thought Id share...

[Allen H]

My wife posted on facebook a desire for fall, right now! this was my reply

I am blessed by my work with a seasonal perspective. There is a time for all things. Now, summer is a time for saws, hammers, and clay and plaster, that turns into early falls latex and paint, that turns into costumes and airbrush make up and duct tape and spot fixing black spray paint. Winter then rolls around and its time for rest and family, tools for Christmas persents promise a renewal of the cycle, then spring comes with its tradeshows and filled note pads, and yes...spending. I need each of these seasons and proper times in order to do what I do well, Halloween with out summers prep would be no where near as grand. I love and need each season.

Thought you guys might understand,
Allen H

[Raycliff Manor]

Amen my brother! Well said!

Kel

[spookhaven]

And her response was?????

A jolly laugh and thought of that's my Allen....LOL

[Banshee]

had to use that spot-fixing-black-spray-paint today!

[danglin]

Amen!

Sing it to the world Allan, sing it to the world!

Banshee, I wish I owned stock in the company that makes that cheap black spray paint. Oh, wait a minute, as much as I have spent on it the last few years, I kind of feel like I do!

The important thing for us is to take a deep breath every once in a while and really appreciate what we get to do. Not many people get a chance to really do something in their life that they enjoy as much as we all enjoy this, so we need to count our blessings every day. All the work we do is for naught if we don't take a moment to appreciate it and enjoy it now and then.....

Wow, I think these late nights of working at the haunt are getting to me--that was deep!

[Dreamreaper]

All I have to say is ''DITTO''

[spookhaven]

If the public only realized what they were really paying for like Allen said, they would stop to appreciate our form of art and entertainment.

We just did our first parade of the season. So many comments and the people we have run into this past week saying "Halloween already" they just don't understand it's Halloween for us everyday we live and breathe.

People in my area (and I am sure yours) think we throw these haunts together in a week, try 52 weeks for one season hun?!

[Jim Warfield]

But I Like MY Schedule!

OPEN every night of the year for house tours!
When do I fix, clean, repair or build new?
During the daylight hours!
When do I sleep?
When I can't hold my own head up anymore, sometimes right here infront of these keys!
Waiting now for a incoming tour........(that's why I'n on here!)
Yesterday I was ripping out old stuff, yesterday and today I was laying new bricks, tomorrow the new window goes in that hole! "All the better to scare you with , my Dear!"
Plexiglass window of course, and what will they be seeing ? A creation I built a year ago that will now be becoming part of the show here. (And I am pretty sure nobody has one like it ..at all!)

[Allen H]

I will play a violin for you Jim,
I know the year round haunting isint for me, I did it for about 10 years in Orlando and I really missed my seasons. Halloween was just another busy night at work and I hated that.
Allen H

[Dalloween]

Well said Allen... I was actually trying to explain the "seasons of haunting" to someone the other day who was surprised that haunting could be a year round carrear.

[Jim Warfield]

Ever Since...

Opening here my "Clock" has been very simplified.

Morning-wake up get working on the house.
Dark- take a shower, put on black clothes-wait for tours.
House empty, lay down go to sleep.
Monday? Wednesday? Friday? ??? What day is it?
One time the first week of November was history and I still thought it was somewhere in October? That was when I was stil running the place all alone.
I was bitching, "Where is everybody? Only 40 people showed up tonight!"
"Well, it is the first week of November." A local teenager told me.
It is VERY hard to "Miss the Seasons " in northwestern Illinois, they come at you full force, much rain in the spring, very cold and much snow in the winter, 1,000s of little chirping froggies and toads on a humid summer night, howling coyotes anytime of the year.
Guess who rakes the leaves, trims the limbs and vines mows the grass and shovels the snow?
I do!
How can I arrange to miss these seasons? (Short of my demise?)
hahahaah!
I strip the Jeep to bask in the sunlight whenever possible, so I guess I'm not one of the "Un-dead!" (Sorry if this dissappoints anyone)

[Allen H]

In Dallas we have 10 months of hot summer, one monthe of fall and one of winter. Easy to miss them. The trees here also barely change color.

[Jim Warfield]

"Trees barely change color"

..except when they just burst into flame!
Too hot for me. I saw some really fun people come through here today.
One 14 yr. old boy was so funny in his fearful reactions,one time when the scare happened he was standing beside a railing, he grabbed the railing as his feet went straight up into the air where he bicycled them in thin air! (He peddled quickly too!)
I turned to one of the adults in the group and quietly asked his opinion, "Are we in a cartoon?"
The best personal reward for me came numerous times today. Once from a former haunter who said he really appreciated all the different stuff that I was trying to do here.
Another compliment came from a past customer who remarked how what hooked him was the first few words from the tour guide(Me), it seemed to tell him alot about my attitude (or something like that?) and made the whole experience very stimulating for him.
Yet possibly the most incredible compliment came from what I first considered a most unlikely source.
An eldely couple with blank to sour expressions on their faces (Same body language too) seemed to be bored and struggling to justify their being on the tour.
Then when I asked everybody at once how they liked what they had all just experienced?
Her stone face loosened up, became really alive as she barked:"It was Great!"
There are the reasons I am open every night of the year and weekend afternoons.

[Raycliff Manor]

Jim, thanks for all the stories you share. They are always enjoyable, entertaining and inspiring my friend!

Kel

[newhorror2010]

If only the public knew!

Yeah, myself & boss man were just talking about this subject yesterday as he was hanging curtains on one side of the house for a scene & I was adding a layer of detail to our chainsaw scene just a few scenes down the hallway. He started by saying "The public just doesnt understand what we go through each & every season to get this place ready for them! They don't understand the time, hard work, money involved to build a haunted house!" I agreed with him completely on this. Then he said "I was at the store earlier today & was talking with the cashier. She asked what I was up to today & I told her I was heading down to the haunted house to get it ready for the season. She looked at me kinda weird & said Why don't you just wait til the week before you open to do things? I told her that was NOT an option! As many things as we needed to get done around here there was NO WAY we could do everything in a weeks time!" Again, I agreed. I then said "Well tell that cashier next time you see her that if she can figure out a way to do everything in a weeks time PLEASE let us know how to do that!
The detail I'm doing to the chainsaw room has taken me at least going on 3 days now! If ONLY the public understood that most of us are NOT fly-by-night productions! Put up in one day & gone the next!