Orange Boa at the door

We had some worries for Halloween.
How to give out Halloween candy to visiting trick or treaters, keep Liam safe inside while repeatedly opening the door.
How to shield kids and parents from Liam's leaping licking affectionate self.
How to give the working, non-retired Paul the day to himself.
How to afford me the opportunity to read, watch TV, text, email, drink tea, do laundry while concurrently functioning as the Chief treat or treater meeter/greeter.
The Internet provided the answer. I read a tip on one of the dog websites, possibly on a Facebook page. The tipster addressed the trick of how to keep your dog inside, and how Halloween can be a treat for the home owner. The suggestion was to remove the front upper screen from the outside door. Some homes have an inside wooden door as well as an outside light screen door. In the following photo you will see our inside door is to the left and our outside door to the right Our screen partition was still in; we had been looking for a day to change it out for the glass that takes its place in the late fall and winter. The idea is that you remove the screen and use this open window as an opportunity to dispense Halloween candy through the aperture-the treat for the home owner is sitting and multi tasking, enjoying the parade of costumes, delivering candy without constant door opening disruption. stress. For those of the baby boomer generation, go back to your memory banks for the show Mr. Ed. He was a horse who always stuck his head through the door, while keeping his body inside allowing his head only to be seen while he conversed with visitors. Yes, a talking horse, he was
I was an updated Mr. Ed last Saturday on Halloween. My setup consisted of a too tall kitchen stool that at 30 inches was 6 inches too high for our counter. About six months ago, I had finally admitted that hunching over the counter to eat was not ideal and that I had miscalculated the height of the counter. So the two leather very comfortable, elegant kitchen counter chairs had been replaced by the correct height for our counter, 24 inches. See photos -too tall on left-new one on right The too tall stools had been looking for a new job I commandeered one for my Halloween gig -it would serve as my perch at the front door for the offering of our M&M's to the witches, and goblins of the day.
I sat on the the black leather backed swivel top placed my blackberry, water gun (to be explained later) and tea (a Druid brew) on the shelf-see next pic. put the bowl of MM's on another stool, turned on the TV to HGTV stuck my head out of the opening of our door. "Yoohoooooooo, over here kiddies." My Halloween outfit was a mishmash of mismatched shades of black, accented by orange socks and an orange boa. Liam is a tad too short to reach the opening by just standing on his hind legs. With a few leaps though he might have licked a few kids, so I had my orange (must coordinate) water pistol to squirt him with if he leaped too high and too accurately.
The day moved swiftly; is strange, fun, The warm weather delivered swirling breezes full of mismatched leaves and autumn crispy smells. It seemed that my presence in the door caused surprise, delight and confusion. Some kids ran up the path eagerly giggling appreciating the whimsy of me in the door; others cringed hiding behind parents, some just pointed and moved on. No one seemed to have seen anyone attempt what I was doing. I even think I scared a few kids. Why approach another door closed, dark and unwelcoming when I am here soliciting and offering M&M's in my paws? Was it my protruding bodyless head framed with orange feathers? Was it the sound of the invisible barking Liam? Maybe kids do not like to see the person inside as they approach but rather like the surprise of the ringing of the doorbell? Maybe a good premise for a psychological study. I refused to be deterred and hung in tenaciously. During the 5 hours I was at my post, I read the NY Times, Newsday, Time magazine, half a novel, answered and initiated texts, emailed, did the laundry and watched some TV I so love multi-tasking. If I had to leave my post, Liam barked to signal a visitor and only once did Paul have to give treats; when I was in the basement switching the laundry loads.
As darkness fell, and the visitors stopped coming, we moved out of the doorway, the glass partition went in and our Halloween "head in door opening" experiment ends.
There were only a few drawbacks. The windy day blew leaves through our living room; acorns pelted me as gusts gathered them from the high oaks and flung them through the door opening. My orange boa shed its feathers in communion with nature.
The positives far outweighed the negatives and we are all looking forward to next year. Perhaps a new trend of "heads out of doors," great way to meet the neighbors.
We had 67 guests-I know because I knew the total candy count at the outset was 150 and at two per person means 134 pieces were distributed. Only had to send 16 pieces to work with Paul.
and oh, yes, thanks Internet suggester, very creative and successful! Kudos to you.
Liam and Paul share a healthy treat of popcorn for Halloween.
Woof, woof.