday #55: Tiff-o-we'en '09 (or: Possibly The Longest MWT I've Ever Written)

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Entry to Spiffytown, home of Tiff-o-we'en, where there will always be fire. Always.

Note: All photos embiggen in a new window/tab.
It was last Halloween that the world (both real and virtual) was introduced to what would become the annual phenomenon "Tiff-o-we'en". This gala event is hosted by the inimitable Spiffy clan, namely Tiff and Biff Spiffy, a couple of fine bloggers (well one fine blogger and one Facebook Defector -- you know who you are!).

If you've been hanging around, you may remember Tiff-o-we'en '08 and the tales of the Porn Couch Queen (immortalized in local bloglore as "PCQ"). Alas this year's bash was missing that particular gate crasher, and the entertainment she provided. But nonetheless there was much fun -- some of it right up my alley. More on that momentarily.

Also missing -- and missed -- from this year's lineup Farrago did not, as we had hoped, drive his cab from Chicago to join us. He was surely missed, as his Ron Jeremy costume was the hit last year.

Somebody discovered that sawdust, suspended in the air over an open fire makes a huge fireball. There was no stopping them after this discovery

But in his stead we gained Renn who didn't make it for the '08 affair, and returning for an encore engagement were the Kenju's, though I didn't see much of them. There were quite a few more (gasp!) non-blogging types this year as well and I think the hosts even knew most of them.

So what was in store for us? Well the highlight of the evening's activities (from my point of view anyway) was the Photographic Scavenger Hunt.

Creepy abandoned houselike structures were not on the list, but they should have been.

The participants were split into teams of 4 (with one team -- mine -- picking up a 5th in the numbers game), given a list of 12 "targets", a map of the allowable area, and 45 minutes to complete the mission. But to ensure that there was no malfeasance (in an attempt to win the most sensational prizes) there was a wrinkle in the rules. At least two team members must appear in each photo, each team member must appear in at least 3 photos and the entire team must appear in one photo. This effectively made it impossible to show up with previously taken photos since (a) nobody knew in advance what the makeup of the teams would be and (b) most of us didn't even know the hunt was gonna happen.

Railroad tracks, however, were on the list, and my courageous team risked life and limb to get the shot within the working parameters.

With the aid of one of the young Spiffys, my team of 5 completed the mission, returning first and covering all of the ground on foot. The other to teams employed vehicular transport for at least part of the task, which was within the rules, but having a "native guide" we felt we would be better off on foot. Of course the one of our number wearing platform shoes might have disagreed, but she did not fall behind, nor did we hear a word of complaint. (I was impressed. Aren't you impressed? It was an impressive display in fortitude.) In the end, the fact that we made it back soonest was what won it for us because all three teams completed the list within the allotted time and all of the photos were ... hilarious. (There was a brief moment of panic when I realized that I had shot our entire outing in RAW format, but we found a plug-in at Canon USA's website that allowed Biff to translate the CR2 files into something readable. Had I known this was on the agenda, I'd have brought my own laptop -- with the CF card reader and all the software for conversion.)

Some people build potato guns. Some build potato artillery pieces.

With the Scavenger Hunt completed, you'd think that the excitement would begin to wind down. Not so fast... not when there's a disturbance still to be created. Last year, on the day following Tiff-o-we'en, while Farrago was still in town Biff (who's quite a handy sort being a remodeling contractor by trade) hit upon the idea of building a potato gun. No, not a simple piece of PVC pipe capped on one end with a hole for a fuse. But a monstrous potato cannon with a 2.5 inch bore and triggered by a grill igniter. I wasn't on hand for its initial live firing trials, but we did get a bit of a demonstration using only paper wadding (since there was no nearby "impact area" to safely fire live rounds on). Reports from last year were that with a good seal, the Biffinator Gun could launch a spud a half mile or more. And after seeing it, I can believe it.

I can tell you for a fact that it makes a big noise!

(Unfortunately, before everyone had a chance to try it out, the igniter breathed its piezoelectric last.)

I can't wait to see what they do for an encore next year.

That's HallTiffoween in My World

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