I finally took the plunge and ordered this guy:

Leviton DZPA1-2BW Decora Smart Plug-in Outlet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAO4B9Z

It arrived today: plugged it in, held down the little indicator button thingy for 7 seconds; pressed it one more time to enter pair mode (starts flashing green on/off quickly); put Abode into find a new third party device; Done!

It's now visible in the device list and I can control it from Abode and see on/off state. Just have to put up some Halloween lights and hook-up a CUE to turn them on/off.

Happy days.