The house around the corner from mine decorates for Halloween at the end of September and people come from miles around to see the moving and speaking figures that populate the porch and hang around on the rooftop. In the corner of the porch, a Frankenstein-like creature plays an organ (and the haunting music from that organ plays 24/7), while a witch welcomes visitors and tells them (every fifteen minutes or so) about what she’s stirring in her pot (‘double double toil and trouble’). On the roof, a supersized black cat swings its head from right to left, lit from within in some horrid way, and above the doorway a gigantic spider waves its arms, threatening to spin its web over any intruders. Pumpkins litter the lawn, cutout witches guard each corner, and a blow-up evil tree spooks little kids who will probably never enter the woods again.
Every time Izzy and I pass by the house, he freezes in his tracks and his eyes light with the orange flickerings from the decorations themselves. He’s baffled by the moving cat and spider on the roof, tilts his head when the witch intones her spell, and the sound of the organ alerts him even when we’re blocks away. He pees on the gravestones at the edge of the walkway and doesn’t even bother sniffing the wood cutout witch. If we’re walking by early in the morning when everything else is quiet, he mutters a little in the back of his throat or does a little prance and whine routine. He knows this isn’t “normal” but he has no clue what Halloween is (nor does he care, other than the sound and lights bug him).
Wait until the kids start ringing our doorbell in their costumes. Now that is cause for a great deal of barking!
Izzy’s reaction to the Halloween decorations made me laugh. I don’t think our dogs would much like those, either. But it’s neat to see that some people still really enjoy celebrating Halloween.
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It makes me wonder exactly why we do it when I see his reactions to the decorations and the costumes. Sometimes dogs are more honest than we are 🙂
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Last year there was a mechanical Frankenstein in front of a cafe around the corner from us. Gracie went berserk barking at it every time we walked by. You would think that in NYC dogs would see enough weird things that they’d get used them, but Halloween decorations do freak them out.
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What amazes me is that they actually figure out that they’re scary!
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That stuff IS scary! Izzy has it figured out! And thank you for following my blog “Writing Beneath the Palms!”
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I’m enjoying your blog. Thanks for commenting on mine, too. Whereabouts are you located?
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