It all started with one simple little decoration for the flowerbed in late September 1994 . . .

And then it just grew . . .

Here you see the yard by day . . .
(You can click on any photo to see the full-screen version in better detail!)

View from Driveway I got very smart our first year - after trying to hammer stakes into our rocky soil to hold the signs, I got a soil auger and "drilled" holes about 1' deep every 18" then put in a piece of PVC pipe and filled around it with sand. Decorating's now a breeze - just drop the sign into the pipe.	1996 - View from the east	The front walk...	Straight-on view What I failed to capture in the shot - at the left of the photo you'll see a pumpkin in front of the garage - next to it are my old jeans & garden boots - the garage door came down and got a victim...	Decoration 1 Our first decoration in the new house in the same place it's appeared annually...
The Fountain We decorate the fountain - at night, dry ice is "fogging" out of the fountain bowl. Notice the 1' tall spruce trees behind the fountain - then look at the 2005 shot...	Front Porch You can see the shadows of the Halloween lights hung from the eaves - I put a mask on the bear. The cheap plastic skeleton has been replaced by the real thing. The rest of the year, it reclines in the guest bath or sits in the living room with "ciggie & champers"	Front Porch Here you can see the porch decor and jack-o-lanterns	1997 - The view from the driveway - a few changes from last year...	Boo Banner This was sent to us by some friends who saw it and said it was definitely something we needed.

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Or by night . . .

Along the front walk... I took our flags down during a little windstorm and tried the Boo banner in a new place...	Fountain at night A year after the daytime fountain picture - watching those spruces?	Front porch	"Old Faithful" - back in the same location!	Carved bear I try a little something different with the bear every year. This year he held a sword. Other years it's been a torch or dagger, some years glow-in-the-dark gooey eyes protrude from the mask.

This thumbnail came out terrible, but the
full-sized picture is pretty darn good...

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Or inside . . .

Reaper The grim reaper swoops down from the entryway skylight	Clock Even the clock gets a spiderweb facelift. The mouse running up is a year-round inhabitant...	Living room bat A trash-bag bag - it's filled with packing peanuts	Mantle The mantle had squash & gourds & fall leaves...and I even stuck ghosts & witches on the Seattle skyline photo	Dining room table At party time, the punchbowl is frothing with dry ice and the fog rolls out and down the table. Our skeleton was pooped from porch duty and sprawled here for the party.
Skeleton with a selection of tasty tid-bits...	Kitchen window The look better at night with dimmer light...	Guest Bath	Bates Bath I think someone had a shaving accident...	Bates Bath A note to Norman from "Mother" in the upper right telling him he's left a little mess and needs to do a little cleaning up right away.

The above pictures are all from 1996 & 1997 - I either didn't stop to take pictures in later years, or I was fighting a flu bug & didn't take pictures, and I know I've got some in a carton of packs of pictures I haven't thumbed through yet.

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Here's a few pix of our graveyard - just the most popular graves, of course. There were more.
This was the first year I put them up and I made them myself, and I've done a little more
work on them over the years to make them more realistic

And just wait till you see what 2005 has in store...

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Posable skeleton & silk flame caldron Eureka - the skeletons have discovered fire! People really though the fire was real from 10' or more back.	Luminaries A home-made prop - a string of clear C7 Christmas lights and inexpensive kids' candy jack-o-lanterns and about 20 minutes with the drill. Simply drill a hole in the back, stick the threads of the bulb through and twist into the socket - voila - pumpkin luminaries.	Posable skeleton & silk-flame caldron I've been tempted to set up a rotisserie over the silk-flame caldron with one of the "skellies" or a shisk kabob of shruken heads...dare I even think of a safari-suited missionary with the skeleton turning the crank???

 

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Here are a few in-progress shots for 2005 - and since they're in-progress, ignore extra electrical cords & the hose, and luminaries that aren't lit because I need a few replacement bulbs or...or...well, anyway, you get the picture - and there's loads more to come in the next day or so

 

