Halloween - oh, my word!

I bought my 'new' house about a year ago.  I had some remodeling to do so hadn't moved in when Halloween hit.  So, I wasn't sure what to expect this year.

In my previous house, the neighborhood was older and a bit farther to the west side of town.  Over the years, the kids seemed to grow up and move away.  The first several years I had a respectable but not overwhelming showing.  As the years went by, there were fewer and fewer kids and I always had candy left over. 

Here in the new neighborhood, things started at 6:30 and I now know what it's like to experience a human tsunami.  I think I had more kids troop to my front door in the first half hour than I did for the ENTIRE time I lived at the old house.  I think the longest I've gone between groups in the last hour has been about 3 minutes.  (Which I will use as the excuse if this is a bit disjointed.)

I strongly suspect that a large number of the kids don't live in this subdivision since I've not seen this many kids either individually or collectively coming out of the neighbors' houses.  I suspect some of the kids play sports in the park out back and decided we looked like we had potential.

I don't really have a problem with this.  With the exception of a few of the older kids who went 'minimalist', most of the kids have been well costumed.  If they've made the effort, why not get some candy?  A few minutes ago I saw the cutest, tiniest USAF 'officer' ever.  He was darling.  I find I'm amused at the parents who are 'trick or treating' for their babies (in strollers or being held).  Yeah, right.  Like those kids are going to see any of that candy.  Ever.

I forget where I saw it (Facebook, maybe?) but the suggestion was made to do a drinking game of shots whenever an Elsa from 'Frozen' showed up.  Surprisingly, I've not seen any so far.  I did see one pre-teen as 'Maleficent'.  A couple of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one of whom was quite young and obviously tired. 

I was at the liquor store earlier and decided to follow the Halloween theme and get a bottle of Vampyre ale.  I'm glad I did because I think I'm going to be in the mood when this is all said and done.

Wow, I think I've just gone 5 minutes with no kids.  Things may be slowing down.  I'm thinking I'll give it until 8:00 and shut things down.  Spoke too soon, just had another group.

Oh, this is the first Halloween where I've seen so many smartphones.  Not just the kids, but also a few parents. 

Well, an honest little girl just told me she'd already been to my house.  OK, now I'm apparently getting repeats.  I may stay 'open' for the remainder of the bag of candy, but will be shutting things down.  End of bag or 8:00, whichever comes first.

It looks like I'm getting a bit punchy!  All for now.

Papillon

Well, it's about 10 after 8:00 and I've finally shut things down.  I usually give out Smartees - small rolls of very tart candy.  The manufacturer says there's about 217 servings in the big bag.  I have a few rolls left so it looks like I had approximately 200 kids come to my front door in just about 90 minutes.

At the old house, Oscar the cat liked to watch me hand out treats.  This year, he checked out a couple of groups and then, meh.  Granted, he's an old geezer at 16 YO, but I think he was overwhelmed.  He spent most of the evening in the recliner.

I think the house across the street either ran out of candy or energy about 7:45.  I totally understand.

Lovely weather - and then not so much

The day started out clear and nice.  Not surprisingly, there were balloons up early.  This one hovered over the park out back and then hit the burner, lifted off and headed north.

The first three photos were taken from my back patio (facing south).  The last photo was taken after I walked through the house and out the front door (facing north).

The weather forecast said that clouds would move in and the wind would pick up later in the day.  I went to brunch around noon.  There were clouds building on the western horizon - big, fleecy, white clouds.  When I walked out after lunch (about an hour later), imagine my surprise to see big, BLACK clouds much closer than the western horizon.

I headed west to check on my 'old' house that's for sale.  Keep in mind, on the west side of the ABQ metro area, there's a whole lotta open space.  As I'm driving along, the wind SUDDENLY really kicked up and put a whole lotta dust in the air.  At one point, I could barely see the car in front of me (about 6 car lengths away).  All I could see was their tail lights.  Fortunately, I was able to drive through the dust cloud and clearer air.  When I got to my 'for sale' house, you could feel that the temperature had dropped several degrees. 

Needless to say, I did a quick check of the house and headed back to my 'new' house.  I got back and prepared for some really nasty weather coming in.  Only to have it all peter out.  A few sprinkles, a few more wind gusts and then, nada.  Oh, well.  The rain would have been nice, but I'm glad it didn't turn out anything like it initially threatened.

Papillon

Voting

As you can see, I participated in early voting which started today.  There was a regular influx of people at the City Hall in spite of the fact that it's Saturday. 

Now I have to endure political ads for the next couple of weeks, knowing that nothing they say will have any effect on my vote.  Sigh.  I'm not fond of political ads at the best of times, but it's even more annoying now.  Especially the robo-calls to my home phone, more so since I seem to remember from a number of years ago that robo-calls are illegal in NM.  However, nobody pays much attention to that.

I find that, over the years, I've turned into something of a "yellow dog" Democrat.  For those unfamiliar with the term - it comes down to - if there's a political race between a Republican and an actual yellow-colored dog (probably of uncertain ancestry) running as a Democrat, I'm very likely to vote for the yellow-colored dog.

That said, I did vote for a couple of Republicans on the ticket, one of them being the Sandoval County sheriff.  He took over after the previous sheriff (a Democrat) apparently 'lost his mind'.  Not clinically so.  Or completely certifiable.  But close to the end of his second term in office, there were three or four incidents which did not put him in the most favorable light.  He explained that he was acting in his official capacity as sheriff, but everyone just kinda rolled their eyes and looked away.  The current sheriff (Republican) has done a proficient job and since the Democrat was an unknown quantity, I decided to vote for the 'devil I know'.  (So to speak.)

I can't say I'm 100% satisfied with some of the Democrats that I voted for.  However, in a number of cases, I was even less satisfied with their Republican opponents.

So, I've done my civic duty and will endure the remaining couple of weeks with as little whining as possible.

Papillon

Balloons Overhead

I was awakened this morning by the whooshing of propane tanks firing as balloons floated overhead.  I suspect they most likely didn't launch from the Balloon Fiesta field but more likely from some open space on the west side of Albuquerque.

It was lovely weather this morning.  However, I'm suspecting the evening Glowdeo may be cancelled.  Some nasty looking clouds are moving in from the west and I think I'm hearing intermittent thunder.

Papillon

Rainy Days

Yesterday and today, we've had cooler temperatures and sporadic showers.  Bad for Balloon Fiesta, good for the countryside.

Driving home from work yesterday afternoon, I spotted a lovely rainbow.

I did get some fun news further along on the way home.  I decided to fill up the car.  Imagine my pleasant surprise to see the price per gallon was $2.99.  It's the first time in I-don't-know-how-long that the price of gas has been below $3.00.  Granted, it's only a tiny bit below, but it's still a good thing. 

Papillon

Over the Back Fence

Balloon Fiesta is underway.  It started this past weekend (10/3) but I've become rather jaded after 20+ years so haven't really made much of an effort to track the balloons.

However, it's not hard to enjoy things when a balloon comes to me.

Granted, he didn't do any real 'flying' since he remained tethered to the ground.  You'll also notice it doesn't have a traditional gondola (passenger basket) underneath.  It was one man sitting in a chair-type device.

Here's another view as he fires up the propane.

What fun!  Nothing like my own 'personal' Glowdeo!  The neighborhood kids certainly enjoyed it.

I may have to do some balloon stalking next weekend.

Papillon