! ! ! ! ! HAPPY HALLOWEEN ! ! ! ! !

Welcome to the 2015 Maple Grove Cemetery!

Hope everyone has a super fantastic day with no wind or rain or snow! 

Thank you so much to John, the Mastermind behind the Countdown and to everyone who stopped in to visit this past month! 

#MGC

Day 1 - Zombie / Gravedigger

OMG - tomorrow is the big day!  This wind has finally died down for the time being, so I'll set everything back up and go take some video in the cemetery tonight.   Of course, it's still calling for rain in the afternoon.  But they're saying less than 1/10 of an inch, so that's tolerable, I guess, if I have to. 

So here we go!  I am a huge Monster truck fan.  I also collect Hot Wheels.  I just have a couple.  We go watch the trucks at Ford Field every year, so I've seen every single one of these trucks in real life.  If I haven't seen them in person, I don't buy the toy. 

I also have a Gravedigger 25th anniversary semi that can 'haul' 3 Hot Wheels in the trailer, a smaller Coca Cola semi and an even smaller Detroit Red Wings semi. 

Anywhoo, the last 2 years, Monster Jam has offered Halloween editions of a couple of their trucks.  Last year was Gravedigger, this year Zombie!

 The original is on the left.  H'ween edition on the right. 

 And here's last year's Gravedigger.  They've done an awesome job with these.  

Makes me wonder what they'll come up with next year!

#MGC

Day 2 - Random Funnies

Just because.

This forecast really isn't making me happy!

#MGC

Day 3 - some of the outside

I did some more shuffling around and added another light last evening.  I'm not entirely happy with this post, but the yard is coming along nicely.  I'll be tweaking up until mid-day Saturday.  

In this first one, you can see the 3 really big headstones that are currently still leaning up against the house.  When I wrote this (Tuesday night) - the leftovers from Hurricane Patricia have yet to arrive, but it's on the way.  They don't get along with wind, so they'll stay there until it's calmer. 

Also, after the wind / rain, I'll put some duds on the dancing skeletons.  Doesn't look like the dance costumes will be coming out again this year.  

 I draped some creepy cloth on some the skeletons for some interest.  And put a collar and a chain on Brutus so the little guy can walk him. 

 So here it is so far!

 I love my little ghostie blowmolds in front of the fence. 

 Beagle Bonez & Real Beagle!

I've had a few scattered thoughts of what I could do to continue to improve it, but haven't written anything down as of yet (always planning for next year, ya know!)

Really???

#MGC

Day 4 - Tillson St (longish)

Tillson Street is located in Romeo, MI.  It's about 2 blocks long, all awesome old Victorian houses and almost every single house goes all out at Halloween.  I post about this place every year, since it's so awesome.  The local football teams helps out during ToT each year since it's crazy.

I'm going to include a link to my Photobucket album at the end so my post isn't 130 photos long!

I parked a block over on Pleasant St and walked the length of it (with the dog happily walking with me!)  I'd say only 1/4 of the houses have put anything out, but the ones who have are worth looking at.

I call this one the pumpkin house.

 I love the witches on the porch roof.

 This one has dragon egg crates and such on the porch with the witch.

 The guy in black on the left has a maybe 4 point deer skull for a head.

 Big spiders!  Simple yet effective.

 Since it was daytime, a lot of places didn't have their inflatables up.

 This house always has body parts hanging from the trees over the sidewalk.  Down the sidewalk to the left was a skeleton hanging in another tree and lit from underneath with an orange spotlight.  Great idea!

 The black chandeliers are really cool.

 This is the last house on the corner.  A nice cemetery with some groundbreaker coffins and the pall-bearers.

 Now we go around onto Tillson St.  I'd say only a handful didn't decorate.  

The rest went all out.

The clown house. Not a favorite.

 I thought their gate was impressive.

 I like this guy and his hourglass.

 Most of the houses here are right up my alley - not a lot of blood & gore and on the goofy side.

 They always have a pile of coffins.

Another that's simple, yet awesome.  The scaffolding on the far side is a part of the display every year, too. 

 I heard the owner here talking that they're gradually sinking their ship since his wife is getting tired of doing so much.  It used to be a full on pirate ship in the yard.

 I can't wait to see this one in action!  Looking at the black bars, it looks like the ones on green material spin and the others swing on the trapeze.

 They always do a masquerade ball and some of the couples will spin.  There's also some new moves going on!

 One of only a few photo ops.

 They do a LOT of corn stalks and scarecrows.

 This one is funny, too.

 This is the last one on this side of the street, on the other side of that fence is the Dairy Queen, who also has a decorated walk-thru tent set up on the sidewalk.   Let's cross the street.

 They call this the Tillson Playground.  All zombie dolls and that damn random gorilla!

 This one is my favorite!  A complete hockey game going on!

 ...complete with a REAL Zombonii!

 I like this one, too - a bridal salon.

 This one always does football-related stuff.  They set up a booth selling T-shirts and hot chocolate with proceeds going to charity.

 The Vet Clinic is a new one this year.

 There's a "real" cannon in the tower and they'll shoot it off at intervals.

 Let me see if I remember the license plate....W8TN4U.

 I love their horse-drawn hearse and real coffin!

 The theater plays silhouettes and stuff in the window.

I don't know if I'll be taking a lot of nighttime pics when we go back Wednesday (due to a gazillion people), but I enjoy going during daylight hours to really see the details put into everyone's displays.

The link to my Photobucket album is HERE.

Meh.

#MGC