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Without the regular rhythm that comes when it lands on a school day, Halloween in our neighborhood can be a little unpredictable. Certainly the weather on Saturday cooperated—some of the furry-costume-clad kids slightly overheated—but the teenagers in their skimpy getups were surely very comfortable. We anticipated a larger than usual crowd and judging by the amount of candy we went through, about 450 pieces, it was just about typical.

We ran out of candy around 7:30 p.m., which was a little unusual. Then my youngest son happily declared that when the Medios drove by with a haywagon filled with kids, he and his friends ran out to the street and threw candy to the kids. We reminded them that the trick-or-treaters have to work for it, come to the porch at the very least. And sometimes that is all we get, leaving us to wonder whatever happened to the ‘trick-or-treat’ that we used to yell at whomever opened the door.

All in all, it was fun as usual. Many of our neighbors went all-out with the decorations, some of which were downright scary, like one front porch we saw with bloody dolls hanging from the ceiling, and at another house where someone jumped out of the bushes with a “boo” when the kids wandered into the yard.

Speaking only for ourselves, we love that families from throughout the area find our neighborhood a safe and fun place to spend Halloween.

On to some not-so-good news. Charlie Corwith of the Water Mill Village Improvement Association, which maintains the Corwith Windmill, reported that he recently asked Ricky Muller to reglaze the windows on the mill. While doing that job, Charlie asked Ricky to replace some shims that had fallen out. Checking out the shims, Ricky discovered that the cross arms of the windmill were severely rotted, probably explaining why the shims fell out in the first place.

About six years ago, the main shaft of the mill was replaced after rot was discovered. During that project, the cross arms were fine, but it is not unusual, said Charlie, for wood to rot through in six years. Repairing the main shaft cost about $8,000 and Charlie estimates the repairs of the cross arms at about $20,000, depending on the type of wood, which will likely be an Alaskan hard yellow cedar because it is, well, flexible.

The Water Mill Community Club’s Adult Scavenger Hunt is set for Saturday, November 14. If you’d like to sign up, send an e-mail to Eileen Noonan at ecnoonan@aol.com.