Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I have the best friends

Our good friends Linda & David brought us this cool pin from the Hard Rock Cafe in San Francisco during Halloween.....since they know that we are tethered to the house and cannot go collect this cool stuff on our own.


I know, we have the coolest friends!!

Anyone know if any of the other Hard Rocks did any cool pins for Halloween?


If you noticed

the internet was running kinda slow......that was because it had run out of batteries.

But not to worry, husband replaced them today and everything seems back to normal......now I must return it to Big Ben, where it gets the best reception :D

Anyone wanna hop a ride with me to London?


I apologize to anyone that has NOT seen the "IT Crowd"....you don't know what you are missing.....go right now, I will wait and stream it on Netflix.....you can thank me later :D

Monday, January 23, 2012

The battle of the Tuxes

The Davis Graveyard household is comprised of more cats than humans.

Two Tuxes - Hal and Mason.....and one gray and white cat called Dor (Dorie) - who for the record, normally the lead trouble maker in the house....but tonight it appears her brother was tired of her hogging the limelight.

Mason and Dor are brother and sister....although you would never know it.....she is really small and he is a really, really large cat....twice her size and about 1/3 bigger than Hal (Halloween).

He is basically a small, domesticated panther cleverly disguised in a tuxedo.

The Davis Graveyard cat politics are endlessly amusing to husband and I.....after we have had a bottle of wine......

....without "medication" it is just a lot of yelling at what ever feline is causing the trouble.....which, as I mentioned,  is usually Dor....

Where was I......Oh, yeah,...

I was getting my pumpkins in order.

Now, being the Halloween person that I am you would be safe to assume that I meant that in the same reference as getting your "ducks in order".  Which would be clever if that was the case.

It was not.

I was going to try to get my collection of ShellHawk pumpkins in a row and tarted up for a photo for my friend....the famous ShellHawk....but I forgot something.

The household is mostly comprised of cats, evil, trouble causing cats....they outnumber the humans, so how could I forget.

I would say it is because they sleep at lot.

But they do not sleep all the time......no.  It just seems like it.

My cats....like most house cats in the universe are bored and always looking to amuse themselves....mostly, I mean always, at my expense.

Tonight was no exception.

For the record, I told Shell....her ceramic pumpkins are trouble makers on their own right....that is why I keep them in separate rooms.....they fight constantly if they are left next to each other.

So why would I risk this?

She posted on her blog that someone took of  their collection.....all four of them together, smiling and behaving - I was inspired - she in turn,  asked for others to send their pictures, which meant me getting all mine in the same room - which for the record....I knew was going to be a bad idea.

Anyway....

I collected mine from  their various prison sentences (I mean display perches) from around the house and got them all together on the coffee table.  They were being surprisingly good all sitting there ......wow....I was impressed....I should have known they were only quiet because, unlike me, they were aware of the "cat politics" going on the sofa just a few feet away.

They must have been scared.....and I should have too.

But I was stupid and let my guard down and thought....."you all sit here (cats included) while I run and get the tripod for the camera that is in my office."

Simple request.....I mean my office is just less then ten steps away.

I learned that chaos.....was only about seven steps in fact.

That is when I heard it.

It went from a growl to a cry to the sound of crashing in less than five steps.......which was enough steps to put me back in the living room to see Mason and Hal mid-fight jump from the sofa to the table......sending everything crashing.

TV remotes....books.....and pumpkins.

....(sob)....I can barely bring myself to remember the details.....

....after renaming both cats to more appropriate (for that moment in time) names that surprisingly both begin with the letter "F" - I went to access the damage.

...as I got closer I was relived to not see, lots of orange pieces on the floor.....the pumpkins were intact.

Woohoo!!!  I guess there will not be dead cats in the house after all......

I collect everything and realize that I am missing something.....

......the littlest pumpkin.... :(

Using my (truth denying) imagination I think......well, he must be hiding under the table - I mean that is where I want to be when the tuxes start fighting......

...nope......then I hear it.....a rolling type noise from under the couch.

Kinda the sound that a small ceramic pumpkin would make if it was rolling around.

....then, in my imagination I think.....

What if the small pumpkin was really full of Halloween magic and animated itself in a last ditch effort to escape and it is rolling to safety in a corner.

Yeah, I have a really weird imagination.

But in reality, I know that the "rolling" sound is the result of a newly hyphened-named cat that forgot he should be hiding from a very angry frog queen.....instead could not resist because "something moved so I must bat it with my paw" even though I will give up my hiding place......

