ROCKTOBER

A load of pumpkins for sale at a local Safeway a week or so before Halloween.

"Rocktober". That's the nickname for the month of October made locally famous by the Seattle rock station KISW.

This Rocktober was decent. The weather was decent, for the most part, with many sunny afternoons and temperatures in the 60's F / 15-16 C. The leaves started to turn color in my location in late September -- about 8 miles west of me they turned orange and yellow before they did in my location (closer to the cold air of Puget Sound). Meanwhile, about 5 miles east of me -- in the front slopes of the Cascade foothills -- most of them were already turning yellow, with some trees starting to take on an orange tinge. As the days progressed, more and more of the hills turned orange and gold.

Halloween decorations were on sale as early as September, and throughout October, at local stores.

Halloween stuff for sale at Safeway in September.

A mechanical skeleton dog that growls and barks. Walgreen's, September & October 2016.

We dodged a huge weather bullet in mid-month, a massive windstorm that must have simply blown right over my valley because all it did here (thankfully) was pour down lots and lots of rain.

October, to me, generally means the hills are ablaze in color, and Halloween is in the air. This October -- color-wise -- has been better than most, even though there has been a fair bit of rain.

A hospital gift shop in Tacoma had some Halloween stuff for sale a few weeks before the holiday.

Some Halloween stuff for sale at a Safeway.

 A gift shop in the town of Black Diamond, Washington, was decked out fully with Halloween decorations and pumpkins.

Some of the Halloween decorations inside the gift shop were homemade.

Earlier in the month I had a birthday that wasn't spectacular. Some sad memories of birthdays past seemed to haunt it.

Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. I've always loved Halloween ever since I was a little kid. I think the thing about Halloween that hooked me was the carved pumpkins -- the "jack o' lanterns".

When I was a kid, the only kinds of jack o' lanterns one could have were pumpkins that you carved yourself. Today you can get electric ones in the stores. In the 1990's, electric pumpkins looked very realistic. Then they started to look cheaper. The ones from the '90's that look like real pumpkins are now very expensive, unless you find one for sale at a thrift store.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse electric pumpkins for sale at the local Walgreen's during September and October.

I decided to go ahead and get Mickey the pumpkin. And I placed him on an upper windowsill where he looks out at the world.

I broke down and got a brand new light-up Mickey Mouse pumpkin. I placed him in a front facing window. He's a happy looking pumpkin, isn't he. But unfortunately there is a sad tale connected with Mickey that isn't so happy.

In other news, the local stores began putting up their Halloween stuff for sale in early September. However, now a couple stores have Christmas stuff up already!

These Disney Christmas blow-up yard decorations were up as early as Oct. 11th at the local Walmart. A bit too early for Christmas, don't ya think?

Throughout this blog post I have a few photos I took during the month, including the Christmas decorations for sale at the local Walmart. I love Christmas, but I would prefer to see Christmas stuff in the stores a bit later than October 11th!

A pic of Seattle from late June.

Here's hoping you all have had a good Rocktober. Perhaps it was better than mine has been. It was O.K., but I've seen better.

C.C. 10-11-2016, & 11-3-2016

I was delayed in posting this, as I originally wrote it up on the 11th. I decided to post it as is, with some edits.