2006, Page 1

 

We took more pictures this Halloween than previous years so, in order not to have one page be too big,  I've made a three page set for 2006.   Just click on the link below to go to the second page of Halloween 2006 pictures.   Halloween was better for us this year than last.  We've had a year to settle into our new house and I wasn't totally exhausted from moving.  A lot of what I did this year mirrored last year with the exception of a bit more stuff and a little more thought put into locating things.  It was another beautiful day for 31 October.  As you can tell by the daytime photos it was clear and sunny.  By afternoon the temperature was hovering around 74 degrees and it never got below the mid 60s until well after the kids had called it a night; all in all, another good Halloween.  The only detriment was the moon, while in a clear, cloudless sky, was only about 3/4 full this year.   Again this year, while everyone seemed to get a bit of a late start, we had a lot of kids come around, including some really little ones.   Younger pre-teens and the small children had at least one and often both parents with them and I like to see that.  The weather was nice again this year so Hil and I sat out on the front porch to pass out candy and talk with the parents a bit as they came by.

Here are a couple pictures of me in this year's Halloween costume.  I got a really great full had mask and gloves for Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead along with an Egyptian priest's robe and accessories.  Hil took these pics of me on Halloween afternoon.  It was in the mid-70s at the time and the latex mask and gloves were not particularly pleasant to wear out in the sun.

The above decoration is new this year.  It's a hanging ghost made of gauze and white plastic and a plastic skull head and hands.  There's also the Styrofoam tombstone below.  There was a nice breeze blowing on Halloween night and the ghost looked great with the gauze blowing gently in the wind.  You can also see the skull-headed fog generation sticking out of the vegetation.  Later in the evening I moved the fog machine a little closer to the porch as the wind picked up a bit and the fog was losing its effect.  This year I strung purple rope lights around the stone flower beds.  I also added a second string of orange rope lights on the other side of the sidewalk so that it was "sandwiched" by them.

Here's a shot of the graveyard for this year.  It's pretty similar to last year except that I have a new grim reaper figure standing behind it in the corner of the house, a new tombstone and the ghoul head and arm.  You can also see the strings of rope lights bordering each side of the sidewalk.

And here is the obligatory "Barry Dull''  tombstone.  I usually place it separate from the other stones to make it stand out and this year I put it right next to the steps where it would be easier to read by the trick-or-treaters.

This is the ghoul head and arm and its also new this year.  He's a two-part item, made of resin.  There's a solar cell on top of the hand and an LED in the lantern.  It also has an electric eye that turns the LED one once it gets dark.  The tombstone behind him is new this year as well and it's made of a heavy resin.

This year I moved the witches to the small patch of trees and "monkey grass" on the other side of the sidewalk.  All in all, I like them better here than up against the house where they were last year and will probably put them in the same spot next year.  The same "bubbling caldron" is also at the feet of the shorter witch and she is stirring it with her broomstick.  The arch is new this year and there's more on this a bit later on.  You can also see the zombie up in the tree above the second ghost, the ghostly apparition, about where it was last year, and the hanging bat in the trees.

Click to go to Halloween 2006 page 2