Halloween.  I always dread it since I am here alone.  The hopping up and down is getting harder and harder for me to do.

One year I just set the bowl of candy on the porch with a sign, "Take One."  All went well until a bigger kid--who shouldn't have been there in the first place--dumped it all in their bag.

This year, I've cooked a big batch of spaghetti sauce and I'm taking it over to Becky's.  I'm going to turn off all the lights outside--and inside--and I'm going to leave a sign on the door, "Unable to Respond."  Or maybe, "Go Away."  Or "Bah, Humbug."  Probably I'll just say, "Not at home."

But if I say "not at home," someone will try to bang down the door???  People are brazen anymore.  Some of them drive their kids into this neighbor hood, to trick or treat.  Their parked cars make it hard to see the kids darting in and out to cross the street.

My connection group is doing a "trunk or treat" at the church.  They gave me a "Hall Pass" so I don't have to go.  It's freezing cold here.  Yesterday it snowed!  

I got out in it and picked all the remaining tomatoes.  Three or four dozen of them.  They will get ripe sitting on the counter.  The okra is done for.

I'll have to get someone out here to pull up all the vines and stalks and get them in the trash.  Then it's time to start thinking about next year.  New dirt, fertilizer, seeds, plants and God's grace and helping hand.