Hallowe'en 2015

[restoman]

1.
My front door and porch, decorated for Halloween.

The weather was beautiful for trick-or-treating. I had plenty of candy, including Reese's, Kit Kats, 100 Grand bars, and Milky Ways. The first kids, very young ones escorted by their parents, came to the house just after 3 PM. I turned off the porch lights after 9 PM, with just a partial bag of Kit Kats remaining. I had a total of exactly 60 Trick-or-Treaters this year. Josh came over to hang out with me for part of the evening, and we finished off my 6-pack of Beck's.

Here is the count of Halloween Trick-or-treaters for the past 13 years:

1992: 132
1998: 77
2001: 53
2003: 33
2004: 57
2005: 69
2006: 64
2007: 53
2008: 26
2009: 43
2010: 42
2011: 55
2012: 42
2013: 64
2014: 63
2015: 60
[Edited: I have found some of the statistics from earlier years and added them to this list.]



2.
Some of my crew came up with this idea to decorate the sidewalk in front of my house. Tony laid in a 'dead' pose on the sidewalk, while Josh traced his outline and put up some "caution" tape to make it look like a crime scene. I said NO to the idea of pouring red paint on the sidewalk next to the chalk outline.

3.

4.
I carved 3 pumpkins this year. The designs got simpler as the afternoon progressed.

5.
Josh tries being a jack-o-lantern.

6.
Close to 9 PM, these 2 creatures came to my door. I am always a little leery of the older kids and adults who go trick-or-treating, but I invited these two in, where they proceeded to freak out Lily, sending her into a panic of fearsome barking. This is Tony and Ed, two of my crew, out to celebrate the holiday. They were disappointed that I recognized them right away. ;-)

I hope you all had a fun time this Halloween.

Comments

[stormdog.livejournal.com]

Ooh, you were giving out candy! That's so cool! I should have figured you would be, but I didn't even think about it. I wish I hadn't been working all day; I would have come over and hung out with you. I missed being a part of things this year.

I really need to get this work/life balance thing figured out.

I'm glad you had a good time. And I'm glad to see that you're getting more and more kids as the years go by. That bodes well for the neighborhood!

Your pumpkinds are great! Yours have pupils at least, which I think is more elaborate than any I've ever made. *laughs*

[restoman.livejournal.com]

There is still some candy left. Stop over if you like Kit Kats. The Beck's beer is gone, but I can always get more. You are always welcome to stop over and hang out for an evening.

I seem to use virtually the same faces on my pumpkins year after year. I need to come up with a new face design.

[stormdog.livejournal.com]

I totally would have come for some Kit-kats! And for visiting with you of course! I still have more crap to do though. *sighs* I have the two big things I wanted to get accomplished done, but I still have a few things for Monday that I hope to get done before my medical study followup.

I'm getting awfully tired of this schedule.

Thanks for the invitation!

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

That all looks great to em- glad too hear you had fun!

[restoman.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Jerry. I did have fun, and hopefully spread a little goodwill among the neighborhood kids.
:-)

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

So jealous. We only had 26 trick or treaters this year. :(
I love your pumpkins. :)
I bought some, but I didnt' carve them, just set them out. :)
And surprise, they are all still there this morning. lol........
I love the idea of the chalk outline. LOL.........
Hugs, Jon

[stormdog.livejournal.com]

You have such a busy, active Livejournal! And I think we'd get along. I'd like to add you as a friend if you don't mind.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind political rants I would be happy to have you aboard.

[restoman.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Jon. The chalk outline was cheap and easy, and Tony and Josh had fun doing it.
26 kids may not be a huge turnout, but at least the Halloween tradition is still alive in Stewartville. In some places it seems to have faded away.

*Hugs*

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

That is sad. :o

[thirteenrocks.livejournal.com]

Your house looks AMAZING. Awesome. Happy Belated Halloween.

[restoman.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Kevin! I had fun with it. :-)

...and a Very Happy Halloween to you too! I have only been to one screening of Rocky Horror. That was years ago. It was a hoot! Going in, I had no idea what was going to happen and had no idea why people would bring toast to a movie. LOL
;-)

[kishenehn.livejournal.com]

Very cool, Glenn! The tradition of trick-or-treating seems to be dying where I live, and I haven't handed out candy in years because neither Charlie or Miles approved of strangers coming to the door ...

[restoman.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Mark!

It is too bad that the tradition of trick-or-treating seems to be dying out there. Actually it seems to be dying out in my neighborhood as well. Out of 22 houses on my block, only 3 had any Halloween decorations up, 3 or 4 gave out candy, 3 houses are empty, and the rest did not participate for whatever reason. There are very few kids on my block, but quite a few in nearby areas.

I do what I can to keep Halloween alive, partly because it is an old tradition and I am all about history and partly because I enjoy it myself. But I can see how people might think that it is too much trouble.