Tick... Tick... Tick...

The clock is steadily ticking, counting down the seconds until All Hallows Eve is finally upon us. I guess the phrase that comes to mind is: 'So much to do, so little time.' My darling wife, who surely will be cannonized a saint one day, is planning on taking the little critters to Iowa for the weekend, giving me almost two full days to work on Halloween stuff (with the provision that I clean the basement and get it ready for the party. Uggghhh...)

Last night I got most of the gravestones out in our front yard cemetery, with the exception of the four new ones, which need to have small holes drilled through them so black zip-ties can be threaded through. This is done to attach the stones to small lengths of rebar which I pound into the ground. I've learned from past mistakes that by simply trying to push the zip-ties through the foam core, they tend to go sideways and come out the back side at crazy angles. Also, when they come out, they pop out a chunk of the core, which looks unsightly. So this year I will be drilling pilot holes for the zip-ties in order to keep things nice and neat.

The foam core is salvaged from a trash bin at a construction site down the street. I did not alter the overall shape in the least. I kind of liked the rough hewn look. I simply cut out the epitaphs with a pattern and Dremel, painted them with a coat of primer, spray painted them gray (with a light dusting of black to 'age' them), and then hand painted the streaks and grime for added effect. Top them off with some moss and you have yourself some ancient gravestones! One of the tombstones I made this year can be seen above. By the way, for those who don't know who Edward Gorey is, you should check this out:

http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/

So the basement is going to take a ton of work, as it is a complete disaster. I plan on tackling that tomorrow night. But once that is done, I think I will get the remaining tombstones up and then devote the rest of my time to the garage haunt. As I've mentioned before, my original concept for the garage didn't pan out, so I've switched to Plan B. Now that I've had a few days to think about it, I'm getting kind of excited about Plan B. I think with enough time and imagination, I can take a fairly lame idea and turn it into something really creepy...

P.S. SAFETY TIP! Before you pound the rebar into the ground, call your electric or cable company and have them come out to mark your yard. Better safe than sorry - you don't want to hammer one of those right through an electrical cable, otherwise you may be buried in your own graveyard!