I am way behind my time. This morning I went to The Owl show at the community center. A slide show was first then came the owls. I saw owls of all different sizes and one kestrel up close. One of the moderators mimicked a few different owl hoots. Most of the owls had been injured in some way which prevented their return to the wild. It was fascinating.

It is a bit chilly today. I am glad for the storm doors. I’m wearing my chilly weather ensemble: flannel pants, socks and a hoodie. I’ve no plans for the rest of the day. I still have that maybe I’ll do it list, but I’m feeling sloth like. After all, I did set an alarm this morning.

The weather report is for rain tomorrow. We’re supposed to have an outdoor concert in Hyannis, but that looks doubtful. But if the rain holds off and we do have the concert, they’ll be no Coffee tomorrow.

When I was a kid, on a Saturday sometime before Halloween, we’d pick out our pumpkins. I was always partial to one with a tall curved stem on the top. Either my mother or father would cut a circle around the top so we could take it off intact. Our jobs were to clean out the insides of the pumpkin, the gross insides of the pumpkins. We did the cleaning with the pumpkins sitting on pages of the newspaper covering the kitchen table. I didn’t mind the seeds, but I did mind the strings of pulp, the guts, hanging from my fingers as I pulled them from inside. I think I gagged. After I had pulled out as much as possible, it was time to give my pumpkin a face. The finished pumpkins pretty much looked the same every year with their triangular eyes, a matching nose and a wide grin. When I was older, I sometimes jaggedly cut the mouth, or I gave the pumpkin a tooth right in the middle of his grin. The look of it didn’t matter. I loved seeing my pumpkin lit up by an inside candle and sitting on the front steps.

I have a small sugar pumpkin on the front steps, but I think I may buy a big one for carving. Given my artistic talent, it will have triangle eyes, a matching nose and a big grin with a tooth or two.

Today has a bit of a burden being Friday the 13th. Though I don’t think of myself as superstitious, the day does give me pause so I’ll not walk under a ladder or open an umbrella in the house. I’ll have to keep an eye on Jack, my black cat.

Yesterday I did my to do. I was exhausted. I brought up the two storm door windows by moving them corner to corner and one stair at a time. I then cleaned the glasses and hoisted the windows onto the doors. Those glass sections were so heavy I was surprised I didn’t break one of them or parts of me. Next, I dragged out boxes of fall and halloween decorations. They were under other boxes which had to be moved first. I then brought the boxes upstairs and decorated parts of three rooms. I still have two more boxes to rummage through as I’m missing my monsters, my crows and my rats.

I have some new cardboard decorations. They remind me of the cardboard figures we had when I was a kid. We used to tape them to the picture window in the living room. One new figure, a skeleton, is exactly like the one we used to have. Its arms and legs can be moved. The other is a witch whose arms around her broom can be moved. I also have a pumpkin and a black cat. I have a heavy cardboard pumpkin bowl with short sides. I put that on the table in the living room. Later, I heard something landing on the floor in the dining room. I investigated. It was that bowl. Ghosts?

Hung on my front storm door is a skeleton dressed in a nun’s habit. It always reminds me of my aunt the nun. I even call the skeleton Aunt Helen. I swear the habit looks exactly as hers did when she wore one except there is no rosary around the skeleton’s waist. It would bang against the glass.

I love the old black and white horror moves. I have a collection of all the greats: Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolfman, The Invisible Man and the Mummy. They get me into the spirit.

Today is shot day, three of them.