SCARY STUFF!

Something else that frightens me is what I heard in one of the leader pipes last week. Something was caught in there and scratching violently to get out. I went around to the end that emptied water into the garden and made sure the end was free. It was nearly buried in the garden soil, so I dug around it to free it. Finally, the noise stopped. But whatever it was could have a nest in the gutter pipe, causing any water to back up into the attic. When we first bought this house, the roof leaked. We went around the kitchen with pots to prevent the water from falling onto the furniture and appliances. It reminded me of the show "Green Acres" where two city types moved out into the country. They had basically NOTHING but goats and chickens and difficulties!

Back in New Jersey, Halloween used to be an excuse for doing mischief. One neighbor coated our fence with shaving cream while his older brother kept watch. Some people's pumpkins were smashed in the street. Toilet paper adorned area trees. In Livingston, the town where I grew up, I can remember one particularly violent Mischief Night where a gang of youths took the fence down from a house on the road to my school and put it up on the roof. Another house's bushes were set on fire. All through the town vandalism was rampant to the extent that the following year, anyone found OUT ON MISCHIEF NIGHT WAS PUT IN JAIL!

I read an Internet blog called Cat Claws that is written by someone who sells kitty toys and products. Today's article reminded cat owners that Halloween is the time when people who mean harm to animals might do it to your cat AND that dressing your pets up in costumes might be uncomfortable or even DANGEROUS to them. Plus there was the reminder that CANDY could be dangerous as well since CHOCOLATE IS TOXIC TO CATS AND DOGS! For your pets' safety, keep them IN ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT!

Back in New Jersey I pretty much knew all the kids who came around for Trick or Treat, because I had watched them grow from strollers to bikes. Even the grandchildren of some neighbors came around because it was a quiet development on a cul-de-sac. They came in groups, sometimes with parents and other times only with friends. There were LOTS OF THEM! They were eager to receive the favors I made to hold the small plastic bags of candies. Here at Tangled Oaks there are only a few kids who come around for the treats, and when I had occasion to talk to a father about the lack of takers for the candy I put out, he suggested handing out a single LARGE BAR instead of a handful of miniatures. That sounded like a good idea, so yesterday when two of the neighbor youngsters came over to return my dish from the casserole I brought to the pig roast, I asked them what kind of candy bars they liked. The immediate answers were "Snickersİ", "Kit Katİ", and something that started out as gum but turned into just candy in your mouth. Always ready to help, Joey volunteered that I could give out one of those things AND a candy bar!

Always happy to see the kids, my two dogs will be bubbling around the door. For their safety, however, I will confine them to the kitchen. Two years ago my neighbors brought their dog along with their kids to Trick or Treat. Skittles caught sight of Lucy and began barking loudly; he wanted to play! But my living room was not a good place for that, so we passed out the candy and said good night. Poor Skittles! I also was not expecting canine visitors, so I had no biscuits. Poor Lucy! The cats will be terrified so they will remain in our bedroom or my husband's master bathroom for the evening with their litter pan and a bowl of water. I hope we have lots of kids this year.

My daughter lives in a townhouse development, and she said that last Halloween she was inundated with kids, and that when she ran out of candy, she turned out her lights. Then she came over to see me with my grandson in his costume. This year he is going to be a robot, and he began showing me how he would walk and talk that way. I remember making outfits for my daughter and her brothers. There were astronaughts, Davy Crockett, a unicorn, and a witch with green hair for my daughter. She looked in the mirror and scared herself to death!