Happy Thanksgiving

The posts on this blog are usually always upbeat since it was setup to let people know what was going on at our house. But since this is the biggest event in our lives right now I thought I should talk about it here.

As of last friday I am no longer employed. After almost 13 years of working for the same company and for quite a large salary I find myself among the unemployed. I was laid off due to a recent purchase of our company and my position was elminated as a cost cutting move.

On the positive side they gave me enough severance pay that I won't have to find a job for at least 4 months.

Not sure what I will be doing in the next few months but I will keep you posted.

Final pictures of Hallween 2005

A lot of hard work. A lot of fun. Some great friends. Very creative people. It was a great halloween. Thanks to everyone for all their help - get ready for Halloween 2006!

Halloween Party

The Demon in the tree

We finally finished this project and put it in the tree Saturday Afternoon. The gold paint job turned out pretty cool.

Thanks Scott!

I have received several calls this morning from friends and co-workers that told me that they heard about our yard haunt on the radio this morning!!!

Who knew so many people listened to KISN?

New Tombstones

The new tombstones look great! Jen did a fantastic job!

We have a ghost haunting the crypt.

It is difficult to show a picture of it, but here is where our projection ghost appears at night. We use a LCD projector playing a DVD I made of someone acting as a scary ghost. I slowed it way down and blurred it; it now looks like a real ghost in the crypt!

Our Demon Skeleton

Mr. Reid, with a little help from Jeff, worked really hard this weekend to finish our demon skeleton that will go in the tree in the front of the yard. These pictures show the stance of the skeleton, the skull, and part of the wings. Looks like we will finish this one up just in time for our party!

It works!

This photo doesn't do it justice but our new effect for Halloween this year worked out GREAT! Take one used LCD projector. Use a digital video camera to film your friend lip-syncing to a scary message. Carve a head out of foam and create a pedestal for it. Burn a DVD with your friend and the scary message. Next thing you know it’s just like being at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion!

Halloween is officially in full swing

We setup the basics this weekend. Our newer projects are not quite done yet. We are spending each free moment working on getting everything done. As usual it will be a mad scramble to finish up but it will all come together in the end.

Really Cool special effect

This is the box I built this weekend for a very cool effect we are working on this year. I will post more about it later. The box holds a LCD projector, DVD player, and stereo amplifier. It is vented and has a latchable lid with a hole in the side for the lens.

We made Jack Skellington

One of Chris' work friends husband is really into the movie "Nightmare before Christmas". Since Chris is too she offered to make him a standup of Jack. We used an old piece of siding we were going to give away. She traced and painted it and I cut it out for her. They were very happy with the results.

Our windows have arrived!

The last of the home improvement projects of 05' is about to begin. We are replacing all the double hung windows in our house. Ten of them to be exact. We orderd Pazi windows from Jeld-Wen. These are wood windows that come primered. We have to paint the exterior and then they can be installed by our installer which only takes about a day to do.

Right in the middle of preparing for Halloween. Fun!

We have a website!

After many hours of cursing and hair pulling Chris has got the start of our Halloween website up.

http://www.davisgraveyard.com

She will be adding to it and fixing problems with it all week.

This will be our main way of getting info out about our yard this year.

a new scarecrow

This scarecrow is for Craig at the Corn Maze. We used an older mask and then built him using a 2x4 so he is sturdy. Hope he likes it.

New tombstones

Jen and Chris have been working on some new tombstones this year. They just can't help themselves. Even thought they say they won't be making any more. Once they get started they just can't seem to stop. They are looking pretty cool. I think the real reason we are making more is that we are giving a few to Craig at the Corn Maze and they are making new ones to replace the old ones.

A new torture cage

I am working on a new prop for halloween. It's a square torture cage that I will stuff a full sized bucky skeleton into. It is 2 feet square. I am going to hinge the lid and then put some chain and padlocks on it. I will paint it flat black to give it the rought iron look.

Sewer Pipes are in!

I worked with my Dad all day Saturday getting the sewer lines in and vented out the roof for the bathroom. We have the bathroom toilet and sink and the utility sink downstairs now ready to be installed. I just have to get the water lines in and installed. I have a little bit of framing left to do.

New tombstone style

The new technique we are using this year looks great. These are just a few of the newly painted tombstones. Thanks to Jen and Mr Reid for their talents.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

I can't believe I did this. I know better, I have been working with table saws since I was in junior high. I have never hurt myself. Well, this weekend I did something that sent me to the emergency room and earned me a couple of stiches in my left hand middle finger. Luckly I did not do any permanent damage and it should all heal just fine.

I was working late and was tired. I was ripping a small board down the middle using my trusty push stick when I reached over with my left hand to steady the board and as it kicked up at the end my left hand slipped and my middle finger cought the top of the saw blade. I tore the tip of my finger open and shattered a corner of my finger nail.

I thought I would spare everyone the gorey pictures. Boy that was dumb. I am having a hell of a time typing this without using my left middle finger.