Ahh, Halloween. Children all dressed up as their heroes and taking a healthful stroll around their neighborhood.

Right. I can’t wait to see how many Britney’s there will be. Please, kids — the one with the hair.

And the begging for candy. Haven’t I ranted on and on about Halloween before? Or is it Hallowe’en?

Bah humbug. Oh yes, I am the Grinch of Halloweens past, present and future.

Thank God we live at the end of a very long dirt road and nobody comes to the door, because I don’t think I could handle the ding-dong of the doorbell for two hours.

They’d have to take away the key to my gun locker.

“…just a precaution, sir,” I can hear them say.

Seriously, get yourself south of the border between 2 and 5.

There was this promotion during one of the games of the World Series and somebody — you’d think I’d know this, right? — stole a base, and…

AND AMERICA GETS A FREE TACO!!

Seriously — you can read about it at MLB.com but don’t miss it!!

Me, I’ll be suffering the delightful tacoroma, since my kids insist they get theirs. Maybe I’ll eat one, but I doubt it. Tune in later! LOL!!

When my life was interrupted nearly six years ago, I was trying to get fit. I now find myself wearing the clothes I was wearing at the peak of my success. The pants are just a little tight — I’m still maybe ten or so pounds from the lowest point I reached early in 2002.

I often wonder, though, where my weight was at during the years leading up to that. Fact is, I mostly don’t know.

But this morning I found a shirt that gives me some insight. I was visiting Baltimore in the summer of 1993, the year they held the All-Star game at Camden Yards. And I bought a shirt there and that’s the one I just found. And it’s XXL, which is now too big for me.

The other day Lori asked me what size shirt I wore — she’s giving out fitness T-shirts for work — and I was glad to say XL for the first time in recent memory. I was also thrilled to show her the results from a cholesterol test I took the other day — under 200!!

LOL, now if I can just drop some weight to match that!! And then the rolly-coaster can coast to a stop. :)

three outs away as I begin writing this post.

the Red Sox lead 5-2 in the bottom of the 8th.

maybe it’s because I always eat my vegetables first.

maybe it’s because I floss every single day.

maybe it’s because I touch wood every time I even think about the end of the game, the ALCS, the World Series. oh yes, I am that superstitious.

did I mention the free TV one of my RLF’s gave me? it’s fifty f-ing inches, and HDTV ready! he tells me I just need an HD cable box to get the super picture. I don’t think I’ll spend the money… maybe that can be my birthday present — it’s only a little over a month away, you know.

sox scored just now, and it’s 6-2.

life isn’t totally lucky. we got home from the weekend earlier than we thought. Angel was supposed to come over and tke care of the animals tonight, but she had an emergency with one of her own dogs. poor thing, her and the dog. I did get to talk to her on the phone, though. she has the kind of voice, you can actually hear her smile. I wonder if she can hear the same from me?

it’s 11:34, which is about two hours past my bedtime. good luck getting up at 4:30, when my alarm goes off!

I’m listening on the radio, I think I neglected mentioning. it’s a station from New York, if you can believe that. none of the local stations want to come in, but there’s 1050 AM and it fades in and out at times, but I’m getting all the action.

bases are loaded. are the sox going to score some more? I’d like to hear the end of the game before I hit publish and go to sleep.

the other night when Youkilis, Ortiz hit the back-to-back homers, I was thinking, Manny Ramirez is going to hit a -to-back-er himself. they changed pitchers between batters. I learned the next day that Manny *did* go yard — I realized I fell asleep during that pitching change/commercial!

I don’t know how many outs there are. I feel I’m rambling now. a strike out. Pedroia is up, hits a three run double — he’s going to be the Rookie of the Year, is my prediction, and the ESPN guys just said the same thing. it’s 9-2 Sox now, and they’ve gone to commercial, but this post will be advert-free.

camping was fun this weekend. what beautiful weather we had today, after some pretty serious rain the other night.

ok, the game is back. how many outs? I still don’t know. Youkilis just hit a two-run homer, holy shit!! there’s your series MVP, no doubt about it — oops, they usually give that to a player on the winning team ::touch wood:: yup, 11-2 Sox.

omg, please tell me I haven’t been broadcasting accounts and descriptions of the game withoug the permission of Major League Baseball. ok, Ortiz just struck out to end the inning.

commercial break but I’m wide awake now, waiting for those three outs I mentioned at the top of the post. no title on this post yet, because I don’t want to jinx the team. can you say superstitious? better yet, can I spell it? I’m on my mobile with no spell-check.

