Happy Halloween (and a parenting Q)

Man you guys must live in a dead part of the world! We had hundreds of kids and we had a blast.

There were hay rides plus many groups of kids roaming the neighborhood. I have turned my house into a spook house for decades, that is until I lost all the kids to help me man it. Halloween is the best time of the year!!!

One of my daughter's in Cincinnati and she had a big party plus loads of trick or treaters.

The other daughter's in Corinth Texas and she had a big party plus took the kids out trick or treating until they couldn't carry all the candy

My son's in Napa Valley and he had the calmest time of the 3 but he still said they had kids till about 9. He just dressed up and scared the kids coming to the door. Who says only the kids get to have fun on halloweeen

Trick or treating is for kids - in my book, kids young enough to believe in santa claus, the easter bunny, and/or the tooth fairy. Much past that, and it starts to get a little annoying.

I handed out some candy Saturday before taking my kids (4 and 2, the little one is really too little to understand trick or treat, but we went anyhow)- kids of the appropriate age got loads of candy, a handful or so. Little kids who looked scared (cousin's house was all spooked up) or had a really neat costume got more. Kids whose parents were with them got a lot.

Kids who were either not dressed in costume, too old, or worse, BOTH, got the lamest piece of penny candy I could put my hands on quickly. One uncostumed 14-year old looked notably sheepish when I handed her a dumdum lollipop (out of a bushel-basket size heap of candy) and said "nice costume." Next year I am going to pick up a bowl of gravel and put it in with the candy so I can easily pull a Charlie Brown and make them say "I got a rock."

EastCoastMojo wrote: We haven't had a single trick or treater in 11 years. I think the parents bus 'em out to the fancy neighborhoods down the road apiece.

We went to "PaPas" neighborhood where my wife grew up and made an absolute killing. It was only about 40* with 30mph wind gusts so the baby was limited in time out on the candy train.

Highlight of the evening was us (dressed as Han Mofo, Princess Laid-Ya', Dork Vader and "Baby bro"da) came upon a group of Imperial Clones (parents and ~8yo son) hanging with a baby Chewbacca. We had light sabers...

I think the last time I went trick-or-treating, I was in third grade--22 years ago. Marjorie is right.

And, for the second year in a row, I had no trick-or-treaters.

We had none this year. But we got home right at dark from a ballgame and guess it was over. The past few years we have had few to none.

My neighbor two doors down is from Rhode Island, but lived in the Chicago area for years before moving to Spartanburg. Their tradition was several dads got together as a group and took their kids around the neighborhood for trick or treat. When they would get to one of their own houses, the dads would go in and have a shot of liquor, then on to the next house. By the end of the night, their were all pretty hammered. I guess now that would get you a call from DSS.

I think they bus them into our neighborhood--seriously, we had cars dropping off and picking up all evening. The first ones arrived around 6:00, and we turned off the lights around 9:45. We went through two tubs of candy. (I realize that's not a scientific measurement.)

We also dressed up the dogs--they were race car drivers this year. I know, silly, but I had to justify bringing home the suits from Japan.

I was at a friends house one street over from you, David. I was thinking about going over to your house without a costume, and asking for candy. I didn't want to get beaten, though.

And on the topic of bussing, We rode our bikes over to the fancy neighborhood a few years ago, and were pleasantly surprised. Cold sodas out of a cooler, along with king size snickers bars. Almost every house was giving away something similar.

David S. Wallens wrote: We also dressed up the dogs--they were race car drivers this year. I know, silly, but I had to justify bringing home the suits from Japan.

Do you have any pictures? I tried to dress up a cat in 2007. Suffice it to say that didn't go well.

Marjorie Suddard wrote: ... I told my kids they're too old to trick-or-treat now that they're in high school. ...Margie

Good for you and your kids. Ours were done at 10.

Wow! What an awesome halloween. We burned through $60 worth of candy in an HOUR at the shop. (spent more on candy than groceries for the week) Had to pack up early. Grabbed another bag of candy on the way home, and had a few at the house.

I will say I was AMAZED at the polite to impolite ratio this year. I've never heard so many "trick or treat!"s and "thank you!"s. I was really impressed. It restored a little faith in humanity. Of course, there were a few high school kids, for whom no "trick or treat" = NO CANDY! I did the whole mommy-voiced "Now what do we say?" Ugh.

914Driver wrote: It was nice until about 3:00, had the doors open in the garage. 3:30 it hammered rain, wind up to 40mph. I barbequed inside the garage and drank beer. A few hard core kiddies came out. What the heck am I going to do with a basket full of Twixts and Milky Way bars? Dan

send me the Twix. i'm not down with the milky way.

and margie, you're right, high school is too old.

in my 'hood (plymouth MI) the littlest kids are out with their parents at 6pm on the nose. as the evening wears on, the kids get bigger. there's usually a lull of about 30 minutes between the last appropriate-age trick-or-treater and the first of the high-school kids, so i've got plenty of time to turn off the porch light and go across the street to my neighbor's house, where the adults gather around the patio fire pit in the driveway and drink.

we had about 80 kids this year, a much better turnout than in years past. thanks to the mild weather, nobody drove from house to house in our hood. kids were polite and enthusiastic, and we all had fun.

