Over Early

Today is only the 28th, but I’m pretty sure that Halloween has come and gone here at the Boggy Thicket.  All the local ghosts and goblins (and pirates and princesses, fairies and gangsters) came by on Saturday evening.

This all started back when our kids were small.  We and our next-door neighbors hosted a bonfire and wiener roast for all the kids in the area, complete with games, etc.  When our kids got older, the tradition died out for a while, but once those kids grew up and had kids of their own, it started up again – bigger and better than ever.

Their celebration starts with a Halloween hayride.  Local residents wait at the ends of their driveways in lawn chairs and pickup trucks as the trick-or-treaters circle the block.  Once the candy run is over, they all gather back at the starting point for a party that lasts well into the night.

This year there were two tractors pulling 30-foot hay wagons full of costumed kids, escorted by a half dozen Gators, Rangers and other  four-wheel off-road vehicles.

We always save a little bit of candy just in case, but two years ago we only had four visitors on Halloween, and last year there were none at all.

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Speaking of early celebrations – Yesterday, Honey and I went to Texas Land and Cattle Company for a surprise 80th birthday party for her Aunt Jean.

The party was a great success.

Honey had always been told that she was born on her aunt’s 12th birthday, and they have enjoyed a special bond because of that with lots of jokes and teasing over the years.  Yesterday, Jean revealed that although her mother always said that she was born on November 4th, she recently discovered that her birth certificate lists her date of birth as the 3rd.  There are some other discrepancies – it identifies her only by her middle name, for example – but now she isn't sure what to think.