Sunday, October 18, 2009

Nothing beats having a plan.

Unless of course, it's having a really successful plan. ;-)

Finally got a rough idea of where I wanted to put stuff for Halloween. Another thing we did get done yesterday was ordering hay for the winter. Cleaning up the hay barn so new hay could be delivered tomorrow got most of the rest of Halloween that isn't in the storage room exposed.

Rough plan: Graveyard between the two trees on side of front yard, gargoyles in graveyard, maybe grim reaper statue in graveyard, flying reaper overhead . In half circle front yard gazebo on one side and carriage on other. severed heads hung from gazebo and spider, web and shivering wrapped mummy inside (assuming they have any shiverers left by the time I get back to town to buy one, put Irving and his coffin in there if not.) Small skeleton in carriage - make or find pillow for him to sit on. Dead Eye Drake on front porch by stairs. Dropping pirate head screamer somewhere not too far from Dead Eye. The peanut gallery may be in front of the house by the tree with ivy. Lawn spinners out front in half circle wherever they look good. Chair ghoul will probably be under porch, too. Candelabra in guest room window along with candle figures and what have you, something in windows in my sitting room so that no one can see in if the cats pull the curtains down. Assemble arch and see if it will span driveway or if I will have to figure out another place to use it. Various Halloween spinners in whatever trees I have room for them in and whatever I've forgotten wherever it fits.

Now, if only it all works out the way I want it to.

Here's hoping the skunks don't make it into the garage this evening. I'm about tired of them.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

grind grind grind

Not nearly as much going on as I would like. I am behind on Halloween, behind on the garden, behind on reading, behind on everything. I did start my Halloween Advent tree again. Way late, but if I post 2-3 pictures a day it'll gt caught up fastish. http://community.webshots.com/user/pumpkinaddict is where it lives.

It has been a bad year for losing animals. I lost all those goats just before Easter (and one cat before then) then I lost a cat just after Easter, then another in September, and within a week of losing the one in Sept. another one had a stroke. She is still with us, but will never be completely well again. No idea if she will get worse enough that we need to put her to sleep next week or if we'll still have her 2 years from now. The vet doesn't think we'll have her more than 2 years and seems to think it likely it'll be a lot less, but we will try whatever is reasonable. This is the price you pay for pets, eventually they get old and die. I have about 8 that are over 14 and after 14 they are kind of touch and go. Sometimes they live to 25, but mostly they don't make it quite that far.

The garden is usually gone by now, but it was so hot in July Aug and Sept that nothing except cucumbers and zucchini were coming in. The tomatoes, which normally start in late July waited until Sept and have only just kicked into high, so I am frantically drying and freezing.

On the good side, while I haven't gotten much of anywhere with the Halloween decorations, I am starting to get a feel for what needs to go where. I haven't decorated since we moved here. That first year I worked a haunted house and was just too tired to haunt my own yard, and last year I was sick in October.

I'm still not sure what tree my severed head collection is going in, or even if they will ultimately end up in a tree, but that's where I'm going to start with them. I know where the graveyard is going, but I don't want it to be the main focus this year. I was fortunate in finding a cheap Christmas lighted cart and horse which can be used for many different holidays with a little creativity. I am planning on trying to make that the focus. Also, I am going to pull out all my pinwheel/spinner/fluttery type Halloween decorations and put them out. They can migrate around the yard when they get in the way of other decorations until I get a feel for everything. Once I get started, I'm sure everything will come to heel pretty quickly.