Can't wait to see and hear more.  Where are you guys located?

Saturday Oct. 3rd (21 days till the party)
45o cold, overcast, windy, & rainy
Haunt helpers: Ronald, Jason, Stephanie, Alex, & Myself
6 hours

My nephew Jason & his girlfriend Stephanie arrived from Oregon earlier in the week. They surprised me Thursday night at Supper. Will be staying a month, & plan on helping with the maze! Yea!!

Alex & I had arrived by 1pm, Ronald & Jason were already adding on to the previous work. With the extra hands to help we got most of the walls up & ruffed in place!! I mainly helped with getting wood, doors, or holding stuff in place until it was attached. It's still hard to believe that we went from having very little done, to so much in a short amount of time.

There will be plenty of caves added this year, as well as the return of the flip wall panel (pivots 45o on both sides of the walls). Not exactly sure what other challenges will be added as we build. Gotta keep our patrons challenged, otherwise they would be disappointed. Hoping to beat last year's maze size of 3,000 sq. ft. It'll be more of a challenge with money tighter & 08's donations of $30 to spend on it for supplies, etc.

* We wore multiple layers today to keep warmer during the build, since there is no heat in the shed. As we got warmer working, had to shed a layer.


Update-

Sunday Oct. 4th
Scored a full pickup load of free wood dumpster diving, that's to my Father's tip!! There were 2 1/2 full 4x8 sheets of 1/2 in. osb plywood, 2x2's, misc. scrap wood.

Photo link to follow...

Saturday Oct. 10th 35o  6hrs
Haunt helpers: Jason, Sharon & the mini minions, Myself

Snow flurries fell after Midnight & covered everything with an inch of nasty white stuff. Ronald had planned on being down at the maze by 10am from the Twin Cities & leave by 3pm. Plans changed & he had to cancel.

Jason & I met after lunch. Wore multiple layers to combat working in the cold temps all day long without heat! Sharon's minions were planning on stopping by later to tour the maze & help were they could. More overhead bracing & walls went into place. We took a break when Sharon's gang showed up. They were pretty impressed with how different the maze is year after year. Even though it's in the same location inside a shed with it's limitations.

Asked them to scout the maze for  4 potential tunnel/cave locations. It had to be an 8 ft section where it could be attached in two places on both sides. Since there are so many twists & turns in it already... it was more challenging then they thought. We installed 3 out of 4 of the caves before it was time for them to leave. Jason & I worked on it some more. Then gave tours to family members as they checked on our progress. Was time for Hot Casey's Pizza for Supper. We watched a movie & some played cards. We both were tired & called it a night.


Photolink to follow...

Monday Oct. 12th, cold & rainy 38o
Haunt helpers: Ronald, Jason
? hrs worked

I get home from working a 10 hour shift, tired & exhausted at 4:45pm. Take a quick shower & feel a bit better. Just before 6pm I get a call from my nephew Jason. Hey, have you had Supper yet? I reply um no, just waiting for it to come out of the oven- homemade Lasagna! Jason- wonder if you want to come down & work on the maze? Ronald is already down here because work was slow. Me- ummm... I'm kinda tired. (my mind was willing, just not my body) Jason- Well... if I see ya, I'll see ya. Ok, bye.
I really wanted to go but, knew if I did then there is a better chance of getting sick from a cold or allergies. Sadly I stayed home & enjoyed Lasagna & watched tv.

Ronald & Jason finished on the over head bracing & actually get two of the bigger tarps ( 20x30, 30x40) mounted over the top of the maze. With it being wider & longer... it covered 3/4 of it.

Saturday Oct. 17th, Sunny & warm 55o!
Haunt helpers: Ronald, Jason, Alex, Kathy, Myself
8 hrs
The day starts with an email from Sharon & the mini minions, they are sick & can't come to help decorate. I know this is very disappointing to them because they love this part the most. I get a call from Jason- Is there any maze money (donations from previous year) left? Could use 4-5 cheap  brown household extension cords & 4 dimmer switches. Yes, I say & I'll get them before coming down. When I get to the home improvement store, surprised that they are completely out of the 6 ft brown extension cords for 88 cents. Ask the clerk & get the standard holiday answer "just what's on the shelf". lol Pickup four 9ft brown cords & a single 15 ft brown cord. Luckily I spot dimmer switches on sale for $4.98 each & pickup four. Sadly, this blows the $30 in last year's haunt donations.

I load up the truck with almost all my plastic tubs of Halloween stuff, lighting & effects. By the time the truck is loaded & grab some lunch on the way... I don't arrive until 2pm! Plan was to leave after lunch by 12:30, yea right! Get down to the haunt, Ronald & Jason are unloading salvaged school lockers from a huge tractor's scoop. The plan is to place lockers on either side of the haunt entrance & place an old pool cover to build a mine entrance facade. With some fanaggling it gets placed, braced, etc. Some lighting- black lights & chandeliers are installed. A single cd boom box (is setup for now) connected to a Lightning F/X unit to play scary music for the house part.
The transition of cave to abandoned house is complete with the clock entrance installed. More props are added as we figure out where to place them. Motion detectors are added to some lighting. Strings of orange leds are placed under the catwalk, metal grating & are dimmed down. We do a walk through after dark. Reluctantly determine that it's too dark to find your way, without more lighting. Guests will never find the hidden key areas to allow access to the next sections, in it's current state. (insert evil laugh) I don't leave until 10pm after the final walk through with fog & also taking more pics. The funny thing is that I unloaded all my Halloween stuff, & much didn't get used yet. lol Next Saturday Oct. 24th, is the big night of the party!!

Note- the addition of lockers, metal grating, & a few other items found around the farm really helped to accent this year's haunted maze.

Tweaks-

Friday Oct. 23rd
Haunt helpers: Ronald, Jason, & Myself
40o cold, windy, rainy, & mixed flurries.

6 hrs

We meet for lunch & drive down to the farm. It's cold & rainy the entire 20 minute trip. The big pool tarp over the entrance with the lockers has blown over & is collecting water. Two figures at the entrance have blown over as well (they are heavy & well constructed too!). Even though the shed roof has some small holes in it in a few places, it's kept the rain out & the maze dry. Definately a good thing that we tarp it every year. A few more lights are installed into the haunt & dimmed down. The que area needs to be reset because of the wind having blown it down- easy fix. Both foggers are setup & tested. We do a final walkthrough with haunt lighting, sound, & effects before a Supper break. Afterwards we're all in agreement to call it a night- being cold & tired.

Sadly we could continue to tweek things until we might actually get sick of it. ha! I've got 8 fullsized big tubs full of Halloween stuff that's hardly been touched. lol

Here's hoping for the best....

Happy Haunting thoughts.... Happy Haunting thoughts!!!


Note-

There are still a few things left to do the day of the party- decorate the house, put sign out, place tealights along the drive way, clean dirty/dusty cd players, dress up in costume.