And we get us some autumn for Halloween.

I worked a couple of extra duty Halloween gigs this weekend, and found myself in the weather a bit. Some of my compadres were under-prepared, having not put on long underwear. No, the temperature didn't get much below 45 while we were out, but the wind kicks up out here on the plains.  We saw long durations where the wind did not flag below 15 mph, and mostly kept up over 20.

As I was watching the parents taking their kids to get some candy, I lamented the cool weather, a bit. Look, I may be extremely married, but I am permitted to ogle the young mothers who often like to put on risqué Halloween costumes each year. Sadly, when the wind blows this fresh, they are suddenly reminded of their need for propriety.

That's not to say that I didn't see a few costumes that made me furrow my brow a bit. I saw no less than three girls under 10 that were wearing bustiers, on Friday. Hey, mom? An 8 year-old slutty pirate is NOT a good costume.

I saw several little boys wearing police costumes with badges appointing them officers of the jurisdiction of Toyland. One of them had a toy '03A3 Springfield, which I thought was interesting. I saw three little boys wearing gangster outfits, and two had little plastic M1921 Thompsons without cooling fins, one in black, and the other in white.

I saw a little boy in a western sheriff costume with his double buscadero rig turned backwards, so that he would have to cross-draw his silver SAA capguns, Rex Allen style. I wondered if the kid kid's parents kid's grandparents had been fans of the singing cowboy, and decided that it was more likely that his rig just slid around on him while he was getting into and out of the car.

Firefighter costumes with plastic axes were quite popular this year. Iron Man was still a draw, as were Batman, Superman, and the ever-popular ninja, in all colors. I saw girls be fairies, cheerleaders, unicorns, kitty cats, Supergirl (in all-pink), and witches. I saw no cross-dressing, and saw no crossing of traditional roles, which was kind of sad, but not unexpected; our little town is pretty provincial.

My elder daughter went to marching band competition, and I sent along a bunch of Hot Hands for her to put into her pockets. I sent some extra to give to some of her friends, if she wanted. They were apparently a hit.

The leaves are still largely on the trees outside. Due to the freeze warnings this weekend, I brought in the Meyer lemon tree that we had growing on the back patio, and put it in the sun room. Given that the pot that it is in is ceramic, and that the ~60 gallons of dirt in it is moist, my estimate is 400 lbs of very fragile load that I had to bring in. I panted a bit. We put some rocks in the dirt around the tree to keep it from appearing attractive for the cats.

The leaves outside are still mostly green and on the trees. It's a beautiful day.