I look under the couch to find (F**king)-Mason, that is in fact going to be his name for a while, looking at me like a deer in the headlights with a pumpkin in his mouth.

He looks at me as if to say "What?"

Now, anyone that has ever met my (F**king)-Mason cat will tell you he ALWAYS looks like that - if he was human, let's just say that he would be the good looking football playing frat boy crushing beer cans on his head.....you can imagine how proud I am.

As a "fur" mom, let me just say....I could not be prouder of my "kids"......and it just reminds me how grateful the universe should be that I did not have actually children. :D

Anyway he can tell that I am mad....so he tries to jump from under the sofa and onto the back of a small end table...with the pumpkin......


...NOOOOOOOOOOO........

....he is agile and makes the leap.....but like one of those moments in a heartbreaking football game as the star quarterback drops the ball....I hear the pumpkin crash to my floor....which is unfortunately not made of grass or AstroTurf.....but not-bouncy-unyielding hard wood...which is pretty.....but as I am to learn, not safe for small ceramic pumpkins.  (If I write a letter as a concerned parent (of a ceramic pumpkin) do you think I get them to put a warning label on the flooring packages?  "Danger.  May cause damage to ceramic pumpkins"? - No, me either.)

So to get what I imagine will be a pile of pumpkin rubble, I move the couch and see a helpless and scared pumpkin laying face down on the floor......

.....but all in one piece!

Woohoo! (F**king) Mason, may just go back to Mason after all!!!!

I pick him up, put him on the table and get ready to take the picture.

...I mean I have gone to this much work.....it would be a shame to give up the adventure at this point, so the picture is back in the plan.

I frame the pumpkins in the shot and click and say.....what the.....???

I appears that the small pumpkin did not make it out without lifelong scaring.........


.......as the picture can tell you...."Mason" gets to keep his new hyphenated  name for a while.

....on further reflection......I should for the record let you know that in the back of head I am thinking....those other two pumpkins grim an awful lot....it is likely this is not Masons fault and the other two larger pumpkins devised this whole plan with Mason to kill the small rival pumpkin......at least this is what the small pumpkin says (in-between sobs).....the two large ones are denying everything, saying "he hit his head, he does not know what he is saying....."  Yeah, I think I used that story on my mom a few times ......if I recall correctly....never worked on her either.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Yes, I a such a sucker for a Bruce

Campbell reference.

I have to get this sign for the bathroom in the shop. :)


Been looking for socks

because I have an old house and it is freezing upstairs where the bedroom is.....I joke it is like camping......and you all know how I feel about camping :(

So I found these.....yes, this will do the trick  Zombie socks!!....I mean they will do the trick for you.....they have brains on them.....which are pink and I feel the same way about pink as I do about camping. :)

The search continues.....

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

I need a new neighbor

one of my favorite neighbors has to move in with her kids, so she is selling her house. She has been one of the most tolerant of all the madness and late nights that we have here at the Graveyard - we have been very lucky.

So I am hoping to get an equally good neighbor, or better yet.....a fellow Halloween crazy.

If you live next door imagine all the fun we can have???

Trust me, you can walk right through your new yard into mine....my cats do it all the time.....and it will be a lot easier for me to just call you when Mason gets out and you can tell me if he is in your yard rather than me crawling through the laurel (usually infested with spiders - shudder, shows how much I love my cats!)

Here is a picture and a link to the listing.

For you garden people she has an immaculate yard both in back and front, she has been featured on our garden tour in the past.

This house, like ours, has an outdoor fireplace in the back, great for fall parties......it is the house for you.

And because it is not really popular in the NW, they are not highlighing it here in the pictures.....but she has a swimming pool.  Think of the parties we could have the whole four days a year it gets over 90 degrees :D

So I am looking for a new neighbor.....anyone have $249,000 lying around?

I promise to help you unpack........and bring over a really good bottle of wine or two to celebrate!!!

Anyone???

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Typical Sunday night at the Davis Graveyard

We spent Sunday afternoon and evening filming video for a promotion video for West Coast Haunters Convention (you are all coming right?) at the hotel where the convention will be held this year!  (Yes, we finally extracted it from the school gym!!!)

Here are some great pictures courtesy of the attendees





Looking forward to seeing the final video....husband is down in his lab as we speak working on the edits!

www.westcoasthauntersconvention.com

Do you think I can convince

husband to let me carve the Davis Graveyard logo into one of the blinds in my office :D


That would be so cool.....

....but I do have destructive cats.....

,,,,,but I can buy a replacement and cut another one......

