September 30, 2016

The Countdown is beginning!
















OMG - don't you just love the badges this year??  I'm all about skulls & skeletons so these are right up my alley and I'm gonna use them all in my posts!

I have to confess that I'm not ready, so my Countdown posts will begin on Monday.  Shame.

Started setting up the cemetery in the rain yesterday.  All I got out was the fence & headstones and I was drenched.  I'm not about about mess with lights or the blowmolds while its so wet out, so I've been concentrating on indoor things.  I started painting a project for a post this afternoon and it's so humid from said rain that it's taking forever to dry!

There's still time to sign up if you're interested - it's a lot of fun and can't wait to see what other people are doing on their Countdowns!

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September 22, 2016

Happy Fall!


 Wow - it's almost go time!  I get to start setting up the cemetery this time next week!
Gonna dabble in some randomness.
This is one of my Dad's (he passed away right before Halloween in 2009) roses that Mom let me dig up and bring home.  They're apparently quite happy at my house! 
 
Stopped at Home Goods last night - check out these ginormous nutcrackers!  
They're close to 4 feet tall!
These are the ones I actually brought home, tho.  I know I have a vampire & Frankenstein, but they're different!  from Michaels - 40% sale + 20% coupon - score!
 
 I decided to get one of these heavy-ish dogs from Kroger - Jack seems OK with him!
It definitely has Beagle ears!
I saw these guys at Walgreens this morning.  Since I'm not much of a Peanuts fan, I didn't get them. I do have a set of Christmas ones and they're really solid & heavy.
I couldn't pass up these gorgeous metal masks, tho!  

oh, speaking of masks, I got my first secret reaper gift from the Halloween Forum!
I'm not sure how the feather mask will hold up outside, but the other ones should do fine - and the little mummy & gate will look great with my village.  And funny that the spider & webs are the spawn's dance studio's colors....they may get re-homed!
I just got my victim for round 2, so that will call for some shopping.  I'll be able to do some garage shopping for this victim, but for other stuff I know exactly where I need to go.

Plans for this weekend include unpacking the blowmolds from the shed and getting them cleaned up.  I'm pretty sure the same mice that made a condo out of our air conditioner boxes were using a blowmold for food storage - the first time that's ever happened! I also plan to bring in the rest of the Boney Bunch guys and the village for the coffee table.  I need to do some plant repotting, since a certain little kitty (pictured above) started to dig in one of them and has dirt all over the place, the little booger.

Game on!

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September 17, 2016

Hell HearseFest 2016

Today we checked out HearseFest in Hell, Michigan.  Wouldn't ya know, it rained most of the day??  At least it was a light rain and not cold, so we dealt.  We visited Hell a few years ago on a hot summer day, so this wasn't our first time there (I was going to post the link to that post, but I only had like 5 pictures).
Hell is only about an hour & 20 minutes/68 miles from me. 
Oh good - you can't see the humidity-induced Medusa curls yet
Hell in a Handbasket & Screams
This is about the extent of Hell.  There are 2 buildings (there is also Hell Saloon, but we didn't make it down that far...besides it was 10am and I was with someone underage!)

Since we got there first thing, we got a good parking spot.  Good parking for us consists of an easy escape route!  

So the vendor area was thru the gates of Hell. 
 
There was a DJ playing appropriate music and lot of booths with cool stuff for sale.  I was surprised to see several selling jewelry made with real bones or critters (bats, spiders, bugs). 

Shout out for the vendor at Poking Dead Things for having such a great name - and her wares were unique & beautiful!
 
The official National Weather Service weather station.  
The real wedding chapel.  It holds like 10 people.
"A marriage made in Hell has no place to go but up"
(or something like that, heehee!)
 
Locks of Love 
The Casketeria 
Just a warning - some / most of these photos look better small.  My damn camera was acting up and I didn't know it until I got home and downloaded the photos.  It apparently wasn't focusing well. 
Cue many expletives!
Pretty sure they dumped this one off a flatbed.  
There's no way that was driveable - but it was for sale! 
People around here do like to restore cars, so that would be a selling point!
There was a guy who may have owned this wearing stilts with fur leggings over them and red & black wings.  The costume was cool from the neck down - he didn't wear a mask or anything, tho. Weird!
 
Since we got there early, hearses were still rolling in. 
 
This one was probably the coolest one there - all souped up.
edit - he got the award for Best Modified
There was a guy tooling around in a hearse golf cart thingy.
 All of these Rosie the Riveter ladies were with this hearse and 
were carrying around a sign to 
So glad we walked around a second time on the way to leave!
This first time he didn't have this out....
This was pretty awesome - lots of people were stopping. 
 
(also need to update their website!)
Ecto-1 
Camo-bats! 
 The red headlights / overall vibe of this one reminded us of...
The license plates were appropriate, too. 
We saw MUERTE, 2LATE4U, YURNEXT, CMG2GTU and several regular vintage plates.
Also ones from Ohio & Wisconsin, too. 
Pretty apparently wasn't a requirement to participate! 
edit - there were awards given out in multiple categories - 
including "How the Hell did it make it here?" !!!! 
I'll have to poke around, but I heard the guy driving say Hermie or Herman (in the coffin) has his own Facebook page and posts a funny of the day.  
 
 
Part of the putt-putt golf course.
 
 We didn't stick around for the parade at 5, they were going for the Guiness Book of World Records for the most hearses in a parade.  They won it in 2011 with 51, but last I saw, the record is now 107.  Honestly don't think they beat that unless a lot more came in after we left.
edit - grand total was 75 this year.
 
Since it was a Halloween event, people were encouraged to dress up.  I mainly saw goth-looking outfits.  I wore my black trick or treat shirt & new skeleton necklace and coffin earrings, but that's about it.  And you can see Miss Angela at the beginning of the post looking like a basic white girl. 

I missed getting a picture of the sign for Hell Creek, but I did stop and get the one for Purgatory Cattle Company!  
 So we did some shopping, of course!  We each got t-shirts. 
Mine 
Randy's
and Angel's already disappeared into the recesses of her room, her's was in block letters that said "Go to Hell" in orange and Michigan underneath in white. 
I brought this adorable couple home, too.
I got a $2 bill stamped with "I've been to Hell & back" as change from ice cream at Screams. This will not ever get spent.  I may frame it along with a set of the H'ween stamps coming out this year. 
A fun magnet. 
You always get an exit visa when you buy something there - this is the one I got this time.  Last time I got a solid orange one. I like this one better.

This was a lot of fun, I heard it rained for this event last year, too.  
Hopefully it'll be better next year!

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