Lucrezia

New grave this year. This one is heavy. Storing it for the year I was crawling around on a raised shelf section of the basment trying to wrangle her!

Mr. Old Fashion Halloween did a lot more hand carving this year so by the time he got to this gravestone he bought the urn at Goodwill. Old lamp base or candle holder the top was broken off. Coated in Loctite and layers of paint.

In cemetery symbology the draped urn represents the veil between the living and the dead. The veil is canvas dipped in paint and drywall mud. The entire stone has multiple layers of paint. We now have a family chart for the Grimsby cemetery to keep track of everyone.

Day of the Dead

This was the neighbor down the streets 12 ft skeleton display.

The costumes were hand made. A really beautiful display. I took a little break and just now getting back to going through Halloween photos.

Halloween nIght

We have a Halloween parade in the neighborhood that winds around a short path and then they all hit the houses for treats. Big rush right at 5:30 and then a slight lull. I was running to to uncover and towel dry the treat station. Added some little LED lights used for camping that made treats easier to see in a black bin.

Solid down pour all evening only the soaking wet kids continued to show up. I was under a patio umbrella with a thermos of tea. Out of 190 treat bags 162 found homes. A case of rice crispy bars and some pretzels puts the count at around 225. I spent yesterday trying to dry all the electronics and pumpkins.

I will post some pics of the new grave markers and the monsters in the window this week. Halloween is on a Friday next year add I am already thinking about the crowds.

Happy Halloween

Have a safe Happy Halloween night! Getting my outside set up now and need to set up the treat station last. Trying to keep the candy dry.

Speeding on our hill, on a dark wet night, has made for some scary frights when kids run out from behind cars. Got these folks a sign for tonight!

Long time no see

October has not gone as expected. PLanning to get more photos up after Halloween. Mr. Old Fashion Halloween is away on a family trip so I am spending Halloween solo this year. Setting up each night by myslef is down to about 20 minutes. Shutting down takes a little longer. Pouring rain for days and a 90% chance of rain tomorrow night. I hope everyong else is ready for tomorrow night.

Work

So busy with setting up this year. We got most of the cemetery finsihed today. I managed to walk face first in to a big old web in the dark tonight! Working on the projector behind the cemetery and I went to grab something. The web spanned an area under the porch. Not cool.

Needed new hardware to make a case to protect the projector from the rain. Took the projector on a tour of Home Depot. Found the larger version of my cemetery pumpkins!

Hot water tap in the shower is leaking. I will have to set aside the Halloween decorating to rip this cabinet out tommorrow. The only access spot to the plumbing. Plumber will install a new fixture on Tuesday.

The Gift Shop

The display for the gift shop inside the hardware store. A fun collection this year.

Yard Art

Recyled metal artist @2redpenguin on Instagram.

Salem Art Fair this weekend. Frankenshovel might have been my favorite.

Jumping Pumpkins

Found these little party favors on Amazon for the trick or treat bags. The Letapapa Halloween Party Favors for Kids, 24 Pcs Jumping Popper Spring Launchers Toy for $15.99.

6 different faces to make 4 sets. They are so cute they might not make it in to treat bags. Playing with stringing them as garland.

A new tombstone is coming to the Grimsby family cemetery and it is tall! The new cemetery fence is done. Having trouble staying motivated and focused this year. We dropped from days in the 90s to the 70s so that should help me get back to work on Halloween decor.

35th wedding Anniversary is Coral

Hubby walked in to Lowe's to give me a report on how this bad boy looked in person. We had watched a Vlogger assemble one for his home. Got a text saying he looks OK. I said how about he is our 35th wedding anniversary gift to each other? Without knowing it the 35th traditional anniversay gift is coral! How perfext to get a deep sea gift!

This is a really good looking animatronic on its own. The plan is to do a re-paint, add some padding to the costume, add a dive belt, and make a sea bed base for Bob. He is living room decor when the Yule tree is not in that corner. The work on Bob will be in December while the tree is up. The light only comes on with sound so we plan to add internal and external lighting.