,,,,but that would cost money......

....I bet if I buy them in bulk, I could get a great discount......

That my friends was a small looking into the insane logic in the Frog Queen's head....sorry for that :)

Saturday, January 14, 2012

If it does not snow and shut the whole thing down

we will be filming the promo video for West Coast Haunters Convention tomorrow night at the hotel.

Of course that is unless the weather people are correct and we are going to get snow - which is pretty rare in Portland.

Does anyone know a anti-snow dance :D

We are going to start filming at the Double Tree Hotel in Portland tomorrow around 8pm (probably film the first group shot around 9pm).  If you are in the area and want to be an extra, we are looking for people that can dress up in costume and show up at the hotel....kinda a flash mob thing :)

We want to get the group shots done by 9:00-9:30 - so it should only take an hour or so.

If you plan on coming for the filming, follow frogonpumpkin on twitter and will post update on how the schedule is going....if we have to cancel - I will let you know as soon as I can.

Don't be expecting anything as fancy as the HAuNTcon promo.....we are doing a different take since we do not have any footage from last year - we have to create something from nothing.


We are haunters, we are good at that.


We hope to have the video up on YouTube by the end of the month.  I will take pictures tomorrow and try to put updates here on the blog and Facebook and Twitter.

As always, I have to say thanks to all the many, many people that are helping Ed Roberts make this convention this year. 

At least they will be used to seeing

people dressed up as zombies!

It is official the tickets for HAuNTcon 2012 are now on sale.  Woohoo!

This year it is in Monroeville PA - the same town and near the same mall where Dawn of the Dead was filmed. Check out this cool link the the Monroeville Zombie Museum....I guarantee you we will be visiting while we are there!!

Since the location is in the same town I am sure that there have been many "zombie" groups visiting....we are going to feel right at home.

Any, I also believe that we have the whole hotel reserved for the convention....no more complaints from the other guest about the ghouls and monsters wandering the hallways at all hours of the night :)


Here is the latest promo video that was made by the talented people at Haunt Ventures that did all the fantastic filming at HAuNTcon last year.

You might notice a few Davis Graveyard props featured. (from about 2:31 on)  Most of this was filmed during our Monday class - which looks like fun but absolutely insane to make happen.  A lot of work for only four attendees....I think we broke even by the time we paid for materials :(  But like many experiences in life....we learned a lot.

LP asked us to do it again (or something like it).....but I am not sure we can make it happen.  We are still discussing it.  Anybody interested in spending the day with the Davis Graveyard crew?

Here is the link to purchase the tickets.  There is a presale discount so get yours early, we do.   Like ever HAuNTcon I look forward to meeting a blogger friend or two.  Let us know if you will be attending and we will be looking for you.

Here is to HAuNTcon 2012!!!!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

So I thought I was being so brave

after.....I don't know, about 10 or more spiders crawling on me through take down ......

I thought I was making progress on my phobia.

I had managed to pick up countless items and put them away, only to find that were spiders on them after the fact.....and you should be proud of me....many I spotted in the process and soldiered along.

I was moving along at a pace where I truly was planning on giving myself a full commendation .......I was on the road to recover.

Then......the spider of doom entered my life.

As with all spiders it seems smaller and much less scary from a distance..


Let me explain.....our panels for most props are a wood frame with foam glued on that we texture to look like what ever foam surface we choose......not only do the 1x2 work to make the frames.....when completed with foam attached offer good hand holds to grab so that you do not damage the foam.

Pretty close to perfect.

Yep.......

Except if you are me.

Most of the crew humors my spider "problem".   Much nicer than I would if the roles were reverse. :D

So, after a very stressful situation where I put a panel from the abbey up in the shop with the help of a few fantastic minions......I notice something..........

Where I had my hand placed to carry the panel up for placement appears to be the home for one of largest spiders in the universe.

To be fair, my cry's of help where answered by one my crew......who after rescue attempts....for the spiders......not me.......said WTF!!!

WTF!!  So many times that I was interested........

.....mind you not enough to actually go look at what they were talking about.

The first spider I complained about.......and for me if I complained.....there were at least 10 others that I said nothing about......trying to grow my cowardly self into something resembling less of a psycho.

But I failed......

Failure........on any level, for me, really depends on contact.

If the spider crawls on me at any time..........failure is certain.

Spider walking on the Frog Queen will always end in screaming.......and at lease a bottle of wine or few rum drinks........otherwise I fall into the void of madness.......

More then I already have......

