There's a Giant Robot in My Yard

Stage 1

Stage 2

The robot Halloween decoration was a success. In spite of being destroyed by two rain storms. I kept at it and finished it with just a day to spare. This was not going to happen if  it wasn't for my daughter who said:  "Daddy, why don't you just build it in the shed." I said because it wouldn't fit–lo and behold, with just a little bit of sawing of the neck, It fit perfectly and I was able to work without worrying about the rain destroying it again. Sure enough it did rain a lot.  This is the reason I did not want to work with paper s maché. If I did that, you need at least 3 sunny days to generate enough heat to dry that stuff. The cardboard boxes were easy to work with and thanks to a staple gun, I was able to keep things in place pretty well. For some stuff, I used duct tape but sparingly. I knew once it rained, that would  be the first thing to fall off. I got a window of sunshine at one point and it was the perfect time to paint the thing. It took two cans of silver to cover it. I'm sure my lungs will collapse from all of the poisons fumes I inhaled.

 I moved it to the front yard and wired it down to keep it from killing someone if it fell. The final size for the robot was around 9 feet tall. I designed it specially to not interrupt the power lines in the front. I added two  'spider bots' One on the garage and the other a destroyed version with lights wires and strobe lights. The neighbors loved it and many cars slowed down and apparently people posed with it. It's nice to make your neighborhood special for at least one day. It's hard to compete for interesting things when you live next to Berkeley and San Francisco.As expected, lots of people showed up but not until later because of –you guessed it, more rain. i was so glad because I bought a LOT of candy.

Final Stage

 I'm already thinking of next year. Giant Spider Bot? Witches around a cauldron? Who knows, I'm sure it will come to me next August.


That's all,
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