I’m so nervous, isn’t that silly? strike. foul. foul. base hit, dang!

fly out on what sounded like a great play — radio makes it hard to see. next batter is out as my radio goes all static. one out away. fly ball, amazing catch and the Sox win the pennant! bring on the Rockies!

Admit it — those four words have you humming that old Christopher Cross song. And admit it — you don’t think it was all that bad a song. Confession — neither do I.

I love the water. Not the sailing yachts my parents had, that occupied most my childhood weekends. Or worse, those small club boats my boss adored, and hauled us all out to sea — harbor, actually, the same one I zipped across just a few weeks ago.

I love the sea in big boats. My first cruise was our honeymoon, Wifey’s and mine. Tahiti, Bora Bora, places like that, and once upon a time long ago past, we could afford things like that.

And don’t get me wrong, the much cheaper cruises on the much larger ships — that’s where I found myself at home. Home sweet, home on the waves.

And it was a weekend not unlike this one when I realized why I love this camper so much. It is so much like a cruise ship cabin, the resemblance us uncanny.

Sure, there is no balcony. There is no room steward to bring canapes and turn down the bed. But there is a tiny bathroom with shower. There is a tiny refrigerator. There is even a tiny couch and a tiny TV.

And tonight, there is water. Quite a storm, actually. Feels like she might like to capsize, our small vessell — but of course, it’s a big boat we sail. The wind that rocks us on our scissor jacks feels more like the swells of the open ocean.

And the rain — how many mornings have I awoken so early that it was still pitch dark, rain pouring from the blackness of sky above… just to feel the tapering at morning’s dawning, and the sky turn blue and sunny.

It’s so surreal, the rolling motion of the sea/wind, the deafening roar of the sea/rain. And then there is a moment of calm. Are we there yet? But are we ever really there?

Thirteen things about Fall (and Winter) in New England.

1. The foliage is really beautiful right now.

2. The yellows are more brilliant than usual, I think.

3. Usually I like the reds and oranges better.

4. The yellows remind me of forsythia somehow.

5. And the next time we see forsythia… next spring!

6. Not that I would wish the fall and winter away.

7. That would violate one of my most important rules of life.

8. One of things I like best about fall… NO RAKING!

9. That’s right, I leave ‘em right where they fall.

10. The snow — well that’s another story altogether.

11. Our ATV has a snow plow for digging us out all winter.

12. And I don’t mind the little bit I have to do with a shovel.

13. But dammit, it’s only mid October and I’m cold already! :/

Yes, I did! Right in front of super-cute fitness instructor Lori and everybody!

No, I didn’t think to take a picture. That would make a great Wordless post, wouldn’t it?

What? You want me to tell what it is? OK, if you insist.

A broken shoelace! Ha!! What were you thinking? :)

So mucbh for technology. If this post had gone as planned, you would have seen the beautiful fall colors of New England.

That picture may show up — it must be stuck in one of the many tubes (or is it pipes?) that make up the Internets.

And what fall colors, you ask? No, I’m not talking about *those* fall colors. The brilliant yellows, oranges, reds — believe it or not we do find ourselves taking all that for granted.

It’s the green and yellow of soccer — these kids actually have reversible shirts for home/away, and youngest daughter has had hers for enough years that it’s really dingy and faded.

Oldest daughter played soccer for one season but it wasn’t really her thing. Softball, volleyball — she does really well at those. And middle son, he’s a baseball man all the way. Youngest likes softball, too, but she wanted to be different — I guess it’s a third thing.

I played soccer as a kid, and I’d swear the game was different then — the positions, anyway. I don’t remember being really into it, though — basebll and hockey were my sports, with emphasis on the latter.

The little girls — not so little anymore, really, at 10-and-under — wasn’t that long ago they’d all crowd around the ball. Now they’re covering the whole field, playing positions, passing, scoring goals. It’s almost like watching real sports! As seen on TV, even!

I wouldn’t be watching soccer on TV, though. I have been watching the Red Sox playoff games. Not so much during the regular season — I guess that makes me more of a cold-weather fan.

So there’s the red of fall and plenty of blue to go with it. Yesterday my Sox shirt was blue, today’s is red.

One of the baseball moms just mentioned the Patriots. “The who?” I said. “Oh, you’re being funny,” she realized. That is my middle name, after all.

Green, yellow, orange, red, blue. Let’s not forget the white, though — that’s a fall color in New England, too! I shudder to think of it.