For those who aren’t interested, the count is still 324. We suspect other houses on the street may have gotten more visitors than we did. The west side seemed to have more foot traffic than did our east side.

And we must admit that we closed up shop shortly after 7 p.m. when the numbers seemed to be waning. However, having started with our first trick-or-treater at 4:20, we decided it was time.

We must admit that two pre-Halloween events soured us considerably on participating at all this year.

The first of these occurred during a trip to a local grocery store the day before Halloween when we discovered two and a half dozen of "Halloween Eggs" were being offered for sale for $1.49. To advertise eggs as such, and at a relatively low price, is not, in our opinion, at all helpful to the community. One of the last things we would need, we would think, would be encouragement for mischievous behavior.

The second souring moment for Halloween came at a luncheon where one of the attendees announced that she hoped her children got really good candy at Halloween. We were stunned.

Trust us, our candy selection is not based on the quality of the product. When one has 324 trick-or-treaters, one is certainly less likely to choose "good" candy than if one has a more reasonable number of 50 trick-or-treaters.

We were only slightly mollified when we discovered the woman in question lives in Cobleskill and thus her desire for "good" candy was in all likelihood, not our problem.

However, in spite of our somewhat less than enthusiastic mood with which we began the trick-or-treat event, we must say it was one of our more enjoyable Halloween evenings.

Of course, the weather went a long way towards improving our mood. And there were some truly memorable moments as we sat on our dimly, and spookily green, lit porch surrounded by smiling jack-o-lanterns.

One little girl asked twice if anyone was here. Both times we said yes, but we are not certain she quite believed us. However, after a bit of encouragement she did manage to come up on the porch, claim her treat and offer her thank you before making a hasty retreat back to the sidewalk. In fact, we think we heard "thank you" almost more than we heard "trick-or-treat."

In fact, one little boy started with "thank you." His father dutifully corrected him, telling him to start with "trick-or-treat."

The little one turned back to us and said again "thank you." We passed out the treat, for which we got yet another "thank you." Then the father seemed to apologize for the fact that he could not get his son to say "trick-or-treat."

We assured him that we thought "thank you" would get his son a whole lot further in life than would "trick-or-treat" and so he should probably not worry overly about the situation.

We were also surprised by the number of trick-or-treaters who told us they really liked our house.

In fact, we were so taken by the compliments that we rushed downtown the next day to pick up some additions to our ambient display for next year.

We had hoped to increase our supply of green lighting. Of course, we discovered that Halloween lights do not come in green.

Fortunately, however, we were able to make our purchase as Christmas lights come in green and they were, of course, very much available for purchase.

We only hope that we do not encounter problems next year with the holiday police when we use Christmas lights at Halloween. Perhaps there is a permit available for such a variance.

We recently received an e-mail from former Cooperstonian Doug Preston who responded to our recent thoughts on the article that appeared in this very paper about outdoor wood furnaces.

He directed us to check out the website www.eta-is-opacity.com/history.htm.

When we did so, we found ourselves on the Eastern Technical Associates website which includes the History of Opacity. This history begins in 1273 when Edward I (Longshanks) of England prohibited the burning of coal. The review ends with a section entitled "Today: which reads as follows:

"Opacity remains the mainstay of the federal, state, and local enforcement efforts with more observers certifying annually than at any time in the past. This will continue with the emphasis on incineration of wastes and the relationship of opacity to PM-10 emissions. Visible emissions are also used extensively in measurement of fugitive emissions. Issues such as other credible evidence’ proving a violation are headed to the courts."

We now think it is safe to say that we probably know more about opacity than is necessary.

But we thank Doug for keeping us informed, not only about the topic, but also about its relationship to the railroads. His e-mail includes the following explanation:

"As you may suspect, there is a railroad connection here.In the days of coal-burning steam locomotives, they could be major sources of pollution, especially the busy little switch engines which were constantly stopping and starting (with great puffs of smoke) in city yards. A well-managed road engine could run along quite nicely, mostly leaving only a trail of faint gray smoke.

"Municipal smoke inspectors, armed with their trusty Ringelmann charts, are said to have played a major role in the development of the diesel-electric locomotive, the first of which were yard switchers introduced about 1925. Hope your new computer is up and running, and leaving only a trail of faint gray smoke."

We thank Doug for his e-mail and are happy to report that the computer is indeed up and running and the only smoke associated with it, came not from the computer, but from our ears.

In closing, we noticed not long ago that Chestnut Street is sporting what appears to us to be a new double yellow line. We must admit that we do not remember such an adornment in the past and wonder if this is a new added attraction for the village or if our mind is slipping badly.

Either way, our sense is that its addition moves us yet another step from sleepy rural village to bustling urban area. And while there may be times during the year when the traffic is well served by defining which side of the street is which, we are not at all certain that we wish to be reminded of that traffic throughout the entire year.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.