Winter has arrived, and in spectacular fashion.  The perfect day to be snug and warm indoors.

Catching up

On October 30, the museum hosted its 3rd Annual Hallowe'en Spooktacular, and it was a roaring success.  The forecasted rain did not appear, and almost 400 people came down to ride the ghost train and be spooked in the haunted coaches.  Our train station was transformed into a haunted house, to the terrified delight of children.  We also raised over 300 lbs of food for the local food bank, which was much appreciated.  We'll have to start planning for next year soon if we want to go even bigger (I have a dream of turning the station into Baba Yaga's house, but have yet to figure out how to make the chicken legs.  That will need some more thought.)

We had a visitor.  She was found sitting by the fire hall, clearly waiting for someone to hurry up and notice her.  A bowl of water, some food and a litter box later, she was comfortably ensconced in the office.  A week passed as we tried to locate her owner.  Just when it seemed that all hope was lost, we discovered a tattoo in the depths of her ear (they were very tiny ears).  The SPCA was called, and her owners came to reclaim her.  For such a small cat, she had wandered quite a ways.  As pleased as I was that she went home, I was also a tiny bit disappointed.  She was very personable, following visitors about as they toured the grounds.  An official museum cat would have added to the atmosphere, and dealt with the mouse problem.  I guess there's always the ferals.