When I stepped outside yesterday, I knew why a large empty peanut butter jar was there on the front lawn. I had seen one there before.

I don’t like to spread bad news but here it comes: the post-Halloween reveal. On Nov. 1 there is no moonlight.

So I will buy a small bag of KitKats and place a pumpkin next to the front door, but it is unlikely that any little space aliens will come to our house on Halloween.

Linda Thompson, who endured several hurricanes when she lived on St. Croix, sent along some hurricane-related advice she picked up along the way.

In Hawaii it is called Discoverers Day.

October wins my vote for Favorite Month. Neither hot nor cold. Neither frantically busy nor dead quiet.

We had almost five inches of rain this past weekend, according to our neighborhood weatherman Tom Hodgson.

September is the month when a little churning in the far side of the Atlantic stirs up agitation in a certain neighbor who gets excited at the prospect of hurricane season.

Eileen Maley

Have you seen any otters galumphing around town? Twice this summer our town clerk Tara Whiting-Wells reported seeing otter families afoot, probably moving from one pond to another.