Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Something Wicked This Way Comes

And some more love from our local paper the Portland Tribune.

http://portlandtribune.com/pt/11-features/327171-206386-something-wicked-this-way-comes


Thank my friend

one of our friends and neighbors has a great blog and did a cool write up on the Davis Graveyard

http://www.bjdorr.com/201610256554



Monday, October 24, 2016

Surveying his domain

Hal is sitting on the hightest place on the property, watching the yard and the people.  Basically doing his job.



BTW - no, he did not do that damage.  The planter is on it's side on purpose and they yard is supposed to look overgrown and a mess.

Second week in November.....big dumpster for yard debris and a pressure washer are in my future.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

We got a new cat

It is a black cat....and at night it glows in the dark.

WTH?!?!??

I do not usually buy decorations from chain stores anymore.  I prefer to support my friends that make stuff :)

But when I saw this cat, I had to have it.

Needs a name







BTW - Hal does not appear to be happy about this situation.




Wednesday, October 5, 2016

I'm very pleased to hear you say that, because I'm giving it to you

I can't go on forever, and I don't really want to try. 

So who can I trust to run the factory when I leave and take care of the Oompa Loompas for me? 

Not a grown up. 

A grown up would want to do everything his own way, not mine. So that's why I decided a long time ago that I had to find a child.

RIP Mr. Wilder.

You will forever the magical part of my childhood.


Tuesday, October 4, 2016

I usually never see her

Dor, the Angry Cat.

She has her own facebook page because all the pictures of her look like she wants you all to DIE.

But mostly she just hides and sleeps.

That is until I have to get out this very large section of black fabric to sew for a projection effect backdrop........

.....then I cannot get rid of her.

Cats.....

I feel a nap is order

This fabric needs more cat fur...just my opinion.

What?????

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

'I have never seen

such devotion in a droid before.'


RIP - Kenny Baker


Davis Graveyard tombstone new for 2016


I has a sad now.

Monday, September 26, 2016

They are so little how can the do any harm

...don;t believe that for a second.

Last year one of the crew started making baby demons.  Fun and creative, they look cute hanging around the abbey.

So we taught how to make them at HAuNTcon  and West Coast Haunters Convention this past year.

And then she made some more.  They are adorable.









Sunday, September 25, 2016

They are putting blood in the ice cream

(shaking my head) Oh Portland, you never cease to entertain me.

We really are a group of weird people.   And I love you.

Even when you do something silly like put blood pudding in your ice cream.

I kid you not.

Salt & Straw (a local Portland fav for ice cream) has announced it's Halloween flavors.   And you guessed it, one of them has blood in it.

Some days it is really good to be vegetarian.

I give you Dracula's Blood Pudding.   The ice cream includes real blood.  For those of you that do no know what blood pudding is.....that is what google is for.  It is disgusting, trust me.

If that is not enough they say it has a 'hint of chicken liver'

OMG - you have got to be fucking kidding me!!!!!  Who would do something like that to ice
cream?!?!?

(sound of frog queen get out of her chair and running away)

I am back now, good thing my office is close to the bathroom.  I think I just lost my appetite for ice cream for the rest of my life!

Oh, but wait, there are more!

Great Candycopia - lots of candy crushed up in butterscotch ice cream.
I mean, how can that not be awesome!

Jack o' Lantern - Pumpkin sherbet.
YUM! Frog queen 100% on board with this one.

Essence of Ghost - A grayish sherbet which is bitter, sweet with 'slightly musky' flavor.  
What the hell is that supposed to mean, you are just shitting me now!

Love Potion Sorbet - a combination of aphrodisiac fruits and spices
How do you tie that to Halloween??  No, that is not a rhetorical question.  I really want to know how that is Halloween related.  Really?

All kidding aside, they do make great ice cream and if you are in the Portland, Oregon or Los Angeles area.  Check it out.....except for the Dracula's Blood, no one should try that.







