Well I started setting up tonight and will finish up tomorrow.  Got one kid in my sights who mouthed off to my kids. I hate snot nosed brats who think they are so tough...he will have to sleep with his mommy after I am done with him.  I am hoping for a good crowd this year, not anywhere near what I had when I did the whole yard but maybe a few hundred.  Few more things to do tomorrow and I will be all set.

Well we had a good time at our church event.  I wasn't going to dress up but my kids wanted me to and they found my old skeleton mask and one of the bone gloves. I used my witch costume and I had my scythe in the house already.  I was really creepy and followed the kids around.  Here is a picture of my costume. It was the first time I had worn the skeleton mask and it was really good.  hmm I wonder if I can fool the kids with it this wednesday on halloween, lets see I bet I can... only a few more days

Well I got my FCG motor mounted and its ready to go.  I need to construct the rest of the framework and will set up the ghost tomorrow to get it working right.  This year is going to be really scary and I will get to keep all of the candy. My new costume is ready to go and it seems I will have a whole family of people here to watch me scare the kids. Few more days until Halloween!

So I look around on some other forums about the pro haunts here in the DFW area.  I like to read the reviews because basically it keeps me home so I do not have to spend money on these haunted houses.  My number one gripe would have to be the price people chare for their haunts.  Number two would be the multi haunt theme park.  Who gets scared at a theme park? Now if it was like that film called Fun house that might be okay.  Number three are the haunts that charge to park in a field. Now I might could see if it was concrete and there was an off duty cop watching my car but really a field which at one time had cows on it.  I read these reviews and they all usually complain about not enough actors.  Now maybe I am wrong and I have only been to two places that are supposedly haunted but aren't they vacant and abandoned?  Now the Catfish Plantation is an active restaurant so its not vacant, but The Baker Hotel is vacant and locked down and was a spooky place if you let it get to you.  Even on some of these shows on T.V. its a vacant place with no electricity.  I think the term haunted house should be reserved for places that are like this.  A revamping of the haunt industry to come up with a new term say maybe " Terror complex" or Asylum would make more sense to me.  If your oging to have a bunch of nuts with blood on them whoare chainsaw knife wielding maniacs wouldn't make more sense that they were in an asylum.  I have only been to one haunted house that actaully is ghost focused and that is Disney's Haunted Mansion.  Also sorry ADA folks but most places have stairs and if they have elevators they don't work anymore because the electricity is out so bring a flashlight.  I guess since we live in a workd that is so inundated with horror you have to fill the place with actors.   Murder is what most houses are about so why don't they call them that?  I have ideas for a haunt but since our media keeps our evenings filled with death, murder and mayhem will anyone be scared by a measily ghost filled haunted house anymore?

Well wife and I went to 13th street morgue last night and it was a nice time to get out after my first few days at a new job.  Well first I have seen Reindeer manor in the daytime and its a junkyard but I was actually surprised at what you couldn't see at night so I guess I will let that slide but I always try to think what would Mr. Disney do, and he would haul all of that junk out of there and or organize some sort of place to keep any items that could be used.  So driving in we noticed one of the gas flame lights blows on a tree branch or at least within six inches or so.  So I would flag them for safety reasons, I know they are pretty tight with the city of Red Oak but like most things nothing is ever addressed until there is an accident.  So whoever has his farm land next door if it gets burned down tough luck.  Parking what in the heck are they doing?  After we were sort of guided into place we walked up to the wait line for the tractor and I watched the scouts try to direct in other people.  I could hear circus music playing in my head as they bumbled around with their special flashlights.  After returning to the parking lot I could tell that getting out was not going to be easy and if you were inside one of the lines of cars you were going to have to wait for a few people to leave.  You had about 6 feet between your car in front and in back so your locked in.  We didnt go to Reindeer manor because its the same old show year after year. I have heard there are people who like that and Disney's haunted mansion is the same since opening but it just doesnt have the same draw for me.  I did hear from some lady in the crowd that she had to wait an hour and forty minutes to go thorugh Reindeer and even after whatever electrical problem had been addressed it still really wasnt fixed correctly.  I know last year that Reindeer blew a transformer which was or wasnt their fault.  Personally seems to me having a liscensed electrician ( not some friend ) but a person with no vested interest in the haunt come out and check for stuff up to code.  I guess when the place burns down they will fix it.  This is something else that would come under a safety issue.  Personally I think they need to manage their haunt better, I know it was opening night but seems a place that has been running since the early seventies should have the whole hting dialed in.  I know these review crews who run around look for actors and so forth but I think the scope needs to be broadened to a whole experience strating from when your car enters the lot and then leaves.