The Butler I felt like he needed a little silliness...	The conservatory That's about as decorated as the conservatory gets by me - Paul can handle putting stuff on the piano & keyboard - I ain't gonna be the one who scratches that pristine finish, or I'm finished! <grin>	The itsy-bitsy spider crawled... At night there's a blue spot light at the corner of the office that periodically flashes and illuminates it just enough so you see it's there. I've got a big spiderweb that'll come down from the roof and over the fountain.	The Spider By day, you have a clearer view of the spider if I turn it on - I usually only have it on at night. You may also see that there are also two strings of spider lights "crawling" up to meet the biggie. What you don't see is a black cord running over the roof to a 5 gallon bucket of water on the deck to anchor this sucker just in case...	Halloween Luminaries and bushes lit with purple and orange More pix of these later
More Halloween Luminaries and bushes lit with purple and orange The pictures don't do justice to the colors - I'm really happy with the mini-lights because the colors are really vibrant...	Yard Shot 1 Frankie & the pumpkin inflate at the stroke of 6 every night. All of the other lights you can see are hooked into the lightshow controller.	The Yard 2 The lightshow controller makes thinks blink or flash or fade in-fade out with its pre-set program. There are 6 separate circuits that do different things at different times within each setting.	Graveyard - Day One There are still some vacancies...<grin>... Seriously, it's a little windy and rainy tonight and I tried a new method of staking the stones to the ground. I'm only putting out three to see how they fare tonight. It's pretty windy and in the 3, I have one of the smaller and one of the wider and one of the taller, so it's a good mix for a test. I'm crossing my fingers they don't blow loose and this new idea really works out. It's faster and easier...	Frankie & Pumpkin 1 Like the spider, these have a fan in them and inflate when plugged in. I'm not 100% I'll leave them here - I may move one elsewhere. The pumpkin was a disappointment last year - they failed to mention in the ad that it wasn't lit inside like all the others and I had it out by the driveway and plugged in with it drizzling before I found out it's not illuminated. But that's what spotlights are for, right?
Frankie & Pumpkins - 2 A longer shot - you can see my own home-made "pumpkin luminarias" - fifteen kids' candy-bucket jack-o-lanterns, a 15 light stringer of clear holiday bulbs, about 20 minutes of drilling holes & inserting lights - voila - a complete set for under $20.	Skull Greeter This is a candy dish that you can also hang on the wall. Perfect over the front door, don't you think? As you approach, it senses your presences and starts talking or singing, eyes flashes green, jaw flapping as it talks...	Greeter 2 I first saw this over a month ago and was in hysterics in the store - it sings "I Ain't Got Nobody" which is rather appropos for a skull, isn't it? When I found a coupon for Albertsons and then they had a half-off sale on a few Halloween things 3 weeks ago, I got it.	Greeter 3 It also talks about when it's in the kitchen, its "a-head of the rest" and various other things. It's going to really freak anyone who walks up. Like the butler, I'm thinking this is going to be up for any party all year long.

There's lots more to come - LOTS more.  <Evil Grin> Lots and lots and lots more...
Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!

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Here are some more, with the yard filled out a bit more - the pumpkin patch has appeared, new stones in the graveyard, the spiders have built their web...

Garage Lamp Cover & Sign	A skeletal greeter	A Caldron-Klatch A group of ghoulish types sits around the caldron...	Graveyard by Day	Graveyard by Day
Graveyard by Day	Graveyard by Day	Graveyard by Day	Graveyard as night begins to fall...	The pumpkin patch
The pumpkin patch	The pumpkin patch a-glow	The pumpkin patch's greeter	The pumpkin patch	The spider on the roof is still there...
The spiders have been busy They're spinning their web...	Spiderweb...	A closeup of a relaxing spider	Yardshot from the east	Yardshot from the west

 

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Halloween 2005

Halloween this year in Seattle was a wet and rainy. This is the first Halloween here that I remember it being so wet and cold. We've had colder years, and we've had years that the day started off with drizzle, but the rains stopped by mid-afternoon - just enough time for everything to dry out a bit before Trick or Treating. But, diehard Halloween addict that I am, do you think that would stop me? While the photos below aren't bad, I intend to get some better ones before I pack everything away for this year.  And next year - fog chillers...for those who don't know, if you buy a fog machine, you get puffs of fog that have a tendency to rise. While it creates a foggy atmosphere, I think what everyone really thinks of, what everyone really considers spooky is a thick layer of fog that rolls downward, hugging the ground. That's what a fog chiller does - cools down the hot fog, which rises, and instead makes it hug the ground.

Lawn scene The vertically flying ghost	Garage Our other vertically flying ghost	Fog So far, my favorite picture from this year - the flash caught the fog just right giving it a spooky feel.	The Yard From the graveyard point of view. Some minor changes were made on Halloween. You might notice ghost flying over this and other views...	Graveyard A closeup of the graveyard
View toward front door	View up the front walk Our horizontally flying ghost is in the upper left, making one of its many trips back and forth across the yard. Next year, I'll have "spookified" it more. This is right out of the box.	Ghost and Fog The right-hand fogger has begun to spew, and the ghost flies overhead.	Front walk with fog	Anita Transe-Fujen Out for a bit of evening air, and warming her bones by the front fountain...
Anita Another shot of Anita	Even the butler Even Ravenswood our butler gets into the festivities with witch hat as a tribute to Margaret Hamilton as pictured on his Trick-or-Treat bag. Ravenswood wishes to again thank Tod for such a spooktacular surprise!

 

 

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Oh yeah - I mentioned on Halloween list that the "ooey-gooey sticky eyes" worked great in a Bucky and wanted to see, so here it is. For those wondering what a Bucky is, it's a plastic skeleton, so deemed because the first ones that were released as a special deal to the Halloween-ers had buck teeth.

Gooey Eyes - standard on the left, glow-in-the-dark on the right	Anita Transe-Fujen, eyeless	Anita, post "surgery"	"Ah, that's better...I've got my eye on you!"
Anita Transe-Fujen, with the goo-goo-googly eyes..

 

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