This is where you learn your friends.....are enemies.

Dawn bravely (extremely) catches both the frist spider and then on to the other spider....the one I could not speak of.....in a paper cup......

I guess while both spiders are in the paper cup together trying to fight their way to freedom......the comments from the crew (who I hear LOVES me - at least that is what they say!) turns toxic

Dawn and Lisa......who I thought were my friends..........both tell me that the spider that they caught that was closed to my had was past at category 4 spider.....

Phill Jupius has taught me well..............Category 4 is bad.........

I think that Lisa said that was the largest spider she had ever seen.......{{{swwoon}}}}

They both go on on explain how it barely fit in the cup and when they showed it to husband it really freaked him out.

And he is not afraid of spiders...............

I pause for a second, and take a look at these "friends" that want to help me but realize that my life just changed.

I then, understood for the first time in my life the true danger I was in......and I understood that I need friends that are better liars.

"Oh FQ, we are going to take this tinsy-winsy spider outside"....is what they should have said.

These are moments when the world falls apart on you my friends, and no amount of therepy of super glue is ever going to make this right again.......

Does anyone want a mausoleum?  Really, not kidding, we are selling it........to be honest we came to that decision before the spider.....but the spider did help me not thing twice. :)

I think I might need to take up knitting for a hobby.....I am guessing there are less spiders involved!!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Been catching up on my

Qi episodes.....they did a Halloween special....not the best episode they ever filmed.....I could just be saying that because there is a big spider behind Stephen's head :D


One can never have too many ghosts

This just made me smile!


Very, very cool pen......

What happened to the Frog Queen?

for someone who blogged a LOT.

Sorry - I had friends that commented that they could not keep up with me.

Well....that is not the case as of late.

Life changed for husband and I in mid-December - we both found ourselves unemployed.

Not to worry....yet, we planned for a rainy day or months....and it looks like something is brewing for husband, so from here it looks like we will be okay.....for now.  At least I am not panicking yet!

With all this free time, you would think I would blog more....but actually, I have been away from the computer a lot, working on projects outside and around the house.

And to be honest.....although I have a lot of Halloween related stuff going on, I have just not been in the mood to blog.

But I do miss all of you and reading your blogs.....so I think the tide is changing.

Now that we have a location for West Coast Haunters Convention, things on that front are moving ahead....but with this convention unlike HAuNTcon, we are more involved at the ground level and having to deal with all the legal and accounting side of setting up a business, that is in this case a nonprofit.  Lots of conversations over lunch and paperwork.

Then there is the Haunter Video Awards.......hopefully there will be a revamped site up soon.......I have lots of people offering to help, just need to get off my butt and get that moving.

Speaking of that....we need videos - even if you just took pictures.... slide shows are just as entertaining.

Well, I should wrap this apology up....before I go into too much detail.  All these events and projects deserve separate blog post.....which I should get working on.

I have funny stories to tell, like the spiders in my yard that considered to give me a heart attach during take down....starting with a HUGE spider trying to eat my hand off - it was horrible, but I think it has been long enough now.....I believe I can talk about it without nightmares.....I think.

See you all soon.

Cheers and Happy New Year!




Saturday, January 7, 2012

This about sums up my life

Husband and I were cycling through videos and pictures of the yard to get our 2011 video done.  While we were shifting through what seemed like a thousand pictures....I saw this one.  By the looks of it it was probably right after HAuNTcon as we were getting ready to ship last years video awards out.

I know this should really be a folly post.....but I had to share.


It was all about the abbey, the awards, planning the yard (you see that binder.....it goes everywhere with us....it stores all the secrets and crazy ideas) and of course.....there has to be cat in the photo. :)

Back to the many projects I have been working on.......

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A little light reading


very cool book I got at a christmas party.......who knew that zombies could write so well :D

But this is my favorite place


Dorie trying to convince me not to take down the Christmas tree..........

I am scared....she looks angry and she is sharp on five sides!!!

I think it is time


to put the Christmas decorations away.....the glitter skull award seems a bit chilly and pretty happy with his Santa hat....maybe I should listen to the cats and turn the heat up in the house :D

Shinny




I put a necklace of Christmas lights around the hand of my small skeleton monk.....he seems to be very distracted by the shinny :D

Husband told me I had need to sell all my Frog Queen Follies (and I did, thanks to all of you that bought them!!) ......but I kept this one.....I might make more....maybe.....if you ask real nice.  But this guy is staying with me.....

I know it is way after Christmas......I am very behind.....I am running, try to keep up! 

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