Category Archives: halloween

election, halloween

The Halloween That Was

3 Comments

Like most things in my life for the past few weeks, this post is a bit late. It should have been posted on All Hallows Eve, but instead you get to enjoy it now. At least Pink Floyd’s Time is playing in the background to make sense of the utter disregard for chronology this blog shows. So play this as you read. {*grin*}

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but Halloween here was a bit lower key than normal just because of the day.  Since the merchants and the city and the nursing homes all ran their celebrations on Friday, there seems to have been less incentive for the little tricksters to be out and about on Sunday for the official event. Normally we see between 40-70 trick or treaters at the front door before we shut the lights off at ~8pm. This year we only had 31, somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the normal total.

There was also a discernible difference in the composition of the visitors. Most years we see a fair number of teens and tweens in groups of 4 or more interspersed with a lot of sibling groups of 1 or 2 under the age of 10. This year, it was almost all youngsters in various sized groups with the parents standing out at the street watching. When Molly the wonder dog and I would answer the door, it left a lot of them in shock. It took them a few moments to remember that they were supposed to say trick or treat. Some just wanted to pet the doggy, some just wanted to hide from the doggy, and some were heard to say “dad, he gave us snickers!” as they departed for the next house. At least I didn’t have to put this sign up to excuse Molly’s behavior this year:

The smaller crowd also means that I have several bags of candy left over. It should make L happy when she journeys home this weekend. I’m just happy that it is all in un-opened bags so that it doesn’t tempt me!

Time to go vote. Make sure you do too. Vote that is, not go.

halloween

A Ghoulish Goodnight to All

1 Comment

Happy Halloween!

The turnout here tonight was lighter than in previous years. I suspect that the weather and the earlier events coupled with a Saturday date cut down on the crowds. I also have a suspicion that the Saturday date led to a lot more parties hosted by moms and dads. What makes it strange is that after the blizzard of Thursday/Friday, the warm winds have already melted all the snow and it is still warm out this evening. Most years it is damp and freezing on Halloween, sometimes snowing and icy. Of course, some years it in the 60s and dry too.

I had 33 little tricksters tonight, compared to last years tally of 45. One of the things I noticed was a paucity of male tricksters. Out of the 33 tricksters, only 8 of them were male. Usually it is close a 50/50 mix. I wonder if the fact that there were four good college football games and a World Series game tonight had anything to do with the lack of male tricksters? I know it certainly seemed to skew the number of dads versus the number of moms doing escort duty tonight.

I had a little charmer and his sister show up late. He might have been 4 and his sister was probably 2+. He wanted to know if I had any kids and I told him that the son was off to a college party. So then he wanted to know if I wanted some kids to come play with me, ’cause he and his sister would be happy to. His sister just stood quaking in fear of my flashing hat and nodding when I asked her if she wanted a treat. Their dad was cracking up out on the curb, trying not to laugh too loud. I think they may be from down the street a bit. He thanked me as they walked off and you could hear the smile in his voice.

I answered the door wearing the Son’s old Mickey Mouse Wizard hat with flashing lights. The fact that it makes me look to be eight feet tall was a bit much for some of the kids. It was a real hit with the 5-8 year old crowd, a bit scary for the 3-5 crowd, and ignored entirely in favor of examining the loot by the 8-12 year old crowd. It was neat to hear the kids comments as they walked away. The only teens I saw this year were older siblings escorting the youngsters. They were amazingly polite and said no thank you to offers of a treat for them as well. Is the younger generation suddenly turning more polite or is this an anomalous data point?

Tomorrow is the start date for NaBloPoMo – National Blog Posting Month. The goal is to post a blog entry every day for 30 days. I did it last year and figured why not give it a go this year as well. It can be fun and if you sign up and actually post everyday, you are eligible for prizes. Check out the NaBloPoMo site for details.

Time to go bag up some treats to give to L and the son (and so I won’t snarf them).

halloween, life, pundit

Halloween, Punditry, and Life

Leave a comment

This is going to be a real disjunct post  don’t try to find rhyme or reason in the topics or order!

Halloween


The Halloween crowds were variable at the house tonight. We had 45+ trick or treaters from sundown until 7:45pm and then it slowed down a bit. The weather here was in the 70’s today, so the downtown merchants trick or treat event was crowded with kids in costume. Early reports had crowds at other events like the recreation center and the nursing home as well. It was kind of nice to be able to answer the door without wearing a coat for the first time in years. To the right you can see a couple of pictures of a large group that was one of the last to hit the old doorstep. Note all the moms hiding in the background. If they can read my handwriting, they may even get a chance to see these poor quality pictures (someday I am going to have something other than my old cell phone camera in hand when a photo opportunity arises). For a change, the crowd didn’t know who I was when I came to the door – proof positive that you *can* have some anonymity even in a small town. They seemed a bit surprised I was the mayor – could it have been the ratty shirt, holey shorts, and ripped up moccasins. A couple of bolts to the neck and I could have been Frankenstein’s monster.

Punditry
It is official, I am a pundit. I have been asked to speak to a  group on the implications of Tuesdays election. I had to laugh and ask the inviter if he and/or the audience had lost their grip on reality to invite me to be the pundit. What would I know about the implications of the national election? The group involved seems to think I have a “deep understanding and grip on the implications” of the national election races. Now I’m going to have to think of something to say. I wonder if that is how real pundits do it? Make something up on spur of the moment when put on the spot?

Life
Sometimes life can surprise you. My wife actually arrived here early in the afternoon. It was really nice to be surprised by her arrival before the rush of Halloween trick or treating began. Small victories over the day to day trials of life are important.

halloween, weather

The Return of Nice

Leave a comment

Today is one of those oddities of fall weather on the plains – when it goes from cold and snow flurries to warm and sunny for a day. Unfortunately, it is predicted to be a one day warm spell followed by a return to standard fall weather. Gives a whole new meaning the phrase “enjoy it while you can.”

The change in weather brings to mind the coming of Halloween.  It is now less than a week before the little munchkins show up at the front door. Why does it seem like Halloween is always on a day with utterly miserable weather: cold, wet, and windy? It can be in the 70’s and lovely the day before Halloween, but the weather always seems to get worse right at Halloween.

We get between 30 to 100+ trick or treaters here at the house. The total number seems to depend on the press being given to the big local parties and the weather. The city sponsors a Halloween party at the rec center so that kids don’t have to go out trick or treating. The downtown merchants feature trick or treating in the stores. One of the local nursing homes sponsors a big Halloween party so that the residents can enjoy seeing the kids in costume. So if the weather is bad, the kids tend to be at the nicely sheltered parties. If the weather is good (i.e. just cold or blowy) then they show up at the house.

Given the variability of head count, it is hard to get the right amount of candy to give out. Get too much and you have candy around for ages. Get too little and you run the risk of tricks. Such a dilemma. This year it is even more problematic since I will be forced to eat all the leftovers by myself {*grin*}.  I guess I might be able to save some until my wife gets home for the weekend!