Product Review – Floralyte Submersible LED

I needed a means to light all our pumpkins on stakes. One without wires, yet one bright enough to be seen over the lighting we were to have in place.

Enter the Floralyte LEDs.

We bought a dozen red, and a dozen white.

First of all, the good:

These things are BRIGHT! Especially the white. Easily like having a little maglight. Quite impressive for such a little package.

They did their job admirably.

From Halloween buildup 09

However, some things I did not like:

The on/off is a matter of screwing and unscrewing the base. And, it’s quite touchy. I had difficulty in getting them OFF, unless completely seperated. Others I had difficulty getting them to light. Of the 24, I had to do some creative repair on one due to bouncing around seperated bending a contact.

I have not tested the water-tightness of the things, but it looks dubious at best. I’m sure MOST of them would light and be submersible fine. I’m doubtfull ALL of them would.

Still, for our use here, I’ld highly reccomend the floralyte. For submersible operations, I’ld be sure to buy a couple extra.

And, you might have noticed, we’ve begun the Christmas conversion for the next months. Fret not, your regularly scheduled Halloween stuff will be back swiftly.

2009…

Another one down.

The camera didn’t handle the dark quite as well as we had hoped. But, that was just one other thing in a list of little things to go wrong that day.

Year of the Charr is a "Winner"!

Year of the Charr has been declared a “Winner” in the Guild Wars Halloween Art Contest. What’s more, another yard haunter was also selected as a winner! Good to see us prop builders getting into the winner’s circle. A costume once again takes the top prize, however. Hmmm, NEXT year….

The yard is prepped and ready. Family and Friends stopped by last night for the test-firing.

From Halloween 2009
From Halloween 2009
From Halloween 2009
From Halloween 2009

More to follow after tonight.

Progress so far.

Ah, nice, quiet Sunday morning…

From Halloween buildup 09
From Halloween buildup 09

By Monday’s end…

From Halloween buildup 09

Kyle’s responsible for the scarecrows this year. The last two years, they have gone rather unnoticed along the side of the house. It makes me happy to see them getting center stage again.

From Halloween buildup 09
From Halloween buildup 09
From Halloween buildup 09

Of course, Fred is always anxious to get into the role.

From Halloween buildup 09

Teusday morning saw snow. There is something eerily macabre about it…

From Halloween buildup 09
From Halloween buildup 09

As it melted, I took advantage of the blessing, and was able to drive in all our stakes in the softened ground without aggravating my wrist injury.

Oh, and that grass?

It’s formed a little blind for Kyle to hide in. The stuff is GREAT, drives in just like bamboo.

From Halloween buildup 09

Kyle’s hut, torches…

From Halloween buildup 09

Hundreds of stakes across the back yard for the tzompantli.

From Halloween buildup 09

The Pumpkin Carve-O-Meter is sitting at 8/18 at the moment…(what was I thinking…18???)

From Halloween buildup 09

Currently up and pacing, as we are getting buffetted by some substantial wind gusts…but, the only thing that seems it might suffer right now is the flag.

Product Review: Froggys Swamp Juice

First, I’ve got to send out a very special shoutout to Froggys Fog.

Let me explain this with my first experience with Froggys Fog, in the days leading up to Halloween last year:

I placed an order on their website. Or, I tried to, but somewhere between our connection and theirs, I never got a confirmation number. So, I went over to their shop on Amazon, and placed an order through THERE.

The next day, I got a call, asking if I really wanted two identical orders or if this was some kind of a mixup. Instead of just filling both and billing me twice, they checked, going above and beyond. FROM THAT MOMENT, it did not matter whether the product was that much better than the stuff sold in local stores, they had won me over.

THIS year, I have purchased from them twice. Both times, within 24 hours I have a confirmation, shipment notification, and tracking number in hand. TALK ABOUT SERVICE!

Fortunately the product is also just simply head and shoulders above ‘regular’ fog juice in all ways.

2007: “regular” fog juice in the front during our alternative lighting display:

From Halloween 07

2008: Project nightfall. THE FOG MACHINES, FOG COOLERS, AND LIGHTING ARE EXACTLY THE SAME. Weather was comparable Only difference on the fog is THIS is Froggys Swamp Juice.

From Nightfall

The ground was COVERED in Fog. A few minutes in, the whole atmosphere was drenched in fog.

From Nightfall

But, I think our neighbors stated it best: “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

And, yes, Froggys Swamp Juice takes your fog maching from a ‘that’s cool when it fires’ to just plain “that’s awesome”.