After two days of candy posts there’s a pretty clear majority rule emerging: nuts are important in the candy world. Snickers, PayDay, peanut M&Ms, Baby Ruth, Mr. Goodbar, Oh Henry!, Take 5, even that classic Hershey’s with Almonds – well, I don’t know if it’s nuts or the combination of nuts and chocolate but whatever it is, these candy bars have a hardcore following. I’m not immune to their draw either.

People with nut allergies must face a particularly hard time when it comes to trick or treating. I thought I did well – the only item I bought with actual peanuts were those fun sized (aka you’ll eat five before you know it) Snickers, intending to have plenty of options for kids with dietary restrictions. Gluten free and peanut allergies, anyway. But as I was dumping candy into a giant bowl I noticed warnings on bag after bag: This item was made in a facility that produces peanut products and cross contamination is possible. COME ON!

Good intentions and all that jazz.

So we prepped the bowls with about 400 pieces of candy – I heard lots of kids roll through this neighborhood and we’d be running out regardless but that sounded like a more than respectable first Halloween effort. What nobody (and I do mean nobody) was ready for was the nuttiness.

The day before they started calling for rain. Then big rain. Then long term big rain. But I was all “big deal, it’s water falling from the sky, you’re telling me kids won’t come for free candy because of a little RAIN??” Nah, I was convinced we’d still be fine.

On Thursday we were rolling to an appointment at 3:45pm when the tornado watch came out. That’s right, the tornado watch. I have never been so blessedly grateful not to have kids of trick or treating age because that was a call I didn’t want to make – youngun in costume sobbing to please let me go versus, you know, impending doom. I crossed my fingers because So Much Sugar.

The severe thunderstorm warning popped around 5pm. I checked the radar and hoo, boy, the outlook wasn’t good but again…fingers crossed.

I’ll skip right to the end. After less than two dozen kids – big, little, and everywhere in between – the sky OPENED. There was torrential rain and lightning and thunder and So Much Badness. Trick or treating came to a shrieking halt leaving a mountain of processed sugar piled on my dining room sideboard.

Nuts.

Linda hosts Stream of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt is “nuts.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!