Woot!

I’m gonna take two of my grandkids trick-or-treating.

What are y’all’s plans for All Hallows Eve?

Any reminiscences from this fun holiday that you’d care to share?

25 COMMENTS

  1. A sign of the times, eh, Mas? MY grandchild, a 9 month old girl (dressed as the world’s absolute cutest pussy cat), was one of many at my door two nights ago, when our burg participated in trick or treat. As I live right across the river from Harrisburg, we have had a rather unique “clientele” at our door in previous years. The 15-18 year olds, arriving in a crowded minivan – no mask, no makeup, no words, just a grocery bag held at arm’s length with “the stare.” Much to my great pleasure, THIS year was devoid of those. We had group after group of polite, mannerly, silly, well-prepared kids that knew the drill. Hopefully, that’s a NEW sign of the times.

    Why, when I was a kid, we….well, did do the proper stuff, but we also did some rather IMproper deeds as well. Any of you remember soaping car windows, stomping on wooden porches – and the lowest of the low (reserved for those who took extra measures to deny us): the lighting of a bag of dog poop – ringing the doorbell and then retreating to a spot to watch the inevitable attempts to stomp out the fire? I know, verrrry disgusting and messy, but with no permanent damage to property.

  3. Just returned with my son from his last archery lesson. Instead asking for another gadget, game or action figure for his 8th birthday he wanted to take some archery lessons. As luck would have a small range near town was giving intro lessons for kids. He loved it. He had never shot a bow but all the other kids and parents were helpful and encouraging. To my mild surprise 6 out of the 8 kids were girls. It was great to see all the kids improving over the past 4 weeks.
    Of course tonight we are going Trick or Treat along with his younger sisters with Papa and the Kahr.

  5. My kid is pushing 30, but she’s here with Grandma and Grandpa to help hand out candy. Our granddaughter is a beagle, but she loves the kids.

    It is 76 degrees here at 5:30 (just outside Phoenix) and we set up tables in the driveway and we’ll have cigars and wine while we participate in the festivities.

  6. I grew up in North Dakota about a mile from the Canadian border. Needless to say winter can come early up there. I remember one Halloween where we had near blizzard conditions. Mom figured out how to get our costumes over warm clothes, and then drove us into town and delivered us door to door. I realized early on that my mom was pretty cool for doing that; what I’ve realized as I’ve grown older is that it was pretty cool of the townsfolk to keep Halloween alive for us kids through that kind of weather. Stay safe little goblins and ghouls.

  7. My 8 month-old grandson won best costume at the fun run to support the abused women and children’s shelter. He was a precious little blue dragon. My grand daughter is at her cousin’s for the weekend and I can’t wait to see her costume. My son is on patrol from 12 noon to 12 midnight so, hopefully, the locals will have lots of fun but stay safe and sober. As for me, I was going to go to the shooting range this afternoon but we have had torrential rain and a tornado.

  8. This was my adopted daughter’s first Halloween in the US coming from an orphanage in Guatemala at 7 yrs old and she was dressed up as a very cute green ninja. She learned the drill quickly also…including thanking the various homeowners. She loved going door to door with me even in the cold rain getting so much candy she could hardly carry the bag home. We all had a great night.

  9. As a 73 y.o. things that stand out when I was a youngster…ringing doorbells a few nights before Halloween…taking a pillowcase instead of a bag..so I could get more stuff each trip
    trick or treating…and last but most memorable…how back in the late 40s…how all the pennies..popcorn balls and candy apples were always stuck together at the bottom of ma’s
    pillowcase…God bless..and keep your memories alive..

  10. I went rat hunting from 7pm—9pm at a farm. Apparently the rats steal chicken eggs. The bait was peanut butter on a paper plate, but I never saw any rats. I’ll try again tomorrow night. This was my first hunting experience ever. Everything went well, because I’ve been well taught. Used a headlamp. I was able to turn it on and see the target and my black iron sights.

  11. Used to blow up pumpkins with m-80’s. My god could you imagine that today. Funny thing is my pops is the one who gave them to me. I would light them with a Lucky Strike he lit for me. Sounds really bad now ,but really a fond memory for me.

