Catching up

[Andybev01]

I've been having trouble with the forum the last few days. It will randomly terminate my connection. Just wanted y'all to know I'm trying to visit.

Ditto.

I'd like to think that it's people trying to access the forums because 'tis the season, but I think we all know that that's not really the problem.

I'll be going to hang out with family starting tomorrow through Sunday, keeping the spirit alive.

[Murfreesboro]

I don't do FB, but I need to sign up, because another forum I had belonged to for over 20 yrs closed back in March, and the only way I could contact those women now is FB. There's just something about social media that puts me off. But I need to maintain some friendships.

Good to know that things are well with Witchy.

[Murfreesboro]

In case I can't get back on before Sat, happy Halloween to all!

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Well, at least I know that I'm not the only person having issues with the forum, since Andy is a moderator here I'll leave it up to him to contact Chris about it.

Regarding Facebook, it's scary to think about how much personal information people there post that anybody can access at any time. Witchy has her entire profile available for anybody to read, but that's her choice. As I said before, you can make your profile private so that only your friends and family have access to it, and you don't have to put a photo of yourself there if you don't want to, so you can still have some privacy there if you want to sign up to stay in touch with your friends.

On a side note, I despise parrots that mindlessly repeat everything. I just thought that I'd mention that.

By the way, has anybody else noticed that there have been way too many celebrity deaths recently? In the past few days 2 Star Trek actors passed away, Walter Koenig and Patrick Stewart. It seems like famous people are dropping like flies lately.

[Andybev01]

It's as if the celebrity death 'rule of 3' is now 3.14.

[Murfreesboro]

It reminds me of the late summer/early fall of 1977, when a great many celebs passed. Two of the most prominent were Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby. This sort of thing does happen from time to time, who knows why. But, yeah, it's been rough. My family is still grieving Tim Curry, and now Patrick Stewart. Of course, Dolly made a deep.impression in TN, and magazines about her all over the stores I frequent. I hope they are all happy in the hereafter.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Is anybody else still having issues with the forum? I haven't been able to access it until today.

If this issue isn't resolved soon I might have to initiate one of my backup plans.

[Murfreesboro]

I don't think I've had problems since Halloween, but I haven't been checking in as often, either.

How did Phoebe's end-of-October competitions go, HH?

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Thanks for asking, Murf. In short, she got first place both weeks that she competed. There were some issues with Jenny on the 24th but I took care of it. I'll go into more details when the forum decides to cooperate and let me stay logged in.

How was your Halloween? Did you and your daughter get to visit any local attractions?

[Murfreesboro]

Congrats to Phoebe!

We didn't go to any Halloween attractions, mainly bc my kids' work schedules weren't conducive to it this year. Next year, when my husband is retired, perhaps he and I can do some stuff like that.

My daughter met a friend earlier in the day at a coffee shop or something, and she was attired as Morticia Addams. I mean, the dress and jewelry could have been worn any time of year, but with her hair down and some red lipstick, she really did look like Morticia. She has a necklace she wore wirh it that is strung with irridescent acrylic Gummi bears. It was seasonal and cute.

My husband grilled while I greeted the ToTers. It was a very slow night at first but then picked up around 7 pm. Also we'd done the fall festival and Trunk or Treat at church the weekend before, so I felt it was a very festive Halloween.

[Andybev01]

As usual, I went to my brother's neighborhood to help hand out candy but we had exactly zero totters come to the door.

Last year was bad with only one, but none?!

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, what a disappointment. I really think the kids nowadays are seeking out the destination neighborhoods. Maybe 20 yrs ago, a street neighboring ours put out on FB that everyone was decorating, and boy, did they. Every yard haunt was in competition with every other house, and they did that for 15 or 20 yrs. But the pandemic killed it. Now, only a few still do it. At its peak, the police had to come and direct traffic, and we got the spill over. But now things are much quieter. I miss the excitement, but I can't blame the neighbors for getting tired of it. I'm just glad it was going on while my kids were still ToTing.

There's also lots of trunk or treating nowadays, at churches, schools, and even businesses that cater to kids. Eg, a Krav Maga place near us has one annually for its clients. These placrs aren't necessarily having their events on Halloween itself, but some parents figure enough is enough w/re/to candy collection. Maybe they take their kids to something else on Halloween, like hainted attractions. Or maybe they just stay in and watch scary movies. People are still celebrating, but it's become a season, not just a night.