Happy Hallowe'en

Yesterday was All Saints Day, so today is All Hallowed Eve, when (so the tale goes) the dead can return. In ancient days (isn't that a nice, all-purpose generic term for any past time where there isn't an actual date?) people went inside before dark and didn't open the door for any reason until dawn. Sigh. It would be OK with me if we all skipped the whole trick-or-treat thing. And yes, I went when I was a kid (for HOURS, too, with a pillowcase that got so heavy you had to sling it over your shoulder like Santa) and my kids went too. When they were very small, I told them it was for Big Kids, and when they got older I told them it was for Little Kids, but this was not a successful ploy and for several years I was forced to endure the tagging along as they raced from house to house. I told them if they forgot to say "thank you" after they got the candy, then I got the candy, so they made a game of always saying thanks very loudly. When my son got to be 11 or 12, he was six feet tall, and I told him (correctly) that people resent teenagers (or kids who look like teenagers) going door to door, because it's a night for the kids. He was disappointed, and I said, is it just the candy you'll miss? And he said, Duh, yeah. So I said, no problem, I'll buy all the candy and more than you would have collected, and he was "cool" with that. But one thing about those days is that I didn't have to pass out the candy, because I went with the kids, and now this is my lot in life. This is a corollary of Murphy's Law, that says any job you do twice in a row is yours forever. Because we have inside cats, and dancing with the open front door all evening is a great way to have the incomparable task of Hunting for Cats By Flashlight, I drag a chair out on the front deck, and sit in the cold for an hour WITH an entire bowl of CHOCOLATE sitting in my lap. My only problem was, what to do with all the candy wrappers? Coat pockets...

And of course, it's going to rain tonight, so the number of kids will be down, I'm sure, which makes for long stretches of sheer boredom. One of the neighbors decorates extensively for the day, and puts stereo speakeres out and plays sound effects like screams, clanking chains, etc. etc. The problem for me is, the clanking/booming sounds like a horse cast in its stall (that's when a horse lies down too close to the wall, with feet toward the wall, and can't get back up, just thrashes and thrashes) and the screams sound like panic-y neighs, so I flinch the entire time and go out to the barn several times to make sure all is well. If you're interested, the way you get the horse up when cast is to go in the stall, and carefully tie a rope to the fetlock of the hind leg on the bottom, back up, stand well clear, and PULL until you flip the horse completely over so his back is to the wall and then he can get his feet under him to stand. It's a great was to get kicked, if you ever need a little more pain in your life.

On another note, this marks (+ or - a few days) the two year anniversary of this blog. When I read back over the blog, here and there, I'm pretty pleased with it. The writing is OK and it has served its purpose for me, to have a place where I can mentally wander over different subjects, and express myself. It's nice to have readers, of course, and comments are always welcome, but in general it's having my thoughts (micro sized ones) clarified by writing them down that results in a post, not the desire for the ever-elusive readers. But to all twelve of you who read this regularly, much thanks. Your kind words or just seeing the meter click upwards gives me a kick, and I do go to each of your sites to read your thoughts too, inspiring me to post more frequently and helping me think of topics. If my stuff is occasionally boring as hell to you, that's OK too, it's not like I'm looking to win a prize, and it's not like you're paying for a sub-standard product.....

"Chocolate isn't the answer to everything. Chocolate is the question. The answer is "yes".