The Horseshoe on Fire, and Other Halloween Tales

Happy Halloween, America!

Establishing headquarters in the Johnsons' driveway. . .

Like we've done the last few years, this Halloween we went a block or two over to Sweetbrier Terrace, where the Johnsons hold their annual Trick or Treat the Horseshoe.  The 'Horseshoe' symbolizes the U-shaped, enclosed streets of Sweetbrier, Highbrook, and Westbrier, which are chock-full of youthful families that are all big on Halloween and hand out tons of candy for kids.  This neighborhood feels like the 1980s, with kids clogging the street and running around from door-to-door in wild packs, just like you see in the movies.

The neighbor across the street had a HUGE smoke machine going. . . 

It's pretty awesome.

We've mentioned it before or time or two, but for this much-more-tame follow-up to our own Halloween Party, the Johnsons put out a spread of food in their garage, drag a fire pit onto their driveway, set up some chairs, and blast music all evening.  They hand out candy to all the kids that swing by, and offer beers and waters to the accompanying adults.  It only lasts for a couple hours - because Trick or Treating is only from 6 - 8pm, and it almost always falls on a frickin' school night - but it's a nice end cap to the month, for sure.

So here you go, folks - one more post for the month of October.

(You're welcome.)

Waiting to set out for candy - Ella, Harper, Ella's cousin Hazel, and Abby

The smoke from that guy's smoke machine (fog machine, whatever it was) rolled down the entire block, billowing across front yards as far as the eye could see.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, over on Bellaire Street, Alayna and her group of friends assembled over at her friend Cristina's house to go Trick or Treating (you know, because Alayna is 'old' now and doesn't like hanging out with her family anymore.)

Recreating that one Spiderman meme (off the Internet, I'm told) with her co-Spidermen, Cristina and Lexi.

About ready to set out into the neighborhood (you can spot a handsome guy in the background, off to the left.)

Not sure who Kris is talking to, here. . .

With Gabby, Ava, and. . . someone with a 'C' on their face for some reason. I don't get it, maybe they're trying to be funny or something.  Sorry for the quality of this pic - someone texted it to Kris and I got it off her phone.

Back on Sweetbrier, the smoke was getting out of control. . .

. . . to the point that the City Fire Department was called in to put out a 'fire.'  Seriously.

I guess a neighbor down the street called the fire department, due to all the smoke (not their fault, they didn't know what was going on), and you could clearly see the smoke rising from a few blocks away.  That must've been one hell of a smoke machine. . .

They were definitely threading a needle coming down this narrow side street, cars parked along both sides of the road, in their giant-ass emergency trucks.  Gave me a little anxiety watching the big rigs squeeze past my car (fortunately it didn't side-swipe it.)

(Kris is having the time of her life watching all this unfold.)

More fire trucks - including the big rigs - roll in to 'save the day.'  Basically they rolled in, ascertained that it was just some overly-zealous reveler, and had him shut off his smoke machine.  Definitely a first for this neighborhood. . .

My brother, Chris, and his fam had asked to Trick or Treat with us this evening (since they live out in the country and don't have 'neighborhoods,' per se), so we invited them out to the Johnsons.  As they have little kids and everything, their time was limited, so they parked about a block away and began trick-or-treating their way towards where we were all set up.  By the time they reached us, the chaos of the fire trucks was in full swing, which my nephews (Louis and Sam) definitely got a kick out seeing all the sirens and flashing lights.

After the smoke, fire trucks, extended family, and trick or treaters all dispersed, some folks hung out around the fire for a bit longer in order to have one more drink and get some more food.  The Collier and Griffin families showed up right at the end (like they did last year), and we all hung out with them for about a half an hour or so before I ended up driving Abby home (she had to get a shower in before bed, and it was pushing 9pm already.)

My nightcap for the evening (one of my favorite Halloween beers.)  We let the kids stay up until about 10pm or so, eating candy and watching old Treehouse of Horror episodes from The Simpsons on Disney+.  Another Halloween in the books, folks - see ya next time.

- Brian