The spirit of Mark Twain must have been smiling down on Saturday's Nevada Day Parade.
It took the entire length of the parade but the sun finally broke through the bands of big thick clouds at 12:24 p.m.
Despite the forecasts, the threatened Washoe Zephyr stayed home.
My wife Jennifer and I met up with Appeal News Editor Angel Dey, her son, Nick and her mother, Lynn, who is visiting from Georgia at the Republican Women's Pancake Breakfast.
The two F/A-18s flew by as we were getting in. Gardnerville Assemblyman Lynn Hettrick and Supervisor Candidate Verne Horton were serving pancakes. One of the reasons I went is because two of the Nevada Appeal's columnists, Nancy Dallas and Nanette Moffet were working.
The Republicans fed more than 100 people Saturday morning, and will be feeding me for a week after selling me some surplus ham.
The five of us made it to Carson and William streets, the parade's official starting place, in time to see the white balloon suspended banner declaring Bently the Carson Valley's best employer, entry No. 63.
We were just in time for my favorite exhibit in the whole parade, No. 74, the dog driving the car.
"You know, the guy actually drives the car," Jennifer said to me after the parade was over.
I was a little shocked, but I'm sure that the dog could take charge in an emergency.
All through the parade, I looked to the heavens, watching the small patch of blue grow smaller or larger. The wind blew large bands of clouds across the skies.
A light shower fell as the Sierra Highlanders Pipe Band passed William Street.
The parade made good time despite a headwind and the sun broke out in time for the grand marshals, the last entry, to pass by our position at 12:34 p.m.
As Jenn and I were walking back to the Community Center down William Street, we looked south and watched as the sun shown through the windows of the Capitol dome, reflecting sun in Nevada silver.
Until I moved to Northern Nevada, Nevada Day meant Halloween off. The holiday was approved while I was in a Las Vegas grade school. Sure, we heard that Nevada was celebrating its statehood, but in meant we got to dress up in costumes and wander around the neighborhood extorting candy from the neighbors and telling each other scary tales about the one woman who put razor blades in apples.
The first I heard of moving Halloween to another day was when I arrived in Douglas County in 1989. The theory was to keep both children and those drivers who had over celebrated the day from being on the road at the same time. I had to respect the idea of moving Halloween for safety's sake.
So, when Nevada Day became three-day weekend, the need to move Halloween disappeared.
I'm still getting phone calls from parents asking when Halloween is. Well, until the holiday falls on a Saturday, it will be right where it has been for all these centuries - the last day of October. And as you're carving that pumpkin or getting dressed up to wander the neighborhood, give a little thought to the day the wild and wonderful state of Nevada was born.
Air Force veteran Leonard Hill came by the office in the search for support for the World War II memorial. Specifically, he is looking for a way for Nevada to join 45 other states in making contributions to the memorial.
According to the Web site, www.wwIImemorial.com, memorial backers are seeking legislation authorizing $1 per veteran. Hill is hoping to get a bill passed during the next session, which begins in January.
The memorial will be built with donations from a variety of sources. Its final design was approved Sept. 21 and a groundbreaking is scheduled for Veteran's Day, Nov. 11. According to the Web site, veterans have raised $92 million of the $100 million needed to build it.
(Kurt Hildebrand is Assistant Managing Editor at the Nevada Appeal and is still hoping it will snow.)