2024 Wrap up

The Spouse & I had the front yard looking like this by about 12:20pm on November 1. 

Quite the change, eh? 

Just don't look in the back yard!

Halloween was a beautiful night - windy but the Spouse & I sat out in the driveway with only hoodies on.  We had about 50 kids come by, which is more than we've had in the past couple years!

I actually ran out of the full-sized candy bars, so I was happy that I had 2 bags of candy leftover from one of the trunk or treat events I'd gone to.  I gave out handfuls from that.

My favorite costume(s) had to be a dad who was dressed in khakis and a safari hat, pulling a wagon decorated with Jurassic Park logos and filled with 3 toddlers all dressed like dinosaurs and one older kid tagging along, also a dinosaur.  

I truly appreciate that the Spouse volunteers to take the day off work and help me take everything down.  It makes it so much quicker & smoother. 

The skeletons are the biggest issue to put away.  We have a lot of stuff in our garage (no car has ever been in there!) which means we have to clear out everything in the one area so we can get back to the far corner, where the skeletons belong.  Then we hang them up and have to put everything back in. 

I don't hang them by the heads or necks, I loop some twine over the tailbone, then do a half-hitch below the neck and then the rest is for hanging.  So it distributes the weight more evenly. 

The backs of my hands are also all scraped up from threading the twine thru ribs.

I also took this opportunity to make a skeleton inventory.

1 - 7' skeleton named Homer

1 - 6' skeleton named Marvin

1 lonely 5' non-pose & stay.  This was one of my first skeleton purchases.  And it's still in decent shape! 

11 - 5' pose & stays, noting any breakages

2 - 4' non-pose & stays.  I like these because you can't find them anymore!

8 - 3' pose & stays, including a bright pink one belonging to the Spawn

6 - 3' non-pose & stays, only one of which is not broken in some way.  I'm slowly phasing these guys out.    

2 - 2' pose & stays, orange with JOL head & rainbow!

The goal here is to actually have a plan next year of what they're going to be doing in the cemetery. 

LOL - I just got sucked into the rabbit hole of reading old blog posts and I was just reading one from 2014

How quaint!

We do have one honorable retirement that needs to happen. 

Frank was my first bigger than 5' skeleton, I got him back in 2015.  

The plastic was on the thin side and it finally just wasn't fixable anymore. 

The feet are torn off.  The limbs that are left (and head) are attached with zip ties. The neck/spine is completely severed. 

R.I.P Frank! 

I don't have a pic, but the Spouse who is a Tetris master can fit the full sized horse, the pony and now the unicorn all in the original box the horse came in.  

This sight always make me cringe. 

So here we go!

The headstones did get repainted this year, but they are very shiny & new looking. 

So aging will have to happen before next year. 

Here they all are in the shed + the fence & spool.  

I had to fill in a giant groundhog hole in front of the leg of that chair. 

Next we have the former Mosh Pit. 

I have new ones this year, but I seem to have fit them all in there better than usual!

The coffin is in the back of the bottom shelf. 

As of posting this - the critters are still here. 

As soon as I get home from work, I'll be moving them into the little loft part of the shed.  

I'm concerned about the furry raccoon tails, so they may not go in there. 

The 2 big chickens are a problem, too.  I'll have to get creative. 

So as we were taking stuff down, we came across a few friends that are unusual in Michigan in November,,,,

a 5 legged grasshopper

and this big ol' toad who was crossing the patio.

Not hopping ~walking~! 

And finally, I went on a walk around the neighborhood with the grandkids.

Probably the best campaign signs I've ever seen! 

So at least by this weekend, the yard should be all ready for the winter.  

The JOLs are still on the front porch, they're only a little shrunken & moldy.  They can probably hold on another week or so!

And I did zero clearance shopping!

I glanced at what the Kroger Marketplace had but didn't see anything that leaped out at me.  I'd already gotten some 3' black light reactive (3 white & 1 green) skeletons from there at 50% off before H'ween so they actually got to be in the cemetery.  But I haven't been any place else.  

oh man!!

My favorite tree dropped its leaves!

Holly crap, November is almost 2 weeks old!

Is it just me, or is time flying faster than it use to? 

 Is this an age thing?  Please tell me it's not an age thing!

I feel Halloween was a success.  It ended up being an absolutely perfect Michigan fall evening - in the low 50s when the sirens went off at 6.   The sun even came out for a bit that afternoon!   It got chilly when the sun went down, but there was no wind or anything.  Ideal!

We got about 45 trick-or-treaters and they were all polite & in costume!  I can't imagine being in one of those neighborhoods where they get 100s of kids.  You con't enjoy being on the giving end of something like that.  I like to see the costumes & reactions of the people coming up my driveway.  