David S. Wallens wrote: I think they bus them into our neighborhood--seriously, we had cars dropping off and picking up all evening. The first ones arrived around 6:00, and we turned off the lights around 9:45. We went through two tubs of candy. (I realize that's not a scientific measurement.) We also dressed up the dogs--they were race car drivers this year. I know, silly, but I had to justify bringing home the suits from Japan.

You can get racing suits for dogs in Japan? Where??

DSWs favorite store:

Autobacs ;)

We had a bus-load of kids brought into the pits at the ChumpCar race, the race took a 2-hour break for dinner and to entertain the kids and the racer's families. The kids were from the Community Transitional School that we're helping out. It was fun! The kids went around from pit to pit gathering candy, some were able to climb into the cars and get their picture taken. The racers also brought their kids and family members in as well. Lots of candy was spread around the pits, the rest was eaten by the crews to keep their energy up! HA!

I think we all raised about $12,000 for the school (the donated supplies all but filled a 48-foot enclosed trailer) The school's principal and the organizers were truly amazed by the gifts. We all enjoyed the 10 bonus laps we earned.

Nearly every one of the teams had some sort of costume and theme going, the best two were the La Familia team, dressed as mobsters (they even presented a horses head to the Chief Steward during the driver's meeting) and the Dagobah II team, who were all dressed as Star Wars Characters and walked their car down pit lane to the Imperial March. Other highlights were the birthday cake FX16 complete with LED candles and a stripper popping out of the top of the cake, the Jaws Miata, the Audi S1 Rally replica, and the surfing 510 wagon.

Our team did pretty well for a first event with an untested car found a few months ago on craigslist underneath some neanderthal's pickup truck. The car handled very well, it was comfortable to drive and predictable and fast enough to stay out of the way of other cars. Our drivers were all very level headed and didn't get into any serious trouble aside from a couple of minor spins. I just wish the transmission hadn't self destructed so we could have finished under a checkered flag, but in the end we finished 31st out of 37. We'll find another transmission, check out the insides a little, seal it up and drop it in the car and come back for the 24-hr race in Spokane Raceway Park in July and then the Halloween race for Portland!

Our car:

La Familia:

Happy 40th Birthday Brian!

Surf's Up!

Audi and that is all steel:

Dagobah II:

JAWS:

Smile you ugly son of a .....

Not that I'm a purist or anything, but sweet baby jesus, this photo makes me cry a little:

poopshovel wrote: Not that I'm a purist or anything, but sweet baby jesus, this photo makes me cry a little:

I don't know which surprises me more, that the truck has three tires on the ground and one on top of the car or that the car's roof didn't cave in? Unless the front wheel didn't go over then it is not as cool.

510 wagon? that's what makes me cry.

Fiat great post. I didnt know Chump did that. Very cool.

I hope it catches on and other events have direct links to charities.

Bam, there's an entire series scheduled across the country and each one has a local charity picked out or in negotiations. The racers donate out of the goodness of their own hearts and to spread goodwill amongst the locals so ward off the bad feelings about running crap-cans for 24 hours in their towns and in return the Chump-Masters give the racers bonus laps.

Poop, yeah and the idiots cut the rare 2-piece intake using a hacksaw to try to get at the turbo. A friend saw some shots of the car on the track and mentioned that we must have gotten a couple of licks. I told him that was there when we bought it and we only bopped out a couple of the dents on the roof to fit the windshield and cage a bit better.

Kia, the guy backed the truck up over the nose of the car and stopped there. So the rare grill, which is otherwise in great shape is cracked over the headlight area, the hood was caved in, windshield destroyed and the roof dented along with a front quarter panel.

1987 Shelby CSX #229, RIP sniff

AngryCorvair wrote:

914Driver wrote: It was nice until about 3:00, had the doors open in the garage. 3:30 it hammered rain, wind up to 40mph. I barbequed inside the garage and drank beer. A few hard core kiddies came out. What the heck am I going to do with a basket full of Twixts and Milky Way bars? Dan

send me the Twix. i'm not down with the milky way.

Jam a posicle stick up its butt and toss it in the freezer, your dentist will love you.

yeah and the idiots cut the rare 2-piece intake using a hacksaw to try to get at the turbo.

A little part of me just died.

poopshovel wrote:

yeah and the idiots cut the rare 2-piece intake using a hacksaw to try to get at the turbo.

A little part of me just died.

Yeah, me too. Now that we've built the thing we don't want to give it up, its like the little mutt you found and nursed back to health. Besides Shelby always preferred his cars be raced than coddled and this one hasn't been coddled!

AngryCorvair wrote: 510 wagon? that's what makes *me* cry.

Yup, gotta love the PNW! some great older, cheap cars without the BS Smog Nazi stuff of California. Luckily no 510 wagons were hurt in the process of this race, heh ;)

We are signed up for both Chump car FL events. So the charity thing is good to know.

I will be interesting to see if the Lemons side follows suit in the charities..