I hope everyone had a good holiday. Unlike most years, Rachel and I actually dressed up and went out to celebrate. It is the first time since our wedding since she has worn a dress! She looked wonderful in it. She will probably post the pictures we took on her site.

I know that today is Halloween, but it does not feel like it. It is probably because Rachel and I did not buy any candy this year to hand out (or for us). With me being unemployed, that tends to put a damper on any festivities. I did see a few trick-or-treaters a few hours ago at six. That was all that came by. So, maybe it is a good thing we did not spend money on candy. Anyway, I hope your holiday was better than ours was.

Rachel and I, prepared some dirt cake, dressed up in our costumes, and headed off to the party. Unfortunately, shortly before we arrived, Rachel started to feel sick. I think that it was a combination of her diabetes, visiting her father’s grave earlier, too much sun, and a bunch of emotions. So, I dropped off some food, said a few quick hellos and goodbyes, then headed back home.

I hope that every one is having a fun and safe Halloween tonight. Rachel and I decided not to hand out candy this year. I did hand out candy at work though. Usually we see a large crowd. But, we have only seen a handful of kids.

Rachel and I have been invited to after Halloween party at my boss’s house in a few weeks. Costumes are not required, but they are preferred. I am not much of a party person; I generally prefer a smaller group of people. In addition, I don’t always enjoy meeting new people. Lastly, I haven’t dressed up for Halloween since elementary school.

Rachel pointed out that we don’t do enough "couple things" and that we really go out with anyone outside the family. With that in mind, I begrudgingly agreed and accepted the invitation.

I hope that everyone had a safe night of trick-or-treating and did not end up eating too much candy. Rachel and I spent the last several days decorating the living room and the front yard. In the front yard, we put an inflatable Tigger dressed as a vampire. We also put out some orange and purple lights. Unfortunately, the purple lights were not very bright, so we had to take them down and return them.

(This is a long entry so please bear with me). This week has been extremely busy. But, as it is nearly midnight, the week is fortunately almost over. On Sunday, Rachel and I handed out candy for Halloween. One of the things that I like about our neighborhood is that there are set times for trick-or-treating. This year, the kids were allowed to go out between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM. We got our first kid shortly after 6:00 PM. Forty-five minutes and thirty pounds of candy later, we were all out of candy. Unfortunately, we had to turn some people away.

Yesterday was Kara and Kelly's last day of advanced training classes. They both got diplomas. Like last time, they got their pictures taken as well. The upper-left corner shows Rachel and myself holding Kelly. The lower-right corner shows the two of us holding Kara. The other two pictures show the other classmates. The dog on the left is called "Harrison"; the dog on the right is called "Jack".

I guess I'm overdue for a new blog entry. So, here goes: As you may (or may) not have noticed, autumn is upon us. Keeping with the season, I've changed the background of my web site. Leaves on a web side background are one thing, but out in our backyard the leaves are getting out of hand. Rachel and I raked up the yard one day. The next day it looked as though we hadn't picked up any leaves. At least, we have been putting the leaves to good use. We have been putting the leaves into pumpkin trash bags. We have two large pumpkins and eight smaller ones.

Well, my wife and I spent two hours handing out candy. It had been a few years since we've handed out candy before. It was nice handing out candy again. In the city of Lorain, candy is only handed out between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM. This makes it a lot easier to plan for. I think we ended up giving out more than 10 pounds of candy!