Big fan of Scooby Doo and the episode Silence in the Library from Doctor Who. Bob reminds me of characters from both shows.

Halloween on the brain

The little snake bottle is from DeeDee & Shark a very talented artist making spooky, creepy, and truly unique ceramics. Her in person shows have smaller items if you happen to catch her at a Pacific Northwest show.

Is everyone working away on Halloween projects? We knew the cemetery fence needed replacing so it is being copied using black Sintra board this summer. First test cutting of a section was this week and the sturdier fence pieces are impressive. We had bigger plans for this October only Mr. Old Fashion Halloween will be traveling with his brothers over Halloween. Disassembling the yard by myself and I need to keep it simple.

Plans and Radio Show

Taking photos of the faux pumpkins that haven't been carved. Picking them up at post Halloween sales, Goodwill, and garage sales. Getting harder to find older uncarved faux pumpkins in the wild. Working on possible designs for next year.

Found one more short one after the group photo. The 3 in back have base coats and a little color or distressing. We also ordered some larger pumpkins from Funkins last year. The scarecrow head has now been out for many seasons and is showing some wear. We ordered 2 possible large replacements.

Throughline on NPR has been playing the history of Halloween episode from 2021. The 50 minute episode, The Dance of the Dead, you can listen to here. It is kind of fun to relive the late 70s and 80s with the cultural changes in how Halloween is celebrated now.

Behind the scenes

A rare sunny moment on the graveyard. That fence was really only meant to survive the pouring rain of last Halloween. This year we have some delamination. Fingers crossed we might build a more sturdy fence and add a new grave next year.

Looking down from the window where the skeletons dance. Scraps from the same pink foam the gravestones are carved from keeps the faux pumpkins looking in the right direction. I use elastic to attach the pumpkins. Gives them some movement in the wind. If the wind blows one over the elastic keeps them from falling. Shelves from a 4 shelf unit sold at Lowe's allow for drainage and the correct height.

Template used for gravestone placement. The template is used to get the correct placement for the rebar. The gravestones have PVC pipe inside that slip over the rebar. The gravestone base slips over the rebar first.

In this photo photo the template was put back on to make sure the rebar was at the correct angle. Then the gravetsone slips on and nestles in the base. The bases are cut at an angle for the steep bank.

We took more video than photos this year as the only new items were the projection and the big pumpkin stack on the far side of the house. The Halloween album can be found here.

Mr. Old Fashion Halloween is retiring next summer. We are pushing back the post Halloween blues by talking about budget and plans for Halloween 2024. I hope you all had a great season. Today I start taking down the inside decorations.

That's a wrap on Halloween 2023

155 toy and candy treat bages went quickly. Moved on to candy, pretzels, and rice crispy treats. Lost track as some kids got more then 1 treat. Best guess is between 225-250 trick or treating folks. We closed up shop at 9:30. It was a really great night.

Happy Halloween

It looks like cold clear weather during the prime hours for trick or treaters. I hope everyone has a magical Halloween!

Decorations in the neighborhood

So many great decorations and some just appeared on Saturday.

Inside

The foyer. Short video of the Halloween tree lights flickering on.

Witch House

My favorite witch house again this year. Always a delight. Noticed a wheelchair or scooter ramp has been added so the pumpkin arch had to go away. I like the pumpkin stack.

Got the Halloween tree up over the weekend.

Quick film of the new projection running. This projector over heated and died so we repalced it. A filmed walk through will be up after Halloween. Projections from Mr. Chickens's Prop Shop.

Sorrow

I have been quiet and not sharing as much this season. In August Fern was diagnosed with Lymphoma. We didnt know how much time she had left so we chucked schedules and made it all about her. Hubby built a catio for her and her sister Ivy on the back deck for lots of sunshine. We sat outside with her, gave her whatever she wanted to eat, and time stopped when she wanted attention.

Last Thursday the vet came out and helped miss Fern pass at home. All 3 of us have been trying to adjust to a home that feels empty after 13 years of so much joy. Trying to stay busy so the Halloween outside is done and we started running everything nightly on Sunday. We don't add music until Halloween night.