  14. I’m just eating up some burgoo I’ve made earlier, prime ingredient’s Snowshoe Hare. Other than that, relaxing and visiting friends earlier tonight.

    Old Fezzywig- Too bad the rat’s didn’t come out for youse guys tonight… Stick with it, they’ll come. Happy Varminting!

    My Older Brother Chet – Nothing about that sounds bad. Those are good times, something to Cherish.
    Ya know, even the anti-tobacco crowd is getting tired of being anti-tobacco. I have never been a fan antis!
    Figure on rolling a smoke myself right now. All things in moderation!
    A world that says jerky causes cancer is insane. Know what causes cancer? A genetic predisposition to cancer perhaps… That and maybe excess. Who’s to say?
    I’m immortal so far and am going to keep on keeping on as far as it’ll take me!

    Good evenin’, all!

  15. P.S. –
    My favorite costume this year is a friend’s six year old daughter’s, she went as a horse that goes about walking on its hind legs!
    Ingenious.

  16. I spent a nice quiet evening reading FOX “news” on the ‘net. My oh my do they seem to have great coverage of EVERY single gun incident in the United States, except the ones in urban Chicago of course.
    Judging by the FOX coverage it’s like the Wild West outside my door.

  17. As a youngster I had asthma bad and usually it was worse in the fall, so I was the one that stayed home and handed out the candy.

    As an adult I hung a couple of speakers in a maple tree, in the front yard, and strung the wires up high and in to the house and attached them my stereo. I had an LP of goolish sounds and played it all night. The little ones sometimes had to be coached by their parents to come to the door. The older ones new the sound was coming from the house, but when they got to the door they found the sound coming from behind them. Some got scared and some just got confused. I had a good time.

    I have a story that was told to me by a fellow I used to work with: A friend of his was trick or treating and he and a couple of other guys were really harassing this old geezer. The old man told them to get the hell out of his yard or he would get his shot gun. Well. They didn’t and he did. The edge of buckshot pattern slid into the back of this hooligan, just under the skin and stopped. At the hospital they ran long forceps through the wound channel with an alcohol soaked swap. They made a slit over the pellets and pinched them out into a pan. When you play with fire expect to get burned. This was approximately 60-80 years ago.

    This Halloween I went to the club range (it was raining) to sight in a Henry Big Boy .44mag lever action for our turkey shoot next Sat. We shoot at balloons, not turkeys. It will be a tough shot at 100 yds on a 5 “ balloon. The front bead totally covers the balloon. Rear sight is a peep (aperture) folding sight. Self installed.

  18. I never saw an M80, but normal firecrackers and cherry bombs were a great part of growing up as a boy in the 1960s.

  20. Great stuff – all. “Chet” – M80’s? Talk about memories! One of my best friends growing up used to go to South Carolina every summer on vacation. He always went to a place called “South of the Border” and brought back a gross of M80’s (that’s 144 every year folks) for EACH of us. One of our favorites was burying the M80 in pebble-sized coal that could be found near a quarry (also a favorite plinking site) and lighting the barely visible fuse. The resulting fireball was our Bikini atoll. The good old days, indeed!

  22. Kids and I trick o treated for 3 hours. Thor and the zombie child both hauled in loads of candy. I carried my Glock 21 in an OWB under my leather jacket with some Stream Light furniture. Good times were had by all.

  23. I love reading all you old guys’ comments. M-80s, pumpkins and rat hunting…man was I born a century too late or what!

  24. Chris – M80’s were also known as “quarter sticks,” referring to the alleged charge – a 1/4 stick of dynamite. Anyone else ever heard that one before?

    Mas, I apologize for derailing your thread. If you will recall, I did have some “Norman Rockwell stuff” in my earlier remarks. This Halloween was clearly the best in recent memory. I hope it’s just the beginning of a new trend.

  25. Had a great time handing out candy at our church’s trunk-or-treat. Took our half German Shepherd / half Black Lab. She freaked out & jumped in the trunk!

Comments are closed.