My favorite costumes of the night.... a little guy who was a Waste Management garbage truck driver - complete with garbage truck!  Hilarious / adorable!  And the other has to be a neighbor, since he walked back so we could see his costume after dark.  He had glow stick necklaces taped to his arms & legs & body - he was a stick person!  He came by the first time before it got dark, since he was bringing a little one up to get candy.  We were laughing & asked him to come back - so when he did, thanks to lack of streetlights, we could see his stick person walking down the street!  Epic!

Last weekend was the Cemetery Removal of 2018.

By the time the afternoon school bus rolled by Friday (11/2) afternoon,
this is what they saw.

It took us approximately 5-6 hours each day, Friday, Saturday & Sunday to get the cemetery taken down & put entirely away.   We actually took it easy, since Randy hadn't been feeling 100%.  

We both took Friday off work, since it was silly to take Thursday off then go back to work Friday.  Anyway, I had a meeting Thursday night, so it would have sucked to work all day on the yard, then go to that.  As it was, I was out at 0600 Thursday morning (with a flashlight, in my pjs) taking clothes off the skeletons, since it called for rain.

Bettina helping out.

And it rained all day Thursday.
On my way home from the meeting late Thursday night, I drove down Tillson Street and I'd say over 2/3 of the houses were in some stages, if not 100%, taken down.  In the freakin' rain!
That's dedication.   We had no excuses!

Some stuff got staged inside the fence, until we got to them. 

Chuck having a word with everyone.
(the pony got moved - I promise I don't have 2!)

I came across the original Maple Grove sign!
How quaint!

Brr, a little chilly!

So, do you want to know where we put all this stuff?

The shed that holds our lawn mower also has the animal skeletons, the fence, the spool, the sign, the fenceposts and all the dowels & rebar

Speaking of - this is how the skeletons get stored.  Hanging from the rafters in the back corner of the garage.  This pic is from 2015, but the only thing that's different now is that I double up on the 3 foot guys so there's 2 on each rope.

Here's how I string them up.  I put a loop around the tailbone, another loop under the ribs and while this on has a loop thru the ribs, I now only put the 3rd loop around the neck.  That way it distributes the weight of the skeleton all down its spine instead of hanging all from the neck.

 We have a 4 foot deep add-on across the back of our garage. 
These 2 pics show one side of it.  It's most of the blowmolds (and 3 window a/c units).  The coffin is also on the bottom shelf, and is storage for the smaller detail items from the cemetery. 

Ignore the people in the red & white and also the bunny in the purple dress- I have blowmolds for other holidays, too.  They're about all the decorating I do for their respective holidays. 

The other side of the add-on holds the shack, as well as the patio furniture, etc. 

I didn't take any pics of the totes inside the garage.  There's a wall of them, also for all holidays. 

Jack likes to supervise, too.  But he's feeling the cold more in his old age, so he gets a cushion and shorter times outside with us.

So here's Ethel.  I laid her on top of the trash can to work on her shoulder, attaching the arm that is broken.  Damn if she didn't slide off & break the other one, too!  So both arms are currently ziptied on.  Let's see how that holds up.

I have a stray horse treat in my kitchen, I should have put it in this skeleton's hand!

Speaking of treats....

This happened Sunday night.
FYI - Culver's pumpkin pie shake is AMAZING. 
It tasted exactly like the best pie ever.

So now that I've kind of gotten a chance to slow down a bit & think...there's quite a few things I wish I would have gotten around to doing.  But like I said at the beginning of this post - time is just flying by!  There weren't enough weekends!!  And work kept getting in my way.  And the shorter days.  Wah wah wah.
I never made it to Northville, MI to see the skeletons.  We never carved pumpkins.  We did get some cider & donuts but we didn't make it to an orchard. I didn't get to go to Hell, MI.  I'm not happy with the pictures / videos I took of the cemetery.  I wish I would have taken a lot more. I did absolutely ZERO decorating inside the house.  I didn't make a big deal about it being the 10th anniversary.  My Countdown to Halloween posts kind of fizzled out towards the end.  Same with Blogoween.

But on the plus side - we spent a weekend in Ohio with my brother, we made it to the Halloween Festival in Fairborn and also to the Lewisburg Haunted Cave again.  The Spawn turned 21 the end of September, so there were still birthday celebrations going on for her - Rochester Pedal Ride with the family was one of them.  Spent a day horseback riding with my sister, too. 

I guess I really can't complain - it was a great Halloween!

25 days - #!%&$#@! rodents!

Just a heads up - there is swearing ahead.  

If you don't want to read any "colorful" language - 

it won't hurt my feelings if you click away right now.   

It's OK, really. 

I have to express my feelings about....

