Category: The Harvest

Looking forward by looking back.

Couple things first…

Just performed more than a dozen automagical updates to the site, so some things might not be quite up to snuff. I’ve been squashing what bugs I’ve found and some of the things look a little ‘off’, and I’m trying to locate that problem in the new code.

Plotting the course for 2013 started early. Extremely early. Starting January of 2012, we made the decision that 2012’s graveyard addition was going to be a one-off, and 2013 was going to be something else. So, in the plan with building Trevor was, specifically, NOT KEEPING HIM. This was a bit harder than I thought, though. Even though that was my plan, when I had him mostly finished around July 2012, I was really thinking maybe we should do it 2 years…

But we held firm, and Trevor is sold and gone. Best part is he’s not that far, so we’ll get to stop and say ‘hi’ to him next year none the less.

With the graveyard retired, it was time to look towards 2013. I sat down and critiqued every year. What went well, what didn’t. Where I went wrong with the yard.

We came up with a common theme of the mistakes I make: TOO MUCH, TOO CROWDED.

Taking my 3 favorite years:

#3, 2012

2012 was incredibly fun. Easily the best year for the whole pumpkin carving party, we learned to SPREAD THEM OUT better than in 2011. I think we hit the magic number, too at ~115 pumpkins. More is going to be getting into that crowded territory.

The only reason this doesn’t rate higher is I’m not a huge fan of the whole graveyard thing as it being too ‘ordinary’. Even when you make a transi tomb.

#2, 2007

2007 was the culmination of a dream of mine. We started with the whole skulls on a stick routine way back in 2005, but it was 2007 that we really EMBRACED it. 100 skulls, 75 stakes made one of the most fantastically original scenes I’ve ever managed.

Hard to believe I messed with it so much in 2008, trying to cram in over 300 skulls, 200 stakes, Fred, and a hut into that same space. Once again too much.

#1: 2010.

The Harvest was an accident. We had worked HARD and spent most of the year working towards a whole temple theme transition in 2010. Then God decided it sucked and destroyed most of it when the wind took out our gazebo and most the year’s props with it.

I think it was August and I was left sitting with absolutely nothing, wondering what I could possibly bring together for Halloween in time, and not wanting to do a rehash of those skulls again when someone on the Halloween Forum decided to poke fun at “people who only put out some corn stalks and pumpkins”. As if that were some lower form of decorating. I took it as a challenge to make ‘nothing but corn stalks and pumpkins’ interesting. 60 pumpkins was too much for me, so we invited some neighbors to help, and the annual harvest party was born.

2013, I think it’s time to merge these two basic themes together. Return to our roots. Mix some of the spiked skulls into the corn. Spike some pumpkins like we did in 2009 while we’re at it…Look back.

Odds and Ends

Lots of little things to update on.

Finally getting around to raiding Kyle’s camera, we get to see what that skull I secretly made for his scout troop looked like in the dusty dirt they found it.

Pretty pleased it even fooled Kyle into thinking it was real.

Alec’s been bugging me to see Devil’s slide ever since he had a school report on Morgan County. So, when we were invited to go fishing near it, we had to stop.

Speaking of the fishing.

Got to see lots of deer on the way home too.

Kyle and Talia helped get the rest of this year’s tombstones etched. My hands hurt just thinking of all that painting…

Meanwhile, the pumpkin patch is consuming the scarecrow.

Redesign of the chiller portion on Trevor.

Have a big machine on order, will do a full on ice in the chest test once it arrives.

Messing around wondering what I could make out of some corn husks.

A very trying adventure attempting to find/buy/resorting to MAKE Talia’s Ruby Gloom backpack this year left me with a bunch of leftover transfers, so Tshirt time…

And since I was doing THAT, they all have been wanting some of “the pumpkin” shirts, so I printed off some of those as well.

Gardening time.

Been working dirt a lot lately.

Talia has thuroughly enjoyed her role as “the flower boss” and our little shopping trip together so she could pick out our flowers was quite fun. She’s always thrilled to see them blooming, and getting new ones.

Her “Magic” flowers, that open with the sun and close at night are the favorites, I think.

And, we finally have an official garden.

Renting a sod cutter and clearing out most of the grass there made for a full day with Kyle. Mostly making room for corn and pumpkins, of course. We need to clean out the grass along the fenceline by hand, as I want to keep my raven grass along there, and there were some old bush stumps that need to be dug out, couldn’t just run the sod cutter through there.

All the dirt didn’t stop me from getting the kids out to play, though.

The train was especially fun since the tigers were restless on a rather chilly Saturday morning.

And the Lion was letting them know who was boss. Not often you get to see one ‘talking’.

Of course we had to hit the terror ride as well. Don’t think I’ve ever noticed that figure lurking off to the right cubby here. There’s stuff coming out the door and windows that distract from it. Lots of little treasures like that on this ride.

The best part was that it broke down and lost some power while we were on it. Alec and I stuck in the dark surrounded by skeletons, with nothing but the scary music playing was priceless. If I ever get to build a dark ride, I would include a long pitch black stretch. Nothing scares people more than their own imagination.