Oh Halloween, how I don’t particularly love thee….
I’m glad it’s over, I will say that. I’ve never really been one for that particular ‘holiday’ but the truth is, this year it wasn’t so bad. I had a good time carving pumpkins with my daughter at her school on Oct. 31 and lucky us, one of the kids had swimming lessons after school that day so off we went to the pool before we had dinner and suited up for trick-or-treating.
My son would likely tell you that our time in the water was the best part of the day. Many of the swim-lesson kids skipped their sessions that day and it turns out not too many others go to the pool just for fun on Halloween Day afternoon either. It felt like we had the pool to ourselves and that’s totally my son’s jam. I was delighted he enjoyed himself because he’s usually not a fan of Halloween Day either. That noted, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell parents that I’d highly recommend going to the pool before trick-or-treating. My children burned off all that anticipatory energy swimming instead of bouncing off the walls at home.
Thanks to the slow cooker, dinner was ready when we got home from the pool so all they needed to do was eat and put their costumes on and both wasted no time doing that.
My son dressed as some type of ninja or warrior or something and that worked for him because he could hide his face and not have to be recognized by or talk to anyone we bumped into and therefore expedite his collecting.
For the second year in a row, my daughter was Scooby-Doo.
Scooby was one of my favourite’s growing up so I loved it. Plus, her costume was quite good. So good in fact that she got mobbed by children when she wore it to school — with everybody wanting to pet Scooby.
As we followed our children from house to house on the great hunt for candy, my husband and I counted more than a dozen times when somebody called “Hey, it’s Scooby!” or “Look, it’s Scooby-Doo!
When anyone said the iconic “Hey Scooby where are you?” she’d reply “I’m right here” and think that was hilarious.
Even with an enthusiastic Scooby-Doo, no weird phenomena were found or mysteries solved on our neighbourhood walk. Once we were home, though, there were attempts by adults (OK, it was me) to steal the Reese’s Pieces they’d been given.
“And it would have been mine, if it hadn’t been for those meddling kids!”
All in all, it was a nice night with my ninja and Scooby-Doo. There was a nice feeling of community in the air and it felt, peaceful.
Speaking of community and animals, I’ve talked about A Home for Hooves farm sanctuary before; about their cool pen pal program that my daughter took part in, writing letters back and forth with Miss Fluffy Legs, one of their resident chickens.
The sanctuary is Vancouver Island’s only farm sanctuary and Canada’s first farm sanctuary accredited through the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.
Maybe it’s because of filling that niche need that the operation is always super busy and they’ve been slowly but surely outgrowing their space.
I heard from one of the society’s directors recently that they are oh-so-close to raising what they need to purchase and move to a bigger acreage — something much needed as their current space is bursting at the seams with roughly 170 animals living there.
The Forever Home For Hooves capital campaign has reached $1,736,000 toward it’s $2.2M goal, which they’re very proud of, but having a verbal agreement on the land and aiming to take possession in the spring of 2024 means they need to raise the rest of the funds.
“This has been two years in the making and we cannot believe we are so close to our goal,” said director Stephanie Gordon. “It’s the perfect place for the animals. It has everything they need and deserve, but we need the community help to ensure it comes to fruition.”
The goal for the property isn’t just a new home for the animals, it’s the creation of a medical unit to provide a higher standard of animal care and a warm barn for the vulnerable animals to sleep in, which is incredibly important for older animals, especially during the colder months, Gordon said.
“There would be vast gardens to help meet the animals’ dietary and health needs on site and we would have hay to bale in preparation for fall and winter, reducing our reliance on external sources,” she added. “This property would also allow us the space to offer more tours, community outreach, and humane education programs.”
Those able to help A Home for Hooves reach their goals are encouraged to visit their website at: www.homeforhooves.org or a link Link to donate to A Forever Home for Hooves is: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/93770.