This One is Over

     Well this Halloween is over. Kind of have mixed feelings about it. Glad that it is over, sad that I missed all of the fun I used to have setting up the whole yard.  This year I had the yard thrown together in roughly 3 days. I didn't use all of the decorations that I had planned on using, just didn't have the heart to put it all together. It still came out alright, but there was still a lot lacking. Now I am giving myself a week to get it all packed away properly, a week to "rest", a week for Thanksgiving then I will start on next year's set up. Thought about doing a traveling Side Show theme.  I figure a few of the pop up canopies that they use for tailgating draped with curtains should make good tents. I want to do a fortune tellers tent and then maybe a snake charmers tent. I mentioned it to Spook Sister and suggested that she do a sword swallower's tent. I think she should also do a strong man tent.  Of course my youngest doesn't see where it is Halloweenish. I guess that is part of the generation gap. Well time to get some sleep. Lots to do tomorrow.

Ready, Set, Let's Scare 'Em

     Well I finally managed to come out of the funk I have been in a little. The yard is almost done. Still have a few things to do then it is ready for the ToT's. I have definately learned a lesson this year, one I really don't want to ever have to repeat. I am able to be insulted and it stings. But that is okay. Lesson learned. Now on to next year.
     Spook Sister and I have made up our minds that starting November we are going to work on one project at a time getting ready for next year (even if she doesn't know it yet). I think I want to do a traveling side show kind of thing. I know that I am going to be a gypsy and just see where inspiration leads me. I have already started invisioning the fortune telling tent and my costume. I think it would be really cool if I could get her so go along with that idea and let the side show kind of spill over into her yard. We will have to see.
     Oh, the party went really well. The kids seemed to have a blast. The donuts in the tree seemed to be their favorite part. I think that next year there will be 2 parties. One for the kids (early afternoon) and one for the adults (later in the evening).  Already have lots of ideas for the kids party. Go figure, now that my own kids are grown I would be coming up with party games for a kid's Halloween party. Oh well, just practice for grandkids.
     The yard itself is almost done. Still have a table to set up (mostly stuff I put out the day of), Grim to be strung up, Edger to be put into position, Norville to be set up, fog machines to be set up, the other table moved from the back yard and set up. Then it is fix dinner (Shepard's Pie - to easy), get dressed and wait for the ToTers. Really not much to do but then again I am known for procrastinating. So I guess I should go to bed now so that I can attempt to get out of bed at an early enough time.

Regrouped, Recharged and Ready to Go

     After a talk with my Spook Sister, I have decided to just let it all just roll off and ignore the childish immaturity of others and concentrate on making my yard haunt more impressive this year. I have even started to decorate a little inside, which is something I rarely do. Of course, the candy dishes set around the rooms may not be able to keep their contents for long, but that is okay. The Spook Sister is having a Halloween Party (primarily for the kids) and a Halloween Dinner so we have decided that most of our energies will go into our yards and those two events. Not that we are not going to work the maze, we just are not going to let it eat up our October.  I just feel bad for my youngest, he is not a blood and gore kind of person and has a very distinct idea of right and wrong, so he doesn't really want to do the maze this year. Hopefully I can convince him to "bite the bullet" and do it anyway. If for no other reason than to listen to the patrons and find out what worked and what didn't.
     Now to finish getting the annual Halloween stuff for my nieces together and sent, the rest of my Secret Ghoul-friend presents together and plan my yard! Gee, I suddenly feel relaxed and happy.

