Halloween Humbug?

Is there a term for people who turn off their lights on Halloween or go out for the evening or leave town or whatever they do to avoid handing out candy? We've got Grinches and Scrooges at Christmas time but nothing that I know of for Halloween 'don't want to answer the door and don't want to spend money on candy' type of people.

I kind of get where a lot of people may just not want to participate, it is kind of annoying to have your doorbell ringing for a few hours and the price of candy has gotten pretty high, and if your children are grown you are kind of over the whole kid type holiday thing or if you don't have children at all you just don't want to be bothered with the whole thing.

But, don't we all remember how exciting it was to be able to dress up in a costume and go out AFTER DARK! and get FREE CANDY!?!

I do, and aside from Christmas it's pretty much the highlight of a kid's year. CANDY! Thanksgiving is not that exciting for kids because hey, no presents or free candy, just having to dress up and eat dinner in the middle of the day and maybe visit a bunch of relatives. But Halloween? Candy? Out after dark? So exciting!

Except for our street. I don't know why the kids even bothered coming down our street because it is full, and I mean FULL of Halloween grinches. It seemed like almost every house was no porch light on and sorry, kids, no candy here.

I was borderline Grinch this year, I was a little concerned about Millie, this being her first Halloween with us and knowing that any kind of noise outside gets her to barking, I figured that she would bark her head off every time the doorbell rang or kids walked down the street. Keith was trying to sleep, getting ready to go back out on the road later in the evening, so I put a sign over the doorbell and barricaded the door with a tray of treat bags sitting on a chair complete with a sign to take one and please don't ring the doorbell. Millie still barked her head off but at least the doorbell only rang once when a little girl who probably couldn't read yet and whose parent stayed on the sidewalk squeezed her way past the chair and on to ring the bell.

I had made little bags with treats inside and a tag on the outside, thinking that most kids would only take one bag, not like when you leave a bowl of candy outside and the first kid just tips that bowl over his sack and that's the end of the candy. I think most kids only took one since there were actually a few left at the end of the night. I bought candy that I don't like so that I wouldn't be tempted to eat it. There have been Halloweens when I've had to go out and buy more candy at the last minute because I had eaten most of it before the big day. Lesson learned, buy the icky stuff like sour skittles, no temptation there.

Millie Malone

Keeping the world safe from tiny bird feathers since 2015.

This morning I'm trying to feed cats and get my coffee going and Millie is out in the side yard barking and barking and barking. She has a rather high pitched yappy bark and I know it's annoying for our neighbors so I try to go out and see what she is barking at within a minute or two.

She was doing her 'I'm kind of scared but I'm also brave' barking thing at something by the gate and that something was a bird feather about 1" long. So scary!

She's barked at tiny bird feathers quite a few times so I should be used to it by now, but it always makes me laugh that first, she finds the tiny bird feather in all the leaves and dirt and other stuff in the back yard, and second, she is so very frightened by them. I'll usually show her that it's just a tiny bird feather but then she wants to eat it, so...into the trash it goes and out of sight out of mind. Tiny doggy mind.

 She is jumping up trying to eat the feather and save me from it here.

Funny dog.

We actually had a little bit of rain this week and for us that is a monumental event. It was quite exciting and we had a couple of very damp cats that either enjoyed the rain too much to come inside or were just too stupid to come inside. Or a little of both.

New Year's Resolutions Anyone?

No? Me neither. Although if I had made a resolution to get more exercise, having a ball of energy type dog certainly helps. I've gone for a walk every single day since a few days after getting the little yapper. I'm about ready to go for 2 walks a day but it's been kind of cold outside so for now one a day is about all I can handle. My legs must be getting used to it all, I could have gone a bit further than we went today (which was pretty far) but I don't want to make her walk too far on those short little legs. Although the guy down the street with 3 little yappers walks them out of our neighborhood and up the main street, down the street by the high school, then down the street by the grocery stores and then back around down the street by Walmart behind our houses. A big huge rectangle basically. It's a long way to walk, I have no idea exactly how far but even on a bike it's a bit daunting.

So, the walking part is good. The barking part not so much. She is a barker, that's for sure. I did a little googling of Chiweenies and yes, while they are very loyal and a good companion, they do love love love to bark. It's the small dog syndrome I guess, I'm small but I have a big bark!

She is also getting quite territorial, she likes to sleep with me when Keith's not here and gets down under my covers with me. Last night I was almost asleep when Buddy jumped up on the bed and Millie DID NOT WANT anyone else on the bed and came out from under the covers snarling at him. She got a spanking and a BAD DOG for doing that and this morning Buddy got back at her with a swipe of his claws.

I can't imagine having this type of dog if you are away at work all day. Besides the barking at every little thing, they really do need a lot of attention and most of the time want to be near a person. This afternoon I was trying to work on the computer and list stuff in my shops and she wanted to be on my lap and when that didn't work got up behind me on the chair. I finally put her bed on the shelf under the workbench/desk and she seemed happy enough to lay down there by my feet. That's where she is right now.

She is also just like the cats in that you can't go to the bathroom without an animal following you in there. They see you just sitting there and hey! your hands are free to pet me!

I have a feeling this year is going to go by quickly, here it is over halfway through the first month already. Time does fly by fast when you get old!