This year I was planning on a giant pumpkin ghost with moving arms to add to the display. It would also double as a Christmas tree for that display and next spring Jane could plant vining flowers like Morning Glories around it. The base item was a triangular wire frame greeting card rack that I was planning on adding angled vertical rails to to give the ghost's sheet and the Christmas tree a flared shape.
From day one, this year's display construction was one setback after another. One the very first day I broke my freaking bench top vise bending ¼" weldable steel rod. Then it was the oxygen valve on my 20 year-old brazing kit breaking. When I tried ordering a new one through the local hardware store, I lost a week of work-time before I found out it wasn't ordered as they would have had to order two $90 kits and I'm the only one that has ever asked for one. So it wasn't ordered (understandable) but I wasn't told, that was not understandable.
Then I found one on-line through Lowe's Hardware in North Carolina but was supposed to pick it up, though I thought I could have it shipped to me. After buying one on-line through the Billings, MT store. I called the store and after 20-30 minutes was asked if they could call me back to finalize the shipping. After 4 hours, no one had called, so I called them and found they hadn't accomplished anything. I cancelled the order. And found a website that had the same or close to the same kit ( using oxygen and propane or that new-fangled MAPP gas) for the same purchase price. I ordered one and got it in a few days. This took me to the beginning of September.
Then I discovered that I was going through the small bottle of oxygen at the rate of one $12 bottle every 20-25 minutes. So after some soul-searching, I broke down and bought my self a "portable" MIG Welder. I looked for the most complete one I could find, thought I was back in business. Right up 'til I got an email from PayPal saying my money had been refunded. I hit yet another snag, the company I bought it from had a policy that the shipping address had to be included with the PayPal payment. I sent my street address through eBay's message link. NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!
So I had to re-send the money, that I really didn't have on hand. I used my monthly payment to the local hardware store to pay for the welder and delayed paying the store until the funds cleared PayPal and arrived at my bank.
Then UPS had to get involved, they delivered the welder on Tuesday October 14th to the wrong house, but I was able to get over and pick the welder up off of the front steps of the wrong house with no problems.
Then the motors that I ordered to power the arms, also shipped with UPS, got delivered to the wrong house. I didn't find this out until a week after delivery. And currently the motors are lost. Either in Circle, Glendive or on the way back to the sales company, I'm not sure which.
Then I hit the biggest setback, its very difficult to turn a triangle into a square or rectangle without having two triangles. So I scrapped the original idea of adding the railings to the rack and went with a four foot diameter at the base wire mesh cone. I had to widen the base to five feet to get a decent angle for a Christmas tree.
Unfortunately time ran-out for the ghost construction, but I'm getting the basic tree part done as shown below.
So no giant ghost this year. but I did add a store bought 3-foot skeleton and a store bought Pumpkin Ghoul. The Ghoul was a birthday gift from my brother, Hal.
