The Think Tank

The party was a bit smaller than usual this year, as the weather was so beautiful that many people went camping instead of hanging around town, but that was actually nice in a way as I got to spend more time visiting with the people who did come.  We had a really great time.

Thanks to everyone who came, and to those who didn’t make it, stop by any time!  We made a bunch of beer and still have some of everything left over!

The fireworks boards worked pretty well.  The show lasted about 8 minutes this year.  The video below shows the whole thing, but the last couple of minutes are the really fun part if you want to just jump to that part.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/101355147[/vimeo]

We finished up our pumpkin carving tonight, with a grand total of 27 jack o’lanterns.  I think they turned out excellent!  Thanks to everyone who came and helped: Joel & Sarah; Jim, Jamie & Camden; Alan; Marcie & Brett; Miranda & Kyle; and then of course Mom, Maure and Shannon.  Here is a peak at this years crop, and I’m sure there will be more to come after the big night tomorrow!

Mom submitted the video I made for the previous post and sent it to Channel 8 News, and they came out tonight and did a live spot at the house for KGW @ 7.  Here is the video of the segment.

KGW – Halloween 2013 from Christian Roberts-Olsen on Vimeo.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/77946448[/vimeo]Hi everyone!  As you know this is my favorite time of year.  We did a great job of getting all the Halloween stuff up pretty early this year.  I’ve continued to mess around with a few things, but everything has more or less been up and running since around the 10th of October.

Saturday night was our annual Pre Halloween Party, and it was a really nice night.  The weather cooperated beautifully, and we had about 20 people over the whole night.  Some of those folks were old friends, and several were folks from the neighborhood we met as they were admiring the display out front.  The other part to the Pre Party is to test out all the effects and props, and that went well too: the teeter-totter died and had to be fixed, and the air line for the Crypt Popper sprung a leak as well.  Hopefully that will be it now, and Halloween night can go without trouble.

For those of you who aren’t going to be able to make it over this year, I used my shiny new iPhone to shoot a video tour of our haunt.  Hopefully I will get some more on Halloween night with the hoots and hollers of scared kiddies, but this should suffice for the time being.

Talk to you soon!

Portland, OR —

Chris Roberts-Olsen, Supreme Allied Decorator for the Northeastern Front, has declared victory today over the forces of Grinchiness everywhere, bringing to an end nearly four weeks of feverish efforts.

“There will still be some minor wrap up operations, cleaning up a few hold-outs here and there,” said Sue Lauber, the Northeastern Regional Commandant.  “But major decorating operations are now ended.  We haven’t seen so much as a green Grinch hair since before Thanksgiving.”

Roberts-Olsen and Lauber are satisfied with their efforts this year, but they aren’t getting cocky.  “We’re prepared for some additional setbacks.  You never know when a string of lights could blink out,” Roberts-Olsen reported.  “But it looks like everything will be a good to go before the weekend”, he said, referencing the traditional end to the fighting season.

Not everyone is as chipper as those two, however.  “You people are ridiculous,” declared Shannon Corgill, a former Reservist recently called to active duty.  “I better get a back rub out of this deal.”