...

...

...

...

Squirrels. 

aka fuzzy little bastards

And here I felt sorry for the one I watched get kicked out of the tree and 

pounced on by a hawk.  

Not any more!

I'm not sure what variety these little shits are.  They're not the big brown or black ones we have in plentiful supply around here.  These are much smaller red ones, similar to the one in the gif - but without the ear tufts and a less fluffy, more red tail.    

And the only ones I've seen have been in and around my shed!

So here it was mid September - it was time to dig out the headstones & blowmolds to get them cleaned up and staged on the patio!  One of my favorite times of the year.  It was hot & humid out, but I really didn't think it would take long to grab stuff out, set it on the patio & retreat my happy ass back into the air conditioning.  

  My shiny freakin' bubble was about to be burst.

Here was my first hint.  

A literal asshole chewed into the door of the shed. 

And the skittering of little feet as I opened said holey door. 

This is the first blowmold I saw.

Complete with enlarged hole and orange shrapnel around it.

I was cautious when I moved it - it was oddly heavy and I thought maybe it was a nest and could envision 10 little fuckers leaping out at me! 

 Nope.  Pinecones.  

My blowmolds apparently make lovely food storage silos!

 And so do pumpkins. 

 And sprinklers.

And flowerpots.  

Blowmold #2

Guess I should have left the light fixture in it. 

Oh look - a snowman this time!   Blowmold #3. 

Note to self - don't leave them lying on their sides. 

I didn't get a picture of blowmold # 4 - but it was a snowman like #3.  About 1/2 full.

There were also at least 2 piles up against the back wall, between the blowmolds. 

Oh - look at the pinecone rotisserie!

aka one section of fence. 

They were all filled. 

At least they couldn't get into the coffin!

Want to know just how many damned pinecones can fit into a blowmold???

 I overflowed a 2 gallon bucket.  Just from the lowest JOL.

Using tongs.   

 Even Jack thinks squirrels are assholes!

By the time I got the blowmolds emptied, the piles raked up, the fences plucked clean and all that fun shit, I was dripping sweat, covered in spiderwebs & sap.  

And I don't feel sorry in the slightest that a whole shit-ton of their winter food storage ended up in the yard waste container! 

At least they smelled good. 

Speaking of aromas.... don't get me started about the muthafuckin' skunk I saw out in the ditch by the cemetery last night!  At least Jack wasn't out there with me that time.  His favorite thing to do is stick his nose right up a skunk's ass!   I sure as hell wasn't in the mood to de-scent the stupid dog!  We kept our distance, but had a light shining on it and talked in normal voices  It knew we were there and eventually wandered across the street into the neighbor's yard. 

Good.  Stay over there. 

Grr. 

Countdown to Halloween

100 days til Halloween!!!

OMG!!!!

In case nobody has figured it out...Chuck is the official Maple Grove Cemetery mascot.  

No reason why, other than it just happened over time!  

 Chuck is not a fan of pants. 

We had a BBQ for my husband's 50th birthday this weekend and as I was clearing off the kitchen table clutter pile... I came across googly eyes!!  They're perfect for Chuck! 

btw - no idea where they may have come from.  

 Speaking of birthday.....

mmmm cake!

Randy let his feelings be known about Chuck sticking his fingers in the frosting....

As I was perusing the Halloween Forum today - there was a thread asking people where they store all their Halloween decor & props.  How about a peek at where mine are?

 

 This add-on was here when we moved into the house 15 years ago. Ignore the fact that it needs new doors, badly.  We will get around the replacing them, especially now since this spring a couple holes were chewed into them and now probably a squirrel or two are living in my blowmolds. 

It's the width of the 2 car garage and about 6 feet deep. Obviously this is where the blowmolds for all holidays are.  The coffin is on the lower shelf behind the JOL blowmolds.  The coffin is also used as storage. 

 Smaller cemetery items like loose bones, lantern hooks & such are all in there. 

The patio furniture goes into the other half, where there's no shelf. 

 This is the shed.  The sign, headstones, fenceposts & animal skeletons are all in here.  

The bad part about the shed are the spiderwebs & other creepy crawlies.  

Come mid-September, I'll drag everything out & hose it down and stage it on the patio so on 9/29 (the day after my Spawn's birthday), things can start being set up!

 Here is the skeleton hang-out in the garage. 

The huge cardboard box is the skeleton horse.  I plan on transferring it to a tote this fall. 

Looking toward the same corner from the front - you can see all of the holiday totes. 

Each H'ween & C'mas tote is labelled on top with the contents so if I'm looking for something in particular, I'm more likely to find it this way.  Other holidays don't have as many totes so I don't worry about labeling them. 

How do you store all your goodies?