Esmerelda the witch flying menacingly outside our front door. Roxanne the wild and crazy pumpkin sits in our window, all lit up and grimacing. Joining these creatures of the night, we have assorted bats, snakes and creepy crawlies, all under the lugubrious stare of a morbidly obese Count Dracula. Every year he gets into the candy bowls before all the toddlers arrive, leaving us vulnerable to disappointed and disgruntled trick or treaters.

One of our favorite things is to put ZOE, my 5 year-old miniature poodle, into her Halloween costume and watch the joy and laughs of the kiddies and ZOE's reaction - she simply adores children. Tonight she will greet visitors as a skunk; she is a black poodle so this one works easily.

Well now you know a little more about me and I do wish you well, hoping you may come back for future installments.

blog, you say?

First off, it's best I admit that I, TJ, have been bamboozled by my lady "friend" into joining the ol' blog-wagon. Extortion notwithstanding, I have been reading some blogs and find the idea intriguing. What a dazzling smorgasbord of the quirky and eccentric, the mundane, the well-informed, the intellectual, the practical "how-to's" and the humorous, satiric or downright absurd. And that characterization comes from a place of humility and genuine respect for all bloggers, great and small. Perhaps it will fall short of "fame" but hey, with any luck at all, one might hope for more than "15 ninutes"!

Enough for this beginner. Y'all come back now, hear?