An Unorthodox Halloween – Page 89

Halloween is in the air.

Summer has only officially begun, and yet, already Halloween is in the air.

Sure, we can look forward to fireworks and rootbeer floats. Lazy days by the pool, kids running through sprinklers, and an explosion of the insect population. Corn on the cobb, tomatoes, homemade salsa…Ah…summer.

However, look carefully, and everywhere is signs of the coming of Halloween.

Stores placing their spring garden statuary on sale. Yes, to some this might actually look like spring…

Cute little cherubs and statues for that nice green garden. Happy wings, faces inviting you to contemplate this miracle as being brought forth through that flower bed…

And yet, when looked at through the darkened glasses of halloween, we see weeping angels, watching, waiting for some passing person to comfort, waiting to be placed atop a proper tombstone, and even spring decorations begin to echo Halloween…

Now, tombstones are really not my ‘thing’ when it comes to halloween. But, a couple with some of these bargain bin angels made to look a part of that stone would simply be both gorgeous and creepy. Almost enough to make me want to make a few ‘halloween stones’ as Alec called them last year. But, I wouldn’t want people thinking I was going all normal on them, now, would I.

I am especially fond of this little angel. A sadness in the expression is only matched by the weathered bronzed finish, giving it an especially melancholy feel perfect for a tombstone.

Then you move on to the summer section. Just in time for the 4th of July, the glow in the dark bracelets are coming out of the woodwork, on sale. Yes…kids love the things to play with on the 4th while waiting for the fireworks. Heck, sometimes they even prefer them TO the fireworks.

Yet, these things disappear from the shelves closer to the time of Trick or Treat. They are perfect for the younger ones, especially when told it’s a ‘magic’ bracelet to ward away anything that might scare them. More than one child has gone through the yard proudly displaying such a ‘magic’ charm, no longer afraid. These are becoming rather more common for treats, though. I may need to begin thinking about another ‘magic’ charm.

If these were not enough, the stores have down right started the Halloween campaign.

Now all that is missing is that special smell in the air that fake pumpkins just cannot replace.

And, even the ads are getting into the act. Another of the ‘not my thing’ decorations. The Halloween version of the Christmas town doodad things.

Something you don’t see every day…

I was stopping off at the store on the way home last night, and there in the parking lot was something a little unusual.

A Chariot.

Not a horse and buggy, a regular CHARIOT. Open in the back, platform to stand on, 2 horse pulling. Now, it had that nice modern feel to it, as instead of ye olde spoke wheels, it had what appeared to be a pickup truck axel/tire/suspension thing going on, and the proper slow moving vehicle placard. Otherwise, it could have walked out of the days of Moses.

Now, I am vaguely aware there are still chariot races. And, while I haven’t seen a racing chariot before, and don’t claim to be an expert on horses, it was clear to me these were, for lack of the proper word, mutt horses, not bred for racing but probably more suited to pulling a plow.

And, as I sat there looking, a man comes out, throws whatever he bought into a little basket thing on the front, unties the horses from the tree, and starts trotting down the street.

Ya know, with the gas prices and all…How much are a couple mutt horses these days? And a chariot?

What’s this got to do with Halloween?

Some places out there still hold a Halloween Parade. Like the one in NYC. Why don’t we here? Bah, I’ld probably still be here at the home scarin’ kids. But, in a parade setting, a chariot properly decked out in egyptian style would just be an absolutely magnificent sight!

And then you could save on gas while driving around a part of your costume all year. If I see this chariot around again, I gotta ask if I can take it out for a spin.

Little break…and something to think on.

Time has come for something of a break.

We’re very much on target for accomplishing everything for Halloween 2008. Fred’s done. Skulls are being made. Could use some more shrunken heads. But, I’m at that point where it’s time to make another big purchase of raw materials, and await it’s delivery.

We’re also at a point where it’s time to start remodeling the house as well. Jen wants to paint the place and put in wood floors. So, with me being in a little hiatus of not having the raw materials to work on Halloween, now is the perfect time to finish off the housework so that we can get back to the important stuff.

That said, we’ll have a test of Fred’s impalement at some point soonish. And maybe some lighting along with that. And, with only small projects left on the to-do list, it’s also time to think on maybe one more surprise for those brave enough to enter this year.

It’s not often I get inspired by others. Oh, I certainly enjoy seeing other people’s works. But, rare is the occasion it ticks something in my brain making me want to make it a part of my own experience. It was a simple reply to a post of mine about Fred. How they impaled their own Bucky.

Yet, there, a driveway…torches…someone else who torches up? I had to check out the photo album. Greeted with some pretty interesting sights all around, it was an interesting look.

But, there was that one special photo. That is interesting. It would be cheap. And, I already have most of the items needed to create something of that nature. Just maybe…that one more surprise might just have to be an unorthodox version…

Skeletons, Fire, and Webs, Oh my

Fred.

