I honestly don't know how some people can tear down their Halloween display the same night! Both Randy and I feel like we've been run over by a truck! But the entire cemetery is tore down and 95% put away. I so appreciate his help because there's no way I could have done all that on my own in just 1 day.
The big day was a bit of a buzzkill. We did a whole lot of nothing during the day. A nap may have happened. Then around 3... here came the rain. I guess I should be happy that's all it was. Last year it showed up with wind and snow, too! I probably got about 35 kids. It seemed like a couple more houses had lights on, too. Nobody had any really good costumes this year, other than 2 adorable tiny little girls dressed as kittens. 3 women came up, possibly in their 20s - its hard to tell - but they were in costume and having a good time! 3 teenaged boys showed up with only 1 in a 'costume', but they were in awe of the cemetery and gushed over it. OK, kissing ass will get you candy! One little boy's dad went crazy over the campfire scene and another lady asked if she could take a picture. 2 cars pulled up with year with a bunch of kids pouring out. Then it was over.
My sister came over after passing out candy at Mom's to see the cemetery all lit up. As we stood there chatting (under our umbrellas), our dogs roamed around between the front and back yards. All of a sudden, we both sniffed. Uh, oh. Skunk. My Beagle apparently really likes the smell of skunk, since it's only been about a week since the last time he got blasted in the face! Luckily her dog with his really thick fur (and a 45 minute drive) were spared for the most part. Not really how I wanted to end my evening! At least the Skunk-Off and puppy shampoo were still handy.
I confess to doing absolutely NOTHING on Sunday, even tho it was gloriously sunny and in the low 60s. I'd thought about cleaning up my flowerbeds and picking up the multitude of sticks that are scattered about. It clearly didn't happen.
I didn't go out of my way to hit any clearance sales, but we did get some (in my opinion) unnecessary candy since I gave out all of what we'd bought. My diet is shot by having all this stuff in the house! I've learned Almond Snickers are my downfall. And KitKats. And Butterfingers. Shall I go on? And I looked around at WalMart today when we went to get exciting stuff like kitty litter. I got a butterfly mask, a cute little tinsel headstone and some pumpkin scoopers, then another green LED spotlight from the Christmas section.
It took us about an hour and a half to clear the front yard. This just meant everything except for the sign & headstones were inside the fence.
Randy said it looked like these guys were in line for their unemployment checks.
Gulp. Do I really have that many skeletons???
We had a couple laughs about all them. I posted this pic on FB saying the seasonal workers were waiting to get their pay before leaving until next year. He thought I should have said before they were deported back to Transylvania.
Yay, everyone loves Tim Horton's!
The grass got yellowed, but didn't die under the coffin this year! I have it on casters for easy moving around and they also help to raise it up off the grass.
This is where they all go in the off season. I hang them using a piece of twine looped around their tailbones, a half-hitch around the spine just under the ribs and another around the neck - it helps to distribute the weight more evenly and they're not hanging by the string out of the top of their heads only, causing a lot of stress on the neck. The 3 foot guys I paired up back-to-back and tied the twine thru their pelvises and then looped around under their ribs and around their necks.
The critters are in the tiny little loft in the shed with the lawn mower & headstones. I forgot to put out my groundbreaker coffin this year! I saw it when I was putting this stuff away in the shed. Dammit.
Since I had plenty of time to spare while waiting on the ToTers, I jotted down a few ideas for next year. Since it probably won't ever be nice enough for me to use old dance costumes (Miss Angela probably won't ever wear them again but I don't want them messed up) I'll get some dresses and suits from the Salvation Army and do a masquerade ball type thing next year, instead of having the skeletons just standing there. And I've finally gotten the OK to board up the windows! That will look pretty awesome. Once I was able to show Randy an example of how it could be done (thanks to a house on Tillson St!) he was good with it. Of course I'll need some tunes for the ball. I'm going to add a couple more stones to the cemetery and touch up the paint on the current ones. That's a pretty good start.
Shucks, I have to find clothes and stuff since I have to go to work tomorrow - blargh. 5:30am rolls around pretty early! I'll sign off with this picture of Chester & Daisy sharing my lap. Daisy has no concept of "he was there first" or "one cat fits better at a time". I'm glad he's such a good big brother!
#MGC