Changes

     Okay, so yell at me, I know it has been a long time since my last post. But in my defense a lot of drama has happened in the last 2 weeks.  Of course most all of it is centered around the corn maze.
     To kind of get you up to speed, I was asked to be the manager of the corn maze this year by the oldest son of the owners of the land. I was told that I would be in charge of planning, designing and staffing the maze. They would help with construction, the cutting of the maze and anything else I needed. So I said yes. The wheels started flying! I started organizing everything. By the end of July we had our first meeting and even started building some props.  Here is where I should have known I was in for it. I never could get them to commit to another planning meeting. Finally in late August we called another meeting. Fewer people showed up this time (to be expected since there was such a long time between meetings) and he and his wife seemed totally uninterested. Now during this time I have been working on finding just the right props, costumes, lights, and anything else I could come up with to pull this off. Then I get a phone call to come help build the back drops for the scenes. I got excited because finally some real work was gonna happen.
      When I got out there he was so excited about showing me what we were going to be building for the "backdrops". It was a ROOM! Sixteen feet long, eight and a half feet tall and who knows how wide. I about fell over. This is supposed to be a corn maze, not a haunted house. He couldn't understand why I just stood there looking stunned. Then he proceeded to tell me that he and his wife had went shopping and got all of the props that we were going to need. I really got concerned then. Everything was bloody, gory and cheap looking. Totally the opposite way we were wanting to go. They had movie monster costumes, electronic zombies, head spinning babies and so much more. The whole time I just sat there thinking about the hours of work that we had already put in designing scenes to look more realistic, more organic to the area. We were going to use local lore to fill the maze to go along with what the owners were wanting, now all of that is out the window.
     Then to top it all off they still expect me to staff the whole thing and come up with more people. I don't even know how many scenes they are putting in the maze. I just know that it was cut ridiculously long and there is no way some of the people that I got to do this are going to want to be any part of it now.

Getting Down To Business

     Been running around taking care of  everything else since the last post. Got some really great ideas but I have decided to hold off on any more new things until next year.  Talked to the owners of the farm quite a bit lately.  They seem impressed with all of the ideas that Spook Sister and I have been throwing around.  I think that what it really boils down to is the amount of planning that we are doing. Spook Sister and I have pretty much decided that this year will be the last year that things will be this chaotic.  We already have a plan for getting ready for next year that has got the owners really happy. So I guess I have managed to accomplish something this past week.  Still have some running around to do today then it is serious prop completion time tonight. I really need to get the massive jack 'o finished, not to mention the potion bottles and the tin cans punched.  So come this weekend I will be free to concentrate on the Staffing Meeting and the youngest birthday party. Still can't believe he turned 19 yesterday.

Progress and Stress

     Well, I don't know if I should be excited or scared. I just got asked to be the manager of the corn maze.  The OCD part of me is excited. The rational part is scared. At least I know that we won't be running around last minute trying to get stuff set up. But I also know that I might be butting heads with people at times.  At least my Spook Sister is behind me on it. It is nice having someone that shares the same feelings. We both agree that some of the scenes need to be placed out in the maze as soon as September 18th. Of course not all of the props will be left out that long but some of the bigger more weather resistant stuff can go out then. Spook Sister has even got started on some of the costumes.
     Starting to get a little stressed when I go shopping. Not much in the stores for Halloween right now. I need skulls and skellys but there are none to be had. I have been able to breath a slight sigh of relief since I seen them putting up the tent for the Halloween Express store. I also managed to get two remote controlled tarantulas from Target. Other than the red LED eyes that glow, they look pretty realistic. Can't wait to try them out!

        Hopefully with the next meeting I will have a better calendar in place and more people lined up for the maze. It would be great to have too many people wanting to work. Hopefully word of mouth will spread and we will have a good turn out for it. It would be really fun to run the maze all night with very few breaks.

The Eyes Have Had It

     Finally! I have finished my jar of eyes.  After weeks of painting and trying to figure out what to float them in, it is done.  It feels great to have a project completed.

     Now I just have to tackle one of the other dozen or so projects I have going. Problem is the Spook Sister and I have come up with another prop that has to be built for the maze. Her daughter is going to be with me at my scene and we decided to put her in a cage. I know, it sounds cruel, but Little Spook sort of came up with it. We are going to have her dressed up in old fashioned clothes that are torn a little, muddy up her face some, and have her in the cage as one of the ingredients for my potion. Kind of along the lines of Hansel and Gretel. So along with the eyeballs in a jar and various other glowing vials of ingredients I am going to have a small child. All the more reason to have the song from Hocus Pocus playing before they get to my scene. At least the three of us are getting excited.
     Friday we are going to go out to the farm and start cleaning up. There is so much to do that we hardly know where to start but we have to start somewhere. I think once we get truly started it should flow along pretty smoothly. Fingers crossed.