Saturday, September 24, 2016

It might seem like a good idea

to get me bath stuff.  Because if you know me, you know that I have a large soaking tub upstairs that I basically live in in the winter time.  Love me a bubble bath.

But I hate cheap bath products.  Those crappy gift sets they sell at Christmas....yeah, no.

I really only love one bath product....well maybe two.

My favorite by far is Lush bubble bars.

Where is this going.......

Look!  They got new Halloween stuff in stock!

Pumpkin - Bath Bomb
Bath-o'-lantern









Monsters' Ball - Bath Bomb

Multicolored mutant





Sparkly Pumpkin - Bubble Bar

Transform bath time into a ball







Boo - Luxury Bath Melt

One spicy spirit










I am a big fan of the bubble bars and bath melts so I will be getting several of both.  I have tried the sparkly pumpkin, 

I heard you gasp!  'The frog queen touched something sparkly?  Isn't that a sign of the apocalypse?*"

It comes wrapped in plastic. So I am safe.

I was a bit worried when I got it that I would have a frog queen and a bathtub that looked like this


But surprisingly, no gold on me or the tub.....it must be magic sparkles.  Or the sparkles know of my reputation and are so scared of me that they high tail it down the drain.  (Maybe they heard about that apocalypse rumor?)

Anyway, highly recommend it.  It is very warm spicy smelling, Cinnamon and cloves and that kind of nummness.

Review on the Boo bath melt to come later.

I am not a big fan of the bath bombs, but I really have to try the pumpkin one, just because....it is a pumpkin.

* Just for clarification. The sign of the apocalypse that you are thinking of is if the frog queen ever wears pink.





Friday, September 23, 2016

I keep telling myself

that there has to be a perfectly good explanation for this.

I tell myself.......I will not dial 911,

There is no one in the house.....I imagined it.

...but I still cannot get out of my mind that as clear as day, I heard two men talking, and it sounded like they were in the house.

I am still surprised at how much it startled me.

I have been working at home for years now, and never really worried about being safe in the house.....so I must be making this up.

Here is what happened.

So, I am working on some Etsy/Put a Skull On It, stuff in the basement, and I am just about to head upstairs for something.

Then I hear it......

......very short exchange of words from two guys......'something, something' then "okay, yeah".

I am home alone all day, so I know there is no one in the house.

I am not expecting any repair people until tomorrow.

Even though I know I imagined it.

I had to.

I am a little wary going up the stairs.

This is silly, I tell myself.  There is no one here and I imagined it.

I get to the top of the stairs and say "hello?"  At this point I am not sure if I would have prefered an answer to confirm I am not hearing voices......over there being some strangers in my house.

But, as expected.

No answer.

No one there.

Of course not, because I imagined it and there is no one in the house, silly frog queen.

But I cannot shake how real it sounded.  Those voices where in the house!!!

I do have some new music playing on my iPod, first time I have listened to this, so maybe it came from a song.   I go upstairs and start the song from the beginning, maybe there was talking before the song started, some studio banter that got left in the take.

Nope, just music.

Well, crap, that is not it......

Maybe it came from outside.  So I head out to check it out.  The yard is partially up so maybe someone is just snooping around.  Yep that is what it must be.

Because I know I heard voices and I know I am not crazy.

But just to be sure I grab my phone and think.....would it be faster to voice call 911, or should I already have it up on my phone so I just have to hit call....I always tell myself I will not be that stupid person in the movies....I will call the police....and apologize afterwards.

WTF? I went from normal.....to there are men in the house that want to kill me way too fast.  This is silly,

I walk out the door, and walk around the yard looking for the source of the voices.

Maybe the guy that checks our water meter (our weird house has the water meter up on the property instead of at the street, so they come into the yard every month)  maybe he is training a new guy, and they were chatting about the house/halloween decor.....

That must be it.

No one is there.

I really must have imagined this.  Call in the guys with the white coats.

