Well, sort of hard to believe but today is the half way point between Halloween 2022 and Halloween 2023!
I've made some progress toward '23:
In some downsizing:
I did sell the big/heavy/'semi-pro' speakers I lugged in/out of storage for the 'one big night' every year. Going to switch over to a few bluetooth speakers for ambient sound this year. I didn't have any huge rumbling bass, so I think the BT speakers will be fine for the general ambient sounds. The downside is that I had envisioned pairing several BT speakers and setting them at various places around the yard. Turns out, outside of 'heroic' efforts, you can only really pair one speaker at a time... or possibly a specially made stereo pair. So will see if I get downsized to only one speaker or come up with something else! lol
Also sold a couple of unused plasma globes. At one point in the past, I though I'd be ambitious and make a set-up to experiment with the various gasses and fills, but that never really came to pass, and now that xenon is running thousands of dollars for even a tiny gas cylinder, I doubt I ever will. Plus, in the years since my original plan, several others have done a bunch of experimentation and discovered essentially all of the 'interesting' gas combinations. So now much easier to just get a pre-filled globe.
Also sold a stack of decorations which never seem to get set out or put up. So yay, a bit more space / clutter removed!
In other work:
I keep thinking I'll make a bit more formal set-up for the controllers on my LED node lights and every year the controller gets screwed to a scrap piece of plywood with wires zip-tied in just the right spots for it all to work. Maybe this year will be the one to actually build a decent set-up!
I also need to do a bit of landscaping. I used to have a row of three juniper bushes which doubled as Halloween / Christmas trees - just change the LED nodes from violet/orange to red/green! But over the past couple of years, the trees have died off one-by-one. So need to look into some replacements or something else which can be decorated in that spot.
Also on the subject of plasma globes, I think my plasmaduino globe lost the battery last year. In typical fashion - everything works great right up until the big night. I had the plasma globe set up as I have for the past few years, and it was working great. At some point in the night, I walked by and it seemed to be barely making any plasma streamers at all and then a bit later it was not 'streaming' at all. Thought maybe a cell had gone bad in the battery...it seems like it has voltage for the general lights, just no power to make streamers. I actually set it back on the shelf and somewhat forgot about it until now - so maybe should take a look!
Things still to do:
I want to try 3D printing a voroni style skull and maybe experimenting with some LED lighting
I also need a new planchette for my ouija board, so thinking of trying something more ornate...
Also hoping to re-work some LED candlesticks and possibly my candelabra.
So guess I better get to working instead of typing!! lol
