We had begun the process of putting up the background pieces in the front yard. We had most of the large scenery pieces (moon, swirl, mountains, columns, low stone wall) in place and looked forward to adding to the scene daily. Then the wind came.

In the middle of the night high winds passed through our neighborhood, tossing garbage cans and litter every where. Holiday decorations from neighbors’ yards flew through the air. And the wind got us, too. At 3:00 am, both my daughter and I awoke to the loud sounds of the wind and debris crashing around. My daughter told me that something had happened in the front yard. We went out to see our set pieces broken and in danger of breaking further. The giant moon had broken through its mounting screw, the mountains were fallen over and the various pieces were threatening to blow away. So, my daughter and I began de-constructing the scene and moving the large pieces to our driveway where we could lay them flat and put bricks and paint cans on them to keep them from flying away. We grabbed the leftover pieces of Styrofoam still flying around the back yard and put them indoors.

After about 45 minutes of work in the wind, we headed back inside, only to come back out a half an hour later to find more of the set pieces had fallen or were in danger of flying away. So, we finished off the last few pieces that were close to breaking.

In the morning the house looked like this.

We had planned to use the day to work on some additional props, but instead we went to the hardware store to get supplies to re-build and secure the set pieces better. The majority of the day was spent bolstering the supports, adding new securing points and increasing the weights which held the supports in place. While I finished up the re-building, Grace and Michelle tackled the touch-up paint to fix the spots that had been damaged from the night.

By the end of the day the house looked like this.

Phew! We hope that the set pieces hold and that they remain up for folks for Halloween.