Head back in the house.....then I notice I was working in the shop and left the door open, I should go check to see if then are in there.

No one.  Just Hal, the Halloween Cat, sound asleep on the couch in the upstairs of the shop.

Now I am just being silly.  Tell myself to just let this go.

I am feeling very stupid and confused......then I think....wait......one of the crew can diagnose if  I am crazy!!!

...but she is on vacation....crap!

...just let it go.  

(I have not seen Frozen, so if you have that song stuck in your head....I did not do ti on purpose.)

Come back in the house and both Dor and Mason are sound asleep on a blanket in the living room, next to each other.....very rare,  Like many siblings, they hate each other.

On top of that they are my two feral rescue cats....they jump if you drop a spoon on the floor.  So if anyone was in the house, they would be long gone.

But no.... they are napping cozy.  So I just imagined it.

And note to self....you should get a lottery ticket, because this is getting weird.

Still cannot get it out of my head how real the voices sounded. 

They were in the house.  I know it..

But there is no one here.

I am just about ready to google.....'is hearing voices a sign of insanity?'

Now here is the rub

Because I was feeling kinda creeped and confused, out I decided to message husband at work.

Here is what happened:

Me: I know there is a logical explanation for this.....but I could have sworn I heard to guys talking for few seconds in the house....but there is no one here.

creeped me the fuck out.

husband : I'm on my computer (remotely from work) down in the office and playing DG videos with sound! posting 2015 and 2014 DG videos to youtube 

sorry about that

Me: scared the shit out of me....I was in the basement when that happened well at least now I know where it was coming from

Thanks for scaring the bejeezus out of me.

husband: LOL I am so sorry but damn that is funny!

well on the positive side I got 2015 and 2014 videos uploaded and the gallery page current


Me:  I hate you

I am going to delete the remote access software off his computer.  Oh, and by the way, we have updated the Davis Graveyard YouTube channel - that was the long way to tell you that :D

Thursday, September 22, 2016

So it appears that I rather be killed by and axe murder

then walk through a spider web.

Last night I had a nightmare.

I am just walking through a hedge maze at night during a full moon, as most people do, and all of a sudden I see this HUGE web and spider in my path......

......okay, that is not true, it just sounds better that what really happened,

I kid you not, I was walking through the maze and then out of the corner of my eye I see a spider kinda hanging in front of me off to my left.  Not a particularly big spider mind you, now that I think about it I am not sure if it was a spider, could have been a small leaf or something.....

.....I could have walked around it, or at least tried, but I turned back, just in case it jumped on me (shudder) or something.  Just to be safe.

I turn around and there is a guy running full tilt at me with an axe....again, not true, it was a shovel, but an axe sounds better that what really happened.

Anyway, I turn back around and see the tiny spider, then back around to the axe murder.

I do this several times and cannot bring myself to walk past the spider.

I remember thinking to myself, I am going to die because I am afraid of a spider.

Yep, that was what was going to happen.....

Just saying, thank god for my alarm clock.





