I will be off line for several days. Of course, I will have a report when I return--probably Monday night.
Picture by Linda

Competition

There are three rural routes in our post office and three female full-time carriers. We call ourselves the "sisterhood." We do not race through our day to see who finishes their job first. We have each developed a pace and this dictates the length of our work day. So, the same carriers return about the same time and in the same order each day.

The fact is, I am the last carrier back in the office on most days for reasons I consider important. I don't mind bringing in the rear and am even ready to take more than a little ribbing about it. However, for the past few weeks, I have been trying to be more efficient with the increase in Holiday mail. Interestingly enough, I am still coming in last, because everyone else has picked it up also. All of this takes place and no one really acknowledges or talks about it.

What does this little post office scenario prove? Your team is only as fast as your slowest person. Actually, I think that when there is a job involving speed, the element of competition is always present, even if it is unspoken, which isn't necessarily bad.


All of this also lets me brag about my six year old grandson who, at his very first swim meet last Saturday, did not come in first, but finished each race with determination, enthusiasm, and potential. He obviously enjoyed his teammates and said he had a great time. Who knows where swimming will be in his future, but I was pleased with his sense of competition in and out of the water.

You gotta love fall

Today was a beautiful fall day. This is an especially pretty spot so on my way home, I decided to detour by to see how it looked as the sun was going down. It was worth it.

One more Halloween post--OK?

I received an email from Doug (Colorado) with a picture of his winning pumpkin carving entry in his office building contest. He said his pumpkin was a variation on one that has been floating around the internet. The name? Hoyee pumpkin. Our family is a bit odd in that we think it is funny to put different names on doing what this pumpkin is doing. Sick--literally! Also, Sue sent several pictures taken at the costume party.

To be continued.....next year.

Halloween

Another Halloween past and we did not have any trick or treaters. Well, I guess it isn't quite past yet, but I am not anticipating any visitors.

The history of Halloween dates back thousands of years. The Celts lived in what is now Great Britain and Northern France. Their new year began on November 1st and was marked with a three day celebration of the end of the "season of the sun" and the beginning of the "season of the dark and cold" during which they paraded in costumes.

Halloween is also traced to the Romans who celebrated Pamona Day around the first of November. It celebrated the goddess of fruits and vegetables. Eventually, these two celebrations combined.

The next influence came with the Christian movement and All Saints Day or Hallowmas or All Hallows. Through the years the customs from all three of these celebrations mixed to become All Hallows Eve or Halloween.

In the rural community where we grew up, I do not remember a tradition of going door to door for candy. We had our little school party and that was the extent of the candy and cookies. However, the "trick" part of Halloween was alive and well. We would keep on outdoor lights and Dad would patrol the farm yard once or twice during the evening. This was because things such as farm equipment and hay bales had a way of moving around. Whether there was indoor plumbing or not, all farmsteads had old out houses and they would get tipped or moved.

The most notable Halloween prank was when a group of kids managed to get an outhouse on top of the barn at a nearby farm. For a long time, no one honestly knew who did it. I am a close friend of the daughter of that farm family. I wonder if they have a picture of that crazy prank. If I remember right, it even made the newspaper.

There have been a number of Halloween parties in our past. Saturday night the daughter of a close friend had a wonderful party. I dressed as a bag lady and Dan was Judge Roy Bean (he had a hanging rope with him). There were some fantastic costumes and we had a great time. It was held in an old warehouse in an old part of Kansas City. That in itself was scary!

We have hosted several parties in our past also. No one will ever forget the "hay rack ride one." We put all the kids on a trailer and pulled it through a fisherman path down by the river. We had people hiding along the way to drop dummies out of trees, etc. As it turned out, the kids were so scared, they were hiding under blankets and half the adults were hiding there too. I don't think anyone involved in that deal will ever forget it.

One more Halloween party. I think Dan was there, but we weren't married yet. A bunch of us decided to have a party in the hay loft of our barn. There was nothing too unusual about the party, until a stranger started doing crazy/scary things. No one knew who it was and he kept sneaking around so we couldn't get a good look. We were all scared before it was over. We didn't find out until later that it was a cousin of mine.

This is a lot of rambling about a crazy subject. I didn't even get into costumes the kids and I used to dream up. Halloween is a fun holiday.