Feeling the Crunch

     The knots are starting to tighten in my stomach. Just 54 days until opening day. And of course, as luck, would have it the people that run it are starting to waffle about doing it this year. My Spook Sister, is starting to get a little frustrated like I am, so we have decided that starting next week we are just gonna go out to the farm and start doing our own prep work. Not that we want to step on any toes, but stuff needs to be done and rather than ask for permission we are just gonna ask for forgiveness. Besides the rain that they have had out there should have really helped the corn and pumpkins and it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Spook Sister and I feel that they are just overwhelmed with all of the other things that are going on at the farm in the next two months, so it would just make things easier on all if we went and did the few things that we want and need to do. Besides, I am running out of places to store stuff for the maze.
     On the plus side, I got Spook Sister hooked on the movie Trick 'r Treat. Like me, she now want to build her own Sam. We had a blast watching it. Both her and her son talked about it for days afterward. He still quotes different scenes whenever he sees me. Because of the movie, I think that both of us will go broke this year making jack o's.
      Well I guess I should get back to "veining" my eyeballs and making my finger food.

Running Out of Time

     Well, for a while there I was beginning to think that I had jinxed myself.  Here it is the end of July and I have one project almost completed.  I have 42 candles made and the wood bought and cut for the pillars. I decided to shelve a few ideas for next year though.  I don't think that I can get the seance table made this year in time nor some of the other small projects that I had been thinking about.  The Eyes prop is coming along quite well though. I just need to seal them, find a way to weigh them down, then load them into the container.  Of course I have to finish distressing the container and add the hoses to it. I finally got my material over to the neighbor for her to start on my skirt. Got the velveteen and materials for the corset.  Spent a little more than I really wanted to on that but at least I will be able to wear it with several different costumes.  Still at a loss for what all we really need for the maze. I am guessing that we really need to take a day and go through what we do have and assign it to specific scenes.  Once that is done I think we can just breeze through everything else. It is scary being this far into my props and it not being the beginning of October. In fact I think maybe I did jinx myself. By being this far into it no one is going to start selling props this year.  I mean, good grief people, it is almost August.

   

Eyes

     Well I finally got up the courage to try my hand at painting today. I started work on my Jar of Eyes prop.  I found the idea on The Mad Lab site.  The one there is a heck of a lot more detailed than what I will be able to do this year but, I have a feeling that this will be a work in progress for a few years until I am totally happy with it. This is my first time trying to freehand paint.  It took a few tries before I got comfortable with what I was trying to do.  I think I finally got the hang of it by the time I got to the last ping pong ball in the pack.  Now I just need to go and get more ping pong balls and some more paints.  I am not quite happy with the blues that I have.  I also need to pick up some tubing to glue to the lid.  Not exactly sure on how I want to attach the tubing but I just know that I won't be happy until there is tubes coming from the lid.  Funny but never even thought about tubes coming from it when I originally thought about making this.

I think with a little more practice I will have some really convincing eyeballs.  Although no one is probably gonna get that close to see them.  But still, like my son says, I am an elitist when it comes to my props. If it isn't perfect and realistic I am not happy with it.  The real challenge is going to be finding a gel like substance that won't eat the paint off the eyes for them to be suspended in.  The tutorial said to use hair gel but I haven't been able to find a large enough jar that doesn't cost a lot. I was thinking hand sanitizer but I will have to do some trials with the paint first. Either that or go ask the gurus at Garage of Evil. (Those guys and gals are my heroes!) 

    I have to admit though I am starting to feel the crunch. Just 99 days til Halloween and 69 days until opening day of the maze and nothing is really done.  I think I am just gonna concentrate on the props for my scene and maybe a few tombstones for the graveyard. I think the butcher scene is covered and I know that the Saw scene is good.  As for the rest of the scenes I have no idea as to what is gonna be done.  Guess it is time to start pestering people about another prop build day.

