Saturday was my day to work on haunt projects. Was all psyched up to do stuff, contacted a fellow haunter via email (since his phone number had been changed) to get together & talk haunt stuff & compare notes. I waited all day to hear from him, nada. So, Saturday ended up being my lazy day.

 But, Sunday would be different! I vowed to pickup haunt supplies & build my first big project today- a bridge of doom. Asked my nephew Jason (who is my main haunt helper for the maze) if he had plans or wanted to help? Said he was busy. Stopped at Tractor Supply's dumpster, several pallets were entertaining themselves in an almost empy container. The first one I spotted was 2 1/2 ft W x 9ft 11in L, perfect! A standard 3x3 wooden skid was laying next to it, also in great shape. Score!! I had planned on buying two 2x4's, several 2x2x8's, & using whatever pallet planks as the decking.

Went to Menards to check on a special order for a new front door, still not in. arg! Bought two boxes of screws, & the 2x2's from Menards. Went to Lowes for 20ft. of bulk plastic chain & a drill bit.

After a few other stops, I finally made it home with all my finds. Unloaded them all, grabbed the needed tools, & started taking the smaller pallet apart. I thought this was going to be a quick disassembly, wrong. Learned a valuable lesson today "taking apart pallets suck!" Not all the nails wanted to come out nice usuing a prybar. But, maybe it was because they weren't the standard nails. They had a twist at the bottom end of them. Grr!!

Finally got all the nails out, measured the planks & cut them to 2 1/2 ft L using a circular saw. Placed all the planks & even the short pieces on the bridge deck in place. Screwed half of the pilot holes through the plank pieces into the main supports. Then drove the screws into place. My battery died just as I was getting ready for the second half. Swapped out the battery with a "fully charged" battery. Yeah, right! The second battery didn't last as half as long as the first... Grr!! By then it was starting to get dark anyway. Had planned on working on it more but, was getting frustrated. Cleaned up & put everything away.

 I have pictures of the pallets, materials, etc. Just have to upload them on Monday.

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As many of you know...

I attend Horrorfind Weekends in Maryland every August.

It's a chance to:

meet up with my friends from HF forums
build a Haunted House in 8 hrs
attend Haunt Seminars
meet new people
network with people in the Haunt business
maybe meet some Horror celbs
watch horror movies on the big screen outside

The time between conventions is a like forever & a day. Yes, there is a March HFW con. But, it tends to be smaller then Aug. & you can't hang outside with friends till the wee hours  with chilly weather. This year the convention is in a different  city (Adelphi) & that means a different Marriott hotel. For those that attended the last 8 HFW's, Hunt Valley Marriott was our yearly home away from home. This other hotel will take a bit of getting used to but, it'll grow on us. I got a report back from a few friends that attended the March con this year at the new location. Not from a lack of planning but, there were definately growing pains on both sides (hotel & the con). Rest assured that things will be ready for August. It's been hard counting the days till the next convention. But at the sametime it helps a little.

Haunty

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update 4/30/08

With it being such a cold Winter this year, I didn't get a chance to build anything for my haunted maze yet. But happily the snow has melted & the days are getting warmer. Getting anxious to start building something. Not long ago I went for the annual price quotes for Haunt supplies. This is the first year that there will be 3 home improvement stores in the area, yea! Went to Menards first, then to Lowes. Menards still came out the winner for cheaper prices.

 I started sketching out new concepts to add this year to challenge my patrons. Gotta keep em' guessing! Last year we did a Medieval dungeon theme & had a blast. It was so much more different then anything we've done before. Want to continue the theme & see what we can come up with this year. The maze had grown to 27x72 or 1,944 sq. ft, our biggest yet!! We had people lost from 30 - 45 minutes inside. (in groups of 2's, 3's, or 4's)
Still no one has ever gone alone through it, after 7 years!

Haunty

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Today March 28 thru Sunday the 30th is Horrorfind Weekends 9 in it's new location in Adelphi, Maryland. It's also my Father's Birthday also.

A number of my friends are there enjoying the convention. With my bills what they are & only having the choice of attending one convention a year. Mainly because of all the costs associated with it. Not living in Maryland, but many states away. Or a 90 min. drive to the airport, a 2 1/2 hr flight to Baltimore, & another 25 min. drive to the convention. Limits my options. So today I feel myself being tugged in two directions, both here where I live, & there. To help me deal with the separation, today:

I wore a past HFW's con. shirt
played the Monster Geocide cd at work (that my crazy roommates (from MG) from 07's con., gave me).

 I could have gone to this convention which is smaller typically then the August con. But, then again if I did, then I wouldn't be able to attend the Aug. con. Which is much bigger & has the HFW's boardmember built Haunted House, which I'm a haunt crew member. So, I guess you could say that I have the HFW's blues...

Haunt_Master

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Spring Cleanup days

Just got my local city newsletter today.
Was happy to see the full page write up announcing Spring Cleanup April 7-11, 14-18. A large map is included & grids out the schedule of city pickup. It traditionally starts at the lower East end & gradually works it's way up to the hilltop. Local residents are encouraged to place sorted unwanted items on the boulevard for pickup.

 You may be asking why should anyone here care? Well, over the years I've found it to be a great resource of "free" Haunting building materials. Found anything ranging from: scrap wood, old wooden doors, old mirrors, outside lighting, chandeliers, & even brand new wood (plywood, with nothing wrong with it). In just a few short trips through my  neighborhood, I've filled my pickup multi times. For example  the collection of 25 wooden doors used to extend my Haunted Maze. As well as everything we find helps greatly to control costs, and ultimately make it bigger & scarier. Check out my gallery & see for yourself.

 If you would like to have this service provided in your city, please email me. My city council person would love to help your city get involved too. It's a win/win for everyone involved, because it reduces what goes into the landfills.  

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Time is creeping up for my favorite Horror convention.
 There will be two conventions this year, March & August at a new location.

The dates are:
March 28-30th
& August 15-17th
in Adelphi, Maryland at the Marriott Inn & Conference center

 I posted all the available information in the "Events" section of the forum. Please go there for details.

Who knows...  you might spot me at the August convention, I'll be there.

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This morning started like a typical MN Nov. Saturday, cold & sunny. Was spoiled from last Sat.'s temps. of 50's. Earlier in the week the forecast was for 50's once again. This morning proved them wrong. It was sunny, windy, & a high of 35o.

 I had known that I would be working on taking down the maze by myself. That was because my nephew called me to inform me that he couldn't make it due to work. But, was surprised that I had 6 family members chip in to help. That helped make up the difference for my nephew Jason working.

The four of us worked on it for the majority of the time. It wasn't till later that the other three people joined in. We spent a total of 4 hrs today working on it. Half the group worked on sorting stuff, the other half helped with demolition. Was glad that I wore multiple layers with the colder weather. By 6pm we had all the panels, doors, & scrap wood, stacked neatly against side walls.

 My pickup truck box was filled with tubs of my haunting stuff (props, etc.) to take to storage. I took a final look around & there is still stuff to sort through. Ugh. As I turned off the lights & shut the doors (I thought at least my brother inlaw can get his farm equipment inside the shed for storage). Will do a final sort & get everything put away next week.

Helpful haunt tip-

 Never mix a combination of square head screws & phillips head screws when either attaching walls or overhead bracing. It gets very annoying having to change out the bits at demolition time.

 We try to always use 2 1/2 in square head screws when attaching two panels together. Also we only use shorter 1 5/8 phillips head screws to mount props or small lighting effects.

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