Cool and drier than yesterday.\u00a0 I hope.<\/p>\n
Yesterday was very nice.\u00a0 Blue sky, sunlight, light breeze.\u00a0 Weather says clear for two more days.\u00a0 Hooray.\u00a0 Last year we got rained out.\u00a0 This year, we’re going ahead full bore, and so are the neighbors.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see how many little grifters we get.\u00a0 In past years it’s been between 100 and 150 approximately.\u00a0\u00a0 Mine are going out to hit up the neighbors for the treats and I hope we see a bunch.\u00a0 I think we can hand out candy without spreading the wuflu.<\/p>\n
In most years I like to add a new thing to my yard display.\u00a0 I build them very quickly and cheaply so they don’t last too many years anyway, so I retire stuff too, or just put it away for a while.\u00a0 For years I’ve wanted to do a flaming Eye of Sauron.\u00a0 I found some hemispherical lamp parts to use as the eye, I’ve got projectors, and I found a great animated loop on youtube.\u00a0 I’ve just never had time to put it all together.\u00a0 This year I just pointed the projector at the window and Lo! it works pretty well!\u00a0 I’ll save the white hemisphere screens for some other project.\u00a0 Other than taping up the projector body, this setup took about 15 minutes.\u00a0 Win!<\/p>\n
The other thing I’m adding this year is a candy machine to dispense the goods.\u00a0 I got my conveyor belt all wired and running and back together so all I have to do today is add\u00a0 the lighting and dress it up.\u00a0 That will probably take longer than I’d like.<\/p>\n
I’ve got all the more delicate stuff to put out today too.\u00a0 A couple of skeletal pirates, some other ghosts and bones, fog machines, colored lights, fun stuff that wouldn’t really survive being wet for several days.\u00a0 Most of it is stuff I take in at the end of the night too, so it doesn’t disappear.<\/p>\n
If everything goes well and I have the time, I might even get to making a third soft sculpture animated witch for my little vignette.\u00a0 They are basically just a head and two arms made from pantyhose stuffed with fluff, black hats, and a piece of black cloth as a dress.\u00a0 They are supported by a mic stand up the backside.\u00a0 One stirs a cauldron, one turns a spit with a stuffed pig on it, and if I add a third, she’ll be tasting the cauldron with a spoon.\u00a0 There is an arrangement of sticks and flicker bulbs to look like cooking fires.\u00a0 They look great and took very little time or work.\u00a0 I use BBQ grill rotisserie motors to power them.<\/p>\n
I think it’s worth the effort.\u00a0 Providing a sense of ‘normal’ for the kids during this prolonged disaster is hard enough without skipping holidays.\u00a0 They’re not dumb.\u00a0 They know we’re working under restrictions.\u00a0 Most of them have to do with school after all.\u00a0 But they want things to go back to the way they were SO badly.\u00a0 In an adult that wish should be just that, with the acknowledgement that things won’t ever be the way they were- they never go back.\u00a0 In a kid, I’m inclined to do whatever I can, at least for a while to smooth out their transition.\u00a0 Plus, I like candy.\u00a0 And I like putting on the display.<\/p>\n
I’ve been stacking the stuff for my Halloween and Christmas displays as long as I’ve been stacking the food we’re eating.\u00a0 Don’t forget about things like Birthdays and Holidays in your preps.\u00a0\u00a0 That little bit of extra thought goes a long way come the day.<\/p>\n
nick <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cool and drier than yesterday.\u00a0 I hope.<\/p>\n
Yesterday was very nice.\u00a0 Blue sky, sunlight, light breeze.\u00a0 Weather says clear for two more days.\u00a0 Hooray.\u00a0 Last year we got rained out.\u00a0 This year, we’re going ahead full bore, and so are the neighbors.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see how many little grifters we get.\u00a0 In past years it’s been between 100 and 150 approximately.\u00a0\u00a0 Mine are going out to hit up the neighbors for the treats and I hope we see a bunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n