Halloween in full swing

So today I got a ghost placed up high in a tree and decorated my porch railings with orange halloween lights.  I haven't seen them at night yet, but I think they'll look quite nice.  They have some black fabric leaves built in to the string, so it acts as a garland, too.

But honestly, I shouldn't have to be fending off mosquitos during late October.  The forecast says it's going to be in the high 70's all through the rest of the month.  I always remember October weather as being shorts at the start of the month and jeans and jackets by the end of it.  Darn you, global warming!  Messin with my status quo, it is.

I also had an idea of poking around in the basement.  It's a dank, dirt-floored affair that's really not good for much.. too damp and dirty to store anything halfway valuable, and too many potentially harmful bugs to store a slave.  There's really not any way to effectively seal it off and prevent more bugs coming in.  But I thought it might not be a bad idea to go through and throw out all the old junk that has been accumulating in there for the past 40 years or so:  moldering boxes of unknown lawn chemicals, old drop cloths, broken fishing rods, and who knows what all.  I didn't get more than a few feet inside before the garbage bin was full, forcing me to stop.  I did find a few bags of old seashells, some of which were pretty enough to wash off and put on shelves down here.  I also came across an old ball-and-chain.  Hm.  Go figure.