Halloween 2009
Page 1

This is just the first page.  I am
still working on the rest of the
pages so the link at the bottom
of the page currently does not work

 

Halloween was something of a bust this year, weather wise.  Halloween was on a Saturday this year and I took the entire preceding week off to slowly put the decorations out.  Unfortunately, it was cool and rainy most of the week, limiting what I could put out early to the decorations that would not be damaged by exposure to the rain.  I set things up this year very much like last year but with a couple new items added. On Halloween morning it was totally overcast but warmer than the rest of the week with temperatures in the low 70s.  From time to time, the sun would poke through the clouds briefly, giving some hope of clearing up.  Unfortunately, that was not to happen.  It sprinkled lightly around 3 PM and then stopped.  I then put out the rest of the decorations except the high-tech witch, which would get ruined if it got wet.  I was holding off on that one to be sure it wouldn't get rained on before putting it out. The skies never cleared and it rained again lightly just before Trick or Treat time so I decided not to put the last witch out and we went with what we had.  It sprinkled for brief periods a couple times during the first hour of Trick or Treat but then settled into a damp but still warm evening.....for a while.  At about 8 PM or so it started raining again, this time in earnest, and the Trick or Treating quickly dwindled and then stopped.  It did hold off long enough for the little kids to work the neighborhood, though, which was good.  While the rain dampened things, it's hard to complain too much.  We still had a fair amount of Trick or Treaters coming by before it really began raining hard and the past 5-6 Halloweens gave us very nice weather.  I guess this year was just pay-back time.  J As usual, we took a lot of pictures of the decorations before it got dark, after dark, and in the rain.  Some of them are posted below and on the following pages.

This is the front door, taken on Halloween afternoon before it started raining.  It's similar to last year except for the absence of the witch stirring her broth.  I didn't put her out this year  due to the threat of rain, which we, indeed got, later in the evening.

This was also taken in the afternoon.  The ghost is in the same place as last year.  I moved the inflatable mannequin with Grim Reaper costume over here from the back of the grave yard where he was last year.  This will probably be the last year for the inflatable mannequin, I'm afraid.  It developed a fairly large leak and began to droop.  I had to re-inflate him twice during the evening.

This is a more distant view of the left side of the house taken in daylight.  You can see the purple rope lights around the stone-work but it's difficult since they're not lit.

Here's the right side of the house, taken at the same time as the shot above.

This shot shows the new graveyard fence.  It's actually garden fence sections that UI bought at Lowes.  Also visible is the new Grim Reaper figure, also bought at Lowes.  He has a motion sensor and, when someone walks by he moves his head and says "Welcome to the graveyard" and a couple other spooky phrases.  The rest of the graveyard is similar to last year, except with a couple new headstones that replaced some of the hand-made ones that I'd been using for years.

This is the beginning of the "Haunted Sidewalk."  Also taken in the afternoon, it shows a section of the new graveyard fencing.  This year, the fence extends from the porch to the driveway and I put out more electric candles to go all the way around.  Also shown is one of the hand-made headstones that I kept this year.  The little vinyl pumpkin is also new this year and his eyes are red LEDs. As I mentioned above, it was a gray and overcast day but the temperatures were hovering in the low-mid 70s.  I took the Mercedes out for a while but never put the top down and when we got the first couple sprinkles, it went back in the garage.

Click to go to Halloween 2009 page 2