Small town trick or treating

Last year when DN2 and I went trick or treating, we went out with a friend of my brother's and his daughter, who is the same age as DN2. He invited us because he knew that we were new back to the area, and just because it's always cool to have a second generation become friends too.

This year, however, DN2 and I decided to go it alone. And the biggest difference is that we weren't trick or treating from my mother's "out in the country" but this time we were right here in town. We had thought about going to a housing development, but quickly found out that there was plenty of candy to be had here in town.

One of the reasons we didn't want to trick or treat in the village is because this is also a college town. You know what when you're in a college town, and that is the unexpected, unpredictable, and vomit on the street corners. Being game we headed off into the direction of the largest off-campus housing in town -- right down our street. In this village (I call it a town, but it's really a village) there is a main street, and that line of demarkation is huge. The issues on the east side of Main Street are different than those on the west side of Main Street mostly because the west side is where the college (and the majority of the off-campus housing) is located. Ever wise we chose to live on the west side.

The standard rule of thumb with trick or treating is that if the porch light is on you're open and amenable to trick or treaters. Apparently there were some college students who figured that they would leave their porch light on for safety (good on 'ya) but didn't anticipate small children coming by and demanding candy. So at one house, DN2 received 2 pieces of Orbit gum and a guarantee that it would freshen her breath.

We decided not to venture down much further into the college housing territory and turned around. We went onto the next street and there were met by a woman who looked at DN2's devil costume and exclaimed, "You need to be wearing my horns!" This lady had on dollar store horns that blink on and off, and surprisngly she took them right off her head and put them onto DN2's head! (No stories about lice and unsanitary measures, I know, it's the gesture here folks).

After walking around for 2 hours, we were both pretty tired and DN2 had a pretty good haul. We saw some parts of the village that were really highly decorated and it brought home to me about how lazy I am about decorating. I looked at some of these houses with the lights and the yards all done up and I thought to myself, "Geez, you've just got to take it down tomorrow. What a waste." Regardless, we ended the evening with no property damage and lots of leftover candy. Yum yum.

Now, time to get ready for the Marine Corps Birthday, Veteran's Day, and Thanksgiving.