No Ghosts, No Goblins

This is our fifth Halloween in our house here in Edgewater, Florida, and every year we buy candy for the trick or treaters. And not once have we had a ghost or goblin or anybody else show up at our door in or out of costume. I think that tradition has pretty much gone by the wayside.

Or else maybe we are that house, the one that every neighborhood has where everybody knows about the creepy old people who live there. Oh well, at least we are smart enough to buy candy that we like, so we will have stuff to munch on for the next few weeks.

The other day on a whim, we did something we have not done in more years than I can remember. We were out running around doing some things and stopped at a convenience store for something, and I told Terry to buy some lottery tickets. I’m not sure what came over me, but I figured if we won a hundred million bucks or so, maybe I’d buy me a small island somewhere populated with pretty girls in hula skirts and coconut bras, and live up my days lounging around in my hammock. Well, that didn’t turn out, so today it’s back to work for me.

As all people do now and then, Terry and I were talking about it, and in all seriousness, even if we won some huge megabucks kind of lottery, there’s really nothing much that we would change in our lives. We would probably buy another house somewhere on the Pacific Northwest coast and spent part of our year there and part here, we would definitely make sure our children and grandchildren are taken care of, and I might break down and buy a classic car or two. Or maybe not, who knows? As it is, we’re very content with our lives, we have everything we want or need, and neither of us really wants to make any major changes. But for what it’s worth, I’ve actually known three people who have won lotteries for a million dollars. And one of them won twice! What are the odds of that happening?

I remember years ago, at our very first RV rally, we met Dick Reed, who founded the RV Driving School. I was admiring Dick’s beautiful Eagle bus conversion, and he told me that the California State Lottery paid for that bus. I was impressed and asked him when he won the lottery, and Dick told me he didn’t. He opened one of the huge cargo bay doors under the bus and said, “Every week when the lottery came around, instead of buying any tickets, I stuck the money away, and when I had enough to fill one of these bays, I bought a bus.” Good thinking Dick. You know what they say, you can’t lose if you don’t play!

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Congratulations Derek Gore, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of Dog’s Run, my mystery set in a small Ohio town in 1951. It’s a gritty tale that is loosely based upon an actual crime that took place in that part of the country when my father was a young police officer. We had 41 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon.  Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – People who ask me what I’m doing tomorrow probably assume that I even know what day of the week it is.