Halloween 2011

I am not a Halloween fanatic, as my niece is, but I do enjoy seeing all the young folks out and enjoying themselves. We decorate the house with some nice lighted window decorations upstairs, and lighted plastic pumpkins in the basement windows, and some scarecrows in the yard. This year the scarecrows stayed in the garage, and the pumpkin's bulbs all failed, but the window decorations were admired by several kids.

The past few years the weather has been mild, and this year was no exception. In my southeast corner of Connecticut, the unprecedented October snow two days before was relatively light, only a couple of inches, quickly melted. The rest of the state was socked with over a foot, and power lost over most of that, since with leaves still on the trees they held the wet snow and broke under the strain. In many towns, trick-or-treating was postponed until the next Saturday: too dangerous with downed power lines and dangling branches.

My town went forward with our celebration, however, and I rushed to get home, arriving at 6:00pm. My wife was working that night, and she didn't mind: she doesn't like giving out candy. I insisted this time on buying it myself; she tends to buy a variety of different candy, and I end up being the one who has to decide whether a particular kid gets, say, an Almond Joy (good) or Gummy Bears (lame). And she over-buys; we still have candy from last year. I got six bags of Fun-Size Snickers, and two just-in-case bags of Peanut M&Ms packs. For the little kids, a bag of mini-Tootsie Pops rounded out the supplies.

We live in a development of roughly 50 houses that has only one entrance, so no through-traffic. A lot of people bring their kids over as a result. I was eager to get started, and it was already dark when I got home. I hooked a trouble light outside the garage to cast better light on our steps, and had the car pulled up close to the house. SiriusXM satellite radio had a channel dedicated to spooky sounds, and I rolled the windows down and had that blasting out on the car stereo. I prefer to sit outside, rather than coming to the door repeatedly. It gives me a good view of the scene. I brought out a chair and small table. The table had a bowl for the Snickers, and one for the lollipops, and my toy stuffed cat. The latter is very realistic, and fooled many kids-- they'd come creeping up to it, to see if it would react when they petted it.

I was set up by 6:15pm, and  just in time: a lot of trick-or-treaters for about an hour, and then a lull with another set of groups from about 7:30 to 8:00. Just a few after that, and I went inside at 8:30, finally dousing the decorations and porch light at 9:00pm. I went through 5 bags of Snickers (saving one for myself) and half one of M&Ms, and about half of the lollipops: because they were so small I was giving out two at a time, though. Figuring about 20 bars per bag, that's a good 120-odd trick-or-treaters: a good turn-out. Not too many older kids this year, though; past years they used to go around in groups later in the evening, and it was fun watching them messing around as they paraded the street.

Good costumes, too: an excellent Michael Jackson, complete with sunglasses, which the kid had to keep looking over in the dark; one home-made robot head, a cardboard box with blinking lights for eyes; many Jasons and Freddies and vampires. Cute little girls, and sturdy young Army men. All were saying "thank you," and I am always a jerk and insist on them saying "Trick Or Treat!"

One thing I did notice: I could see about 16 houses from my steps, and only seven had lights on. Next door is vacant; the family opposite is on shift work and did light up after about 8:00, missing most of the traffic. Slim pickings. The kids and parents all seemed to be having a good time, and I certainly did; I went through three cups of (decaf) coffee and only three Snickers.