Because I’ll never outgrow (I hope) my enjoyment of the Peanuts franchise, I watched “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” on CBS last night. In it, Snoopy has a lengthy segment flying his doghouse as the brave French WWI pilot chasing the cursed Red Baron into the wild blue yonder.
While Snoopy is in the air, Linus is in the garden waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear. Listening to him expound on the virtues of that unseen entity made me wonder – what would be scarier to see: a ghost or a mobile pumpkin? My vote would be for the pumpkin. Polls show that about a third of Americans believe in ghosts, but the shock value of a living, breathing, self-propelled pumpkin would be pretty high.
Speaking of shock value, the latest version of the online Air&Space Smithsonian magazine has a fun article about ghosts and ghostly happenings at airfields around the country. Some I had heard before, but most were new to me. Instead of relaying them to you, here’s a link to the actual story. If ghost stories aren’t your thing, you’ll probably still enjoy the photographs. The tornado over the Sacramento airport is pretty cool.
On that note, I’ll wish you a happy Halloween (in just three days). My son turned 40 earlier this month but since he has a somewhat unusual work schedule, his “milestone birthday” party will take place tomorrow night. Because he will never outgrow (I hope) his sense of fun, he asked that it be a costume party. I will go as his mother as I have no desire to scare my grandkids by getting all girlish or ghoulish.
If you go to a party this weekend to mark the holiday, I hope you have a great time. If you have children who will go trick-or-treating on Monday night, I hope they bring back enough candy to share with you. If you hand out candy on Monday night, I hope you remember the parents who are looking to share their kids’ candy and put in a few extras for them. If Snoopy gave out candy, that’s what he would do.
The CAF Red Tail Squadron is a volunteer-driven 501c3 non-profit organization that operates under the auspices of the Commemorative Air Force. For more information, please visit redtail.org.