Time Flies

   Well it has been a few days since our little get together.  It went over rather well. Got 30 more candles started, should get the last 2 done tomorrow.  They really had a good time making the tombstones. Got some really interesting tombstones. Problem now is that none of the tombstones are completed. They all need a second coat of Dryloc and then to be painted and I don't see that happening anytime soon.  At least we had more people show up than we originally thought we would.   I got some supplies the other day to start on pillars for the cemetery but I just haven't gotten around to building them yet.  I am hoping that I can get them framed and coated with the foam board in just one day. 

    Was on Garage of Evil this week asking them to help me with a Ouija Board project. If you are a haunter and are not a member then you should stop what you are doing and go join up! I would be so lost without that group! Not only did they give me pointers but they also sent me links to sites that actually showed me what to do.  It is amazing how helpful and supportive the haunt community is.  I warned them that I was electronically retarded but they were still willing to help. I just need to find a motor to run the whole thing. I wonder if they will suggest some motors also? If not I will try to figure that one out on my own. Don't want to push my luck.

Quazi Make and Take

 Still trying to figure out how the first "official" meeting for the Corn Maze ended up being me doing all of the talking.  At least we agreed on a few key points, 1) there are only going to be four maybe five scenes with actors in it. This way we only really need 12 to 14 people to work the maze. 2) We are going to try to keep it somewhat simple again this year. (but we already have some things in the plans for next year!!) 3) Prop building has to start now! 
     We at least figured out what scenes are going to have actors and are planning to make them stand out a little more this year.  Going by comments made by maze goers last year we are keeping some of the scenes and just making them better.  We figured that by focusing on the scenes with actors now we could get some decent props built.
      Then after all of that running my mouth, I got volunteered to lead the first prop build. Candles and Tombstones 101.  Still can't believe how slickly they pulled that one on me.  But then again, I had to show some of the stuff I had already made.  I guess I will be downloading tombstone painting instructions from everywhere on the net.  Look out Lowes...here I come.  Maybe now we will have the 400+ candles that I estimated we would need.  I have no idea what to do for the meeting after that. I guess we will figure it out while we are making tombstones. 

Ideas and Feeling Blah

     Was cruising the net looking at other people's ideas, projects and inspiration when I got an idea. All week I have been dreading the thought of starting the cemetery fence because I just couldn't seem to picture how to join the parts together seamlessly or without building a half dozen pillars. Cost is a major factor at this point. Since I was already going to be buying PVC pipe for the rails, why not buy two or three of the 2" or 4" pieces and use those for posts? I figure that I can use the strip caulking on the pipe to give it a more column like look, and there are always an abundance of toppers that I can find that would fit quite nicely. Should also make the fencing stand up better also. Just a few pieces of rebar in the ground, slide the column over top then attach the fence.  Now if I can just transfer what is in my mind onto the materials and make it look like what I have envisioned is the real problem.  And to think, got this from looking at the fence around a family plot.
     Progress on the pumpkin head and the candles seems to be at a stand still. I just can't seem to get motivated to finish either one. Not that I will finish the candles anytime soon, there are just tooo many of them to make.  I guess I am just feeling a little lonely lately. Both of the boys work pizza delivery and between school and poker the hubby isn't around much either. Normally I would love the alone time, but for some reason lately I just end up feeling alone. I think part of it is remembering all of the promises of help and not seeing any now.  But that is how it usually goes, Oh Well. Guess I will plug in the old glue gun and get back to work on the candles.

Dang Rain

     The last thing we need here in Tennessee is more rain. Especially when we had made plans to go clear out the fields today. Woke up to thunder, lighting and rain that almost sounded like hail. So we had to call off clearing the field yet again. Just hope we can get it done soon though. Really need to get the corn planted. Plus if it stops raining I can get into the shed and move things around so that I move stuff out of the trailer before we need it for the fireworks tent.

     One good thing came out of the rain though. I got a start on the 200+ candles that need to get made this season. Got 16 cut out so that the battery operated tealights will sit down in them. They need a good sanding before I wire a few of them in bundles, paint and drip the hot glue "wax" down them. I think I will get those knocked out tomorrow so that this weekend I can concentrate on paper macheing the pumpkin head some more. I really want to get it finished this month, but at the rate I am going next year will be more likely. Just need to stop procrastinating. That and really start putting together a show and tell bag for everyone else. Ah well, let's see what tomorrow brings.
     

