Halloweens

When I was a kid, we used to go out trick-or-treating starting two days before October 31. It was just accepted, I guess, that you could go door-to-door and get candy on October 29 and October 30 as well as October 31. Some kids didn't even wear costumes until October 31. They just knocked on your door two days before Halloween and got candy. Do they still do this anywhere?

I remember one Halloween when Tim was really young and there was a torrential rainstorm that night. I went door-to-door with the boy (I love to say "the boy"), and he got candy and I got drenched. I didn't mind a bit.

My rock band once played a Halloween party in my hometown, and the best costume that night (and one of the best I've ever seen) was six guys walking together dressed as a six-pack of Genesee. Brilliant.

I used to play in the marching band in junior high school and high school, and our town had a Mummer's parade on Halloween night. The band always had to march in the parade, and I remember it was always really, really cold. The spit would freeze dripping out of the spit valves on the trumpets and trombones. It could be 75 degrees in the days leading up to Halloween, but it was always freezing for the damn parade.

You always hear the stories about evil people putting poison or razor blades in candy at Halloween. Did this every really happen or is this an urban legend? My money's on the urban legend.

Anyway, Happy Halloween to both of my readers. Stay out of the rain, don't let your spit valves freeze, and watch out for razor blades in your Hershey Kisses.