So here's the short of it, 
Happy Halloween

And here's the long.

Another Halloween at this house is over.  The candy is gone. The lights in the front of the house are out and the door is closed.  And Sophie is trying to relax.  She was really on point tonight.  Alerting me each time a group headed toward the door.  I think it was probably a pretty stressful night for her. Almost every group commented on how beautiful she is -- and several youngsters commented on how big she is!

Alan has been working really hard on the front lawn over the last few weeks.  So he concocted a couple of signs to try and keep the kids on the sidewalk!  Believe it or not, it worked to a large degree.  In case you can't make out the sign, it says-


DANGER

QUICKSAND

USE THE
SIDEWALK


I heard several parents telling their children to stay on the sidewalk!

We had over 175 Trick or Treaters.  I always ask them where they go to school to get some kind of idea of where they are coming from.  Tonight they were mostly from around these parts.  We had quite a few who came from the town side of Missionary Ridge, and then scattered ones from as far away as Ringgold and other outlying areas.

Vika R. and her boyfriend came by late in the evening.  I haven't seen her in a long long time.  Vika was adopted from Latvia by a family in the neighborhood just a couple of years after Liga and Valdis came to us.   It was so sweet of her to come by.