Tag: October

How to Stuff a Scarecrow to Last Through Rain & Snow

All Weather Scarecrow

I my early days of doing scarecrows, I stuffed them with straw. Where we live it rains several days in October. Occasionally it snows at least once by the end of the month. My scarecrows were smelly and starting to rot by the first of November. Often the clothes were not worth keeping more than a year or two. Last year I decided to try something different.

I was cleaning out my craft stuff and deciding what I want to use for that season. I have always crocheted and knitted a lot. Several years ago, I discovered that I could crochet with plastic grocery bags. I made a play rug for my youngest son for him to use with his cars and monster trucks. It looked like parking lots or tracks and he loved it. I also made beach bags and reusable grocery totes. I have always been big on recycling. I had saved a great deal of bags and my arthritis in my hands was making it hard to crochet the plastic. So, I was trying to decide how much I might use soon and if I should store the rest in my shed.

Suddenly I remembered stuffing an outside cushion with it so I could leave it out on rainy days. I dawned on me that it should work with my scarecrow. I started with a pair of jeans my son had outgrown. He had a growth spurt, suddenly taller than me. I put some big rubber bands on the ankles so the bags would not fall out and stuffed legs full and then the top part. I arranged the legs where I want hi to sit and got some old boots to stuff the ankles into, hiding the rubber banded area.

Next, I started the second step. I placed a large flannel shirt where I wanted it to sit on the pants and stuffed the body up to the sleeves, so it was full enough to sit up. I stuffed half of the sleeves from inside the neck then finished filling up the body enough that the neck hole stayed open. Finally, I stuffed the sleeves the rest of the way from the wrist opening so it was easy to place the arms the way I wanted them, bending a little at the elbow. I took a pair of work gloves and stuffed on bag in each. I buttoned the sleeve openings so the bags would not come out too easily and pull the gloves up over the wrists.

Final touch was to place a pumpkin on the neck opening, I used and old decorative pumpkin that we revived a few years before by painting it silver with splatters of black. Arrange his arms and legs however you want them and add a hat. I used and old gardening hat that was easiest to find this year, but I will probably hunt threw all the old stuff from years of drama club and see if I can find a straw hat. The best thing about this scarecrow is nothing purchased, just old stuff I would have been donating soon and it held up so well in the rain and a light snow, that I was able to re-use everything this year.

If you have any tips you have uses to create your own scarecrow, please share in the comments below and also share a picture if you have one.

Return of the “Square Crow” (Scarecrow)

Spooky new residents on our front porch.

I gave in and decided to do just a little bit of decorating for the season. I did not expect any kids to stop by here partially due to the pandemic, but also the kids in the neighborhood have all grown up, so we have only seen maybe four or five groups of kids stop by the last couple years. Then I saw the newest neighbors outside with little kids. Two neighbors across the street. They put pumpkins on the porch, and I thought that was like us when our kids were that little. They need a safe place to stop on Halloween. I am thinking about printing out something to tell where the Trunk or Treats are this year so they will know the best safe places to take the kids.

So…I dug through my shed where I put the bigger stuff from last year. I found a couple of straw brooms and got all the stuff for my scarecrow and started setting him up. I will have to finish stuffing him and find his gloves. I think he could use a straw hat too, but it got dark before I finished. He doesn’t look to bad though, for not being finished. My youngest son got home from work and noticed I had started. He had a couple things to add, but he said to wait on setting them out, because it was supposed to rain. So that was it for today.

Post in the comments if you know what type of spider this is.

My son went to his church where he plays drums. When he came in, he sounded all excited and said, “Mom you gotta see this”. So I went out to see what he had discovered. Low and behold a huge spider had set up resident above our scarecrow. My son wanted pictures, so I grabbed my phone. While we were taking pictures, so we could look it up and see what kind it was, it started chomping on its prey. That was when he decided to get some videos and super close. Hope you are not to squeamish when you see a spider but remember this is just a natural way of pest control. And a funny coincidence since I just started setting out a few of the decorations for the season.