Let the Panic Attack Begin

     Last night I started to really draft out what we are going to need this year for the corn maze. Blissfully I sat making my notes, sketching out scenes, making lists of supplies, you know just having fun putting the idea to paper.  After a few hours and several lists later I went to bed with visions of scaring teens and adults to tears, quite happy with myself.  I awoke this morning to that dreadful thing called reality. I was perusing my notes from last night and realized that we were basically starting from scratch. Not that we had a whole lot of props last year, but for all of the wonderfully spooky ideas that we have for this year, we are starting from scratch. I started counting PVC pipe candles and came up with over 200. What was I thinking? 200+ candles? 12 tombstones, several PVC pipe bodies, a few Duct Tape Dummies, about 50 feet of cemetery fencing, pillars for the fencing, a fake freezer and not to mention all of the other little props that just add to the scene. And I still haven't finished the first prop's head yet. Oh, and did I mention that the last 2 weeks of June and the first 2 weeks of July I will be working a fireworks tent. And to top it off the field isn't cleared yet for them to plant the corn.  Okay, now that I have gotten that little panic attack out of the way I guess it is time to REALLY get to work. Damn reality check. Makes me freak out every time. I think that I shall start to tackle the 200+ candles now. I at least have six pieces to pipe already cut to get started with.  At least I found my Dremel.

Finally Started

    The first project has been started for the maze this year. I got the first layer of paper mache on the pumpkin frame today and now it is drying. I probably should have avoided putting it on the bottom just yet but I got excited about finally getting some paper on the frame. The youngest and I will be going out to the farm this week to help start clearing out the field and get the general layout done.  I am getting kind of nervous because there are only 147 days until we open for the season. At least costuming won't be as big of a problem as it was last year. We are only going to do 4 scenes with live people in them so those costumes will be pretty easy. There are going to be 4 scenes without actors so that will be even easier. The 4 scenes that won't have actors all of the time will be set up so that if we do have a few extra hands available they can easily fit in to one of them. The kids are starting to get excited also but they are looking more at the party we plan on throwing more than the actual maze. They want to do a pinata of a dead body. One of the boys has already been picked to be the model for it. Look out Lowes and Walmart here we come.
    Time to really get in gear.

Olympics are Over

Well the Winter Olympics are over now. I am kind of disappointed in some of the outcomes but that comes with the games. The Predators still have 21 more games to play (not including the playoff games). So by the end of April my mind will be back on prop building and prepping for Halloween.  I haven't really given much thought about what I am gonna do for around the house for Halloween.  I do know that I need to change it up a little this year. The graveyard is so boring and the witch's place just doesn't work for a guy as well.  Maybe I need to make a few friends for Tim and Norville. I really want to make one of them move but I just haven't gotten around to figuring out how to do it. I know with all of the pages on the web I shouldn't have much trouble but I guess I don't want to do it without having someone around that has some experience with all of that.  I guess I will have to bug the crap out of some people online.  Well time to start surfing the net between games.

Another Victim of Hockey

Well it has been entirely to long since my last post. I guess this is probably due to hockey. I had really forgotten how much of a hockey fan I was until recently. I am even looking forward to the Olympic hockey games. I follow the Nashville Predators pretty closely since I live not to far from Nashville. I could go on for hours about hockey and the Preds but that isn't why I started this blog.
For those of you that haven't read this before, I was blessed to be asked to help out at a haunted corn maze in Southside, TN. We had such a blast working the maze that the owners asked us to come back this year. I also was asked to help "tweek" the maze for this year. I can hardly wait. We have tossed around a lot of ideas but haven't really nailed down any projects. We know that we want to improve a number of the "scenes", get rid of a few "scenes" and add a few "scenes".  Our biggest problem is having the manpower to create and man these "scenes".  Oh well, I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there. I think I might have a few ideas about the manpower problem. With all of the snow that we have been getting here I should really concentrate on coming up with props to build for our "updated" maze. Hopefully next post will have an update of plans for the maze. Until then I think I will go watch it snow.