The morning is warm. The weather prediction said morning showers then sun. I think I slept through the showers because I can see sun and blue sky. Last night it rained, at times a heavy rain. I went out on the deck a couple of times to keep an eye on Nala, the escape artist. I just hope the branch keeping the fence upright will force Nala to stay in the yard.

When I was a kid, it never got dark early enough on Halloween. We'd try to go out in the late afternoon, but my mother stopped us, "Too early," she aways said. We had to eat supper first. That made me unhappy for a couple of reasons. The first was I was still home with an empty pillowcase, and the second was I didn't want to fill up on food. I wanted candy. I wanted to munch as I roamed.

We went all over town. The red house on Main Street, the one with the porch, was a nickel bar stop. I still think of that when I drive by the house. It is now a business of sorts, but it looks the same. We didn't have the miniature bars back then so candy was often wrapped in a napkin twirled at the top. We also got apples. My favorite apples had a few pennies even the big jackpot, a nickel, pushed to the apple through the peel. I never ate the apples. Fruit on Halloween was wrong, so very wrong. Popcorn was also wrapped in a napkin sometimes with candy corn in the mix. I never liked candy corn, too grossly sweet.

My mother put the costumes together. She also did the make-up. I was a bum a couple of years. I wore tattered clothes and black make-up as if I had a beard. I carried a stick with a bundle at the end. My mask was just the mask to cover my eyes, a usually black mask. It had an elastic connected on both sides of the mask. The elastic often broke away from the mask. I'd have to make a couple of small holes to hold the elastic. Those masks never lasted beyond one Halloween.

I bought Hersey's candy bars in case my Amazon candy didn't come in time. That was a mistake. I've already eaten two bars.

Amazon came through this morning. I am giving out the regular size M&M's. The Hershey bars are at the bottom of the plastic blue pumpkin holding the candy. I don't expect to get down to the bottom of the pumpkin. All those Hershey bars will be mine, all mine!!!