I did some research to find out what kind of spider this is. The best information I could find shows it to be a Brown Widow. A few other sites also daid it was a brown widow, but this is the one that seemed to have the best information. Please post in the comments if you find a better source.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/23403

More October Fun Memories

A new “Square Crow”

My youngest son was born a few days before Halloween. He loved costumes and we often bought him a costume that could double as pajamas in his youngest years. Knowing he would outgrow his costume we decided to let him get more use out of it and continue wearing it at bedtime until he outgrew it. If it was still wearable after that we added it to a tub of old costumes and decorations.

As he got older, he began creating his own costumes. We would go to rummage sales and thrift shops all summer long, picking up something her and another there. Usually by September we started putting things together. Sometimes a little paint, maybe some hot glue and a little sewing here and there. Eventually it turned into the costume he pictured in his head.

Then we would start on decorating the front of the house for Trick or Treaters. We did that the same way we did the costumes. Getting out the tub of last year’s things and combining our new rummage and thrift store finds we would start putting everything together. Something new and a little different each year.

Last year he turned 18 and he didn’t need any help with a costume. He pretty much had what he needed and did his own thing. I got out the old tub of stuff and a lot of things were not in good enough shape to use. So, I cleaned it out and was looking over what was left. My niece had posted a picture of her and her brother with that first “Square Crow” and I decided to make a new one.

We had several pair of outgrown jeans, that I was getting ready to donate, so I picked a pair I thought looked good for this project. I had a lot of plastic bags which I save and usually crochet into things like beach bags. I began stuffing the legs and then added a flannel shirt. Instead of a real pumpkin I had an artificial one. It had been getting shabby, so I had painted it the previous year. Added some gardeners gloves the same as the original. Then used an old pair of boots for the feet. I didn’t get a picture of the boots, but you get the general idea. By day it was just a friendly fall decoration, but at night it had a spooky twist.

Please feel free to add any of your favorite October fun memories in the comment section.

Christine

October Memories Costumes “Square Crows” and More…

Saved by the Huntsman

October has been a special month since I can remember. My grandfather was born October first. My youngest sister the 2nd, My niece the 18th and my youngest son the 25th. Many other relatives and in-laws also share October birthdays. We have tried to do something special many of those years. This year we won’t be having many trick or treaters, because of the pandemic. Trunk or Treat spots are being set up in certain areas to make it easier for kids and their parents to follow guidelines, so I thought I would post some of my favorite memories and photos of October decorating and past costumes for Halloween.

The Square crow

Our first Square Crow

One of my first memories is not long after we moved to our home, my niece nephew from Ohio, would come visit and spend the night every so often. We did not have kids until several years later, so we really enjoyed the visits. On this particular visit it was October, so we decided to do some fun decorating with the kids outside on our front porch. We built a scare crow Starting with making a face on a pumpkin. Both were too young for carving a face, so we used permanent marker. We set that on the step and built the body around it. Some old jeans a flannel shirt, Gardner’s gloves and a hat all stuffed with straw. They loved it. My nephew was not talking much yet, but my niece called it her square crow. We got so tickled at her we have called them “Square crows” ever since.

Dress Warm play Clothes

Several years ago, my sister brought her grandson over for a visit. After a short time, he decided he would like to play outside. The air had cooled quite a bit by then and he was too chili but hadn’t brought a jacket or anything warmer. I was looking around to see if I still had anything from my boys when they were little. Finally, I found the plastic bin full of outgrown Halloween costumes. It was not yet time for Halloween decorating or costumes, but it was all I had.

I asked my sister and we asked my nephew, her grandson, and he got all excited. I got the tub out and let him go through all the old stuff. He found a top half of a costume that came down past his knees and a mask that covered his head and ears so he would be worm.  So, he got dressed warm enough and we went outside.  We both had fun with him chasing me around and making scary noises. We used to hang all the outgrown costumes along our fence as part of our decorations, but this was also a great way to use the old costumes.

I will be adding other October Memories throughout the month. Hope you enjoy them. You are welcome to tell us some of your favorite Octobers too. Just post in the comments.