The Haunted Yard: It's Fianlly October!

Where did September go? Most of my weekends this past month were spent Halloween shopping and putting the final touches on 4 new tombstone. Since I now have a bigger front yard, I was able to up the tombstone count to a perfect 13! I wish I had the time to plan and build more props, but I kind of wanted to see how my existing stuff fit in the new yard and plan any additions for next year. The final weekend in September was spent setting up the yard.

There are a million "how-to" websites for making tombstones on the web, and mine is really no different. I've made all my tombstones from Styrofoam insulation, cut to shape with epitaphs "carved" with a Dremel. Since most of my previous tombstones were kind of silly and heavy on the puns, the four new ones were in the same vein. The new additions are:

Roland Stone -Gathering No Moss

Lee Ning:

Abbie Normal

Rick R. Mortis

The remaining tombstones from years past are:

Marcus the Carcass --the first tombstone I made to go with the Marcus ground breaker...who still lights up my yard after all these years!

Tom Thumb --the smallest tombstone at only 8 inches tall!

Clair Voyant --you wouldn't believe how many people I've had to explain this one to!

Les Moore --my abbreviated version of the real Lester Moore marker in Tombstone, AZ.

Johnny Yeast

Dracula

Frank N. Stein

Otta B. Alive

The Tin Man

Another new addition to the yard was a cemetery fence. I toyed with the idea of building one from 1X2 and PVC, so I made a trip to the local Home Depot to price materials. In the garden center, I found a 30" high Gothic-style iron fence. The price of the fencing cost me only $7 more than the materials to build one. It was an easy decision! I love the way it looks and it really adds a cool element to the yard.