Thursday, March 31, 2016

DAVIS GRAVEYARD WINS THE FIRST HAUNTED ATTRACTION ASSOCIATION HOME HAUNTER AWARD


We are very humbled and honored by this award. Thank you.
Who knew that 30 years ago, when we lived in California and worked on a home haunt with our work friends and family that the path would lead us here.
First of all we want the thank the Haunted Attraction Association for nominating and choosing us for the first Home Haunter Award from the association. It has been a very long journey with our great crew and family who have supported us and kept us going and inspired to create something we are all very proud of. We want to thank the home haunter community who have welcomed us and inspired us through the journey. We love you all and appreciate your enthusiasm and energy.
We would not be here today with out the family, crew, community and people who have supported us.
Special thanks to our friends and family that have been so supportive over the years. Leonard and Jeannie Pickel, from the first HAuNTcon we attended in 2006 until today, you both have always supported our creativity and helped us learn to share it with our haunt family. To Mike Krausert, the first class we took from his group changed our creative techniques forever. Cydney Neil, from Rocky Point Haunted House, seeing her attraction and her attention to detail on every level gave us the drive we needed achieve that in our display. Our local Northwest Haunters Association and West Coast Haunters Convention.
Thanks to many of our vendors that have become friends over the years, Froggy’s Fog (Chris, Tater, Adam and Landon), Minispot Lights (Bert & Kim Zelten), EFX TEK (John Barrowman and Jon Williams), Voice from Hell, the voice of our grave digger (Dick Trehune), Hot Wire Foam Factory, Ghostride Productions, and Smooth-On.
Thanks to our Tombstone Workshop Student, to the tens of thousands of visitors over the years, the hundreds of students who have taken our classes, all the Davis Graveyad Zombies courtesy of Milwaukie High School, and our local community (City of Milwaukie, Clackamas County).
None of this would be possible without the AMAZING (and always entertaining) Davis Graveyard Crew past and present.
Jennifer TenBarge,Tony TenBarge, Chris Reid, Daniel Sharp, Elyssa Thelin, Dawn Reid, Matthew Rinker, Lisa Gunion-Rinker, Aimee Danielson-Germany, and Jason Germany. (an of course, the mascot, Hal, short for Halloween Cat.)
Thanks again to everyone. Happy Haunting!

Friday, January 15, 2016

Who let the baby demons out


We got rid of a lot of props this last year, so I guess while we were busy one of the crew, or the EAD  (Evil Artistic Director)- who knows let the baby demons out of the shop.

We were going to wait until they were older and more mature to make sure they did not get in any trouble....but that didn't happen, so they got out and spent the whole month of October hanging in the abbey just high enough we could not reach them to get them back in the shop.

Demons....nothing but trouble!  In that good kinda way....you need demons and we can show you how to make them.





This was a great project headed up by one of the crew.  If you like these little guys and you are going to be at HAuNTcon in Birmingham the end of the month, sign up now....this class is selling out fast!




Thursday, January 14, 2016

With all the death lately

Reminded me that this year we have to make a difficult tombstone for a lot of the crew who
are Terry Prachett fans.

Since there were so many quotes we could use and we could not chose, one of the crew came up with the brilliant idea to use his family crest.




So I will leave you with his words....this sums up his sense of humor in his writing perfectly:



Christmas, Davis Graveyard Style


Sorry these are a bit late.....but the is what the Graveyard looks like in December.




Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Her name is MoMo

The Davis Graveyard seems to have acquired a shop cat :)



She was my neighbors cat until they got a new dog.....she apparently hates the dog and has made her home in the upstairs play room of the shop.

She is the sweetest cat, that loves when we are hanging after a build day up in the shop.  She is currently getting less attention, but appears to be staying.  So welcome MoMo to the Davis Graveyard.

BTW - Hal, the Halloween Cat, is not amused.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Statue in the Tree

We always start building right after West Coast Haunters Convention.  This year not only did we start building props, but we put one in the yard.  She was going to go into a tree and need her arms out and her dress to flow so she had to be made on the ground.

Since she is a statue we could not have her wrisits ope (since a statue would not be carved that way) so we attached her hands and filled the wrisits with expanding foam and sanded it out to look like she is a carved statue.

We wanted this to look like a statue that had been taken over by the tree and vines.  So in June, we placed 'The Lady in the Tree' in the tree outside the front door and started to move the wisteria vines on the tree to grow around her.

The vines grew around her all summer and died back a bit in the fall. But the effect was just what we were looking for.




The statue was based on this picture by the INCREDIBLE photographer Dan Westfall






Unlike many of the other props we did not light her directly, you could only see her when the lighting was flashing on her.

She was sort of our 'Easter Egg' in the yard this year and was just stunning.

Photo by Marci Lehman

Photo by Marci Lehman

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