Well, exactly what I thought would happen with the panty hose, did. It stains darker than I wanted. BUT…I’ve been outvoted as Jen, Kyle, and one of our babysitters like it as is.

And, Alec has been on this Skeleton OBSESSION since I hung Fred. Wearing his skeleton shirts, playing with his lego skeletons, asking to BE a skeleton, telling us we have skeletons inside us, asking about the kitten’s skeleton, TALKING TO FRED, asking if he can give Fred a lightsaber to fight, asking why Fred cannot move…

Well, suddenly, Alec most decidedly DOES NOT like Fred anymore. Poor kid asked me where Fred was. I show him to the sliding door, where Fred hangs just beyond. “No, Fred doesn’t have yucky stuff on him”. Well, he does now, son. He does now…

The darkness does give nice contrast.

And for some reason, I really like the foot here.

Still mad the head got a bit messed up when he fell…, but I guess it’s ok.

So, Fred is a success with everyone but me. And I’m picky. I’ll just have to make another one to please only me, right? Maybe next year. Maybe later. We’ll see how it goes.

Now, I gotta figure out how to impale the poor guy. And light him…

The Island King Torch got another little workout for a picture.

Island King on the left, a regular torch on the right.

I’m liking the idea of just acouple of those instead of more of the regular variety.

And, just to show it off a bit, I fired up the web gun last night and re-webbed the chair.

As said before. Even I can make decent looking webs with this thing.

If it looks a bit barren, it’s because I only used one gluestick.
The little balls are from when we cleaned it off after the first time. Would make for some great egg sacks in a dedicated spider area, rolling up small balls and sticking them in the web.

Sure to have fun playing with this stuff…

The Island King.

THE ISLAND KING WAS REDESIGNED FOR THE 2009 SEASON, PLEASE SEE HERE FOR NOTES ON IT.

Was in WalMart at lunch yesterday.

See, I need more torches this year, and they have become rather pricey this year as opposed to previous years. SOME WalMart’s have some halfway decent priced ones, some don’t. I’m waiting for the clearance to hit (mid July, typically) and have been scouting out which WalMarts to look at. The one near home has em, one of the 2 near work does not, haven’t checked the other.

But, while checking this one near work at lunch, I ran across “The Island Kind” torch. It was in a box, not sitting out, but boasted a “huge flame” and “no mess refilling”. And the picture indeed had a large flame atop a rather large canister. I could not pass one of these up.

Getting to my car, and opening it up, I was greeted with an impressively sized canister, the top of which formed a funnel to make refilling easy, and to guard the wick that sat a full 1.5″ up from the bottom of the funnel, but Even with the top of it so as to not be seen once set up. Making it look like the bowl itself was on fire.

Filled it up to let the wick soak, and went off to Kyle’s Scout Pinewood Derby deal. Getting back, I assembled the pole.

Rather, I attempted to.

4 sections meant to screw together, along with the top meant to screw onto the pole. Half the sections would not screw properly and did not fit in any order whatsoever. And what should have been a simple job turned into a cursing nightmare, and my solution to most such problems of “get a bigger hammer” finally ended up resolving the situation (though some of those pieces will never come apart again).

Lighting the thing up next to a regular torch, I was thoroughly unimpressed. The flame was no wider, and only a little taller when measured from the top of the canister up (not counting the 2″ or so the funnel goes down).

So, we snuffed it out. The instructions having failed, time to modify. Breaking out the utility knife, I cut apart the support threads on the wick, and then fanned out the fiberglass strands to give more surface area. A trick I learned from observing my older torches giving off better flame when those support threads inevitably burn off before the fiberglass.

This yielded a much more impressive flame that nearly covered the entire bowl and reached well into the night air above. And yet, still, it could use some improvement, and will likely improve as the wick wears. I think it could use a LONGER wick as well, which would allow better coverage once fanned out and likely fill the entire bowl. I’ld say cotton wick would bear some thought, but would be worried about it burning up.

So, the Island King as packaged will produce a rather uninspired flame until either the wick wears and fans naturally, or you help it along. Then it’s a thing of beauty, but still could be improved upon. The pole it’s on sucks. Period. Plain and simple. And the burn time is a questionable 4 hours “for full flame effect” or 8 hours total (and sure to be chewing up your wick towards the end).

For our purposes, 4 hours is plenty of time for Halloween night, and the larger flame will help further distinguish the front from the back with 2 styles. Fewer sources of light also help the plans for the back yard, so fewer of these larger torches is becoming the plan here. I can fix the poles, reinforce with rebar, or replace if needed.

For nearly any other use, I’ld say you’ld be better off buying more smaller ones for the same price.

Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as possible.

Edit: I see a lot of folk searching for the Island King torch and ending up here. So, I’ve got the picture of it’s comparison to a regular torch here for you.

Left: Island King torch after my aforementioned modifications to the wick.

Right: A regular tiki torch