Category: Fred

It’s what’s for dinner.

A neighbor lost a fence to weather, and I’ve been putting the remnants to good use.

Poor Fred.

From 2010 Buildup

And, the Tzompantli are making a more…rustic…appearance this year.

From 2010 Buildup

Talia is getting in the spirit as well, with a pirate hat.

From 2010 Buildup

“cool pirate boat” (she’s a ‘pirate sword princess’ this year)

From 2010 Buildup

And a “scary monster for daddy”

From 2010 Buildup

Meanwhile, I have a host of scarecrows waiting to be stuffed in the house, and a slew of emt conduit that’s been bent beyond recognition laying around. But, we’ll get more on those things later.

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.

"Hello, My name is Bob, and I am not like Fred."

So read my son’s homework yesterday.

Highly ironic.

It goes on to read how Bob likes to stare into the sky, gazing upon the stars…

Bob, you see, is a new project. And, he is not like Fred.

Fred is great, but he was REALLY designed for hanging up on a pole, looking down on the world.

Bob, you see, needs to be designed for laying down, looking up at the sky. On the laboratory table. Fred would work fine and all, but he’s a bit heavy to be making to sit up. Bob will be lighter, easier to move.

Now, were I keeping to the whole naming convention of Fred there, we’ld be naming Bob Fred. But, that would get rather confusing. But, more on Bob to come.

Other recent additions to the Lab include a couple of experiment jars. The first being a bucket of Cheese Balls found for $5 at Staples. The Cheese Balls were average…for the first 1/2 or so…I don’t ever want to see cheese balls again at the moment…

From Lab

It’s just screaming for a head to occupy it.

Second on the list is a personal favorite of Red Vines.

From Lab

Not sure just what to put into that yet. Brain, maybe…

Then there is a bucket of pretzels screaming for an arm…but it’s at work still being emptied.

On the Charr front…I needed a break from failure there. So, we’re making the…uh, ‘feet’.

Started with just some PVC, plastic and duct tape.

From Year of the Charr

A little mache later, and we have the beginnings of a foot.

From Year of the Charr

I now have 2 completed, and we’re presently out of both glue and paper. Hoping to finish the 2 this weekend, and start on a third.

The Great Rot-off.

You may be wondering why Fred was…NAKED…on Halloween.

From Halloween 2008

Well, that story begins back in May. When we buried a few clothes for Fred. Basing it off a tutorial over on SkullandBone.com.

Well, concerned that my fish-tank solution would not be quite as effective as their pond scum, I happened upon some sheet composting information, and figured it may just work for rotting clothes too. So, we put some more clothes to use there.

Thus began the great Rot-Off!

WHICH method would be better? Which one would Fred wear? Will my wife kill me over the piles of rotting crapola in the yard? Would anyone even notice?

We dug things up a week prior to Halloween.

The “pond scum” method came out pretty much as expected. But…a little bad luck made them useless for Fred.

Top half of a shirt that covered a bit too much of Fred’s chest.

From Halloween buildup '08

“Fun” digging up graves…

From Halloween buildup '08

Kyle finds a pair of pants…that had the entire front eaten away.

From Halloween buildup '08

And, that fancy button down white collered shirt…only the right half survived.

From Halloween buildup '08

But, the question remained…just how would the sheet composting match up???

Peeling back the newspaper we were greeted with a most UNIQUE smell…and a bunch of insect life I had never seen before.

From Halloween buildup '08

What remained of the shirt buried here…

From Halloween buildup '08

The pants only had the seems, pockets, and zipper left.

From Halloween buildup '08

But, instead of tossing a bunch of holey pants that no longer fit Alec, we tested them in the sheet compost pile, and the results show just how I can fine tune it for next year!

Alec pants placed on top of the compost pile, show no rot, as expected.

From Halloween buildup '08

Alec pants placed in the middle of the grass, not touching ground have very nice rotting.

From Halloween buildup '08

Alec Pants placed at ground level and covered once again have only the pockets and seams intact.

From Halloween buildup '08

So, just how potent is this sheet composting? Sheet composting on the left, ‘traditional’ method on the right.

From Halloween buildup '08

And, my understanding is that LEAVES make even better material than GRASS clippings for this sheet composting…so, as the leaves fall…maybe it’s time to rot some clothes.

The Story of Fred.

Fred.

Fred was first brought into the house back in January. Now, back then, the plan was to not do a whole lot new this year, and instead focus on a few more dramatic things. Namely Fred, and the Hut.

But, at the time, the idea for Fred was much different. The ORIGINAL idea was, instead of purchasing the one, large skeleton to impale in the yard, purchase SEVERAL child sized skeletons. So, as you look on Fred, imagine a smaller Fred, and a bunch of em. Corpsified like Fred here, but with tattered bits of costume melded in with the flesh as well.

A little spider man over here, a little power ranger over there, a disney princess yonder, etc. …maybe one or two still holding the pumpking T.O.T. bucket…

I still LOVE the idea. However, several minds more sane than mine talked me into believing such a sight to be all together too much for wee ones to be dealing with. Thus, we started with Fred. Bigger, bolder, yet not QUITE so personally identifiable.

Why “Fred”?

I suck at naming things. Period. So,…”I didn’t know what his name was, so we just called him Fred.”

(Warning, there is some mildly suggestive material in the video, so don’t play if you’re sensitive to that)

Rodney Carrington – Fred via Noolmusic.com

Now, last time we saw fred, he was still hanging up on my little frame. That has changed.

From Halloween buildup ’08

Fred currently towers over the yard. Jen wanted him out FRONT for everyone to see. And, he certainly gets a reaction. Some slow down and look, some smile and laugh as they walk by, some even come up to comment. Others actually AVOID looking at him as they drive by, or make little snide comments they think I can’t hear as they walk by. (though why anyone is surprised to see this “already” in my yard is beyond me) Both kinds of reactions just cheer me up anyway.

From Halloween buildup ’08

And, I’ve had half the neighborhood’s kids rush over to tell me what they’re being for Halloween now, as well.

They’re probably going to be disappointed when it’s all torn down on Teusday.

From Halloween buildup ’08

But, the purpose of all this testing was to get a look at Fred in his “natural” setting. And see what lights to use.

Green Fred.

From Halloween buildup ’08

Red Fred.

From Halloween buildup ’08

Torchlight Fred.

From Halloween buildup ’08

Sunset Fred…

From Halloween buildup ’08
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Categorized as Fred