The countdown sign.
This has become a rather popular addition to the yard leading up to Halloween.
2 years ago, it began with a piece of plywood I found, a couple hooks, and some poster board.
Among the problems being the weather mutilating the numbers, and the fact you really couldn’t see it at night…
And…no one seemed to know WHAT it was counting down TO. Oh, sure, I could go put “days to halloween” or something on it, but I like folks to wonder sometimes. And, occasionally, one would ask what the numbers were for.
Last year, we decided to give the thing a good and proper upgrade. Sign V 2.0 got some heavy duty outdoor paint, a permanent housing for a blacklight fixture, some more scrap plywood to make the numbers out of, and some flourescent spraypaint ensured that the weathering and light problems were solved. (though we did lose the cool nighttime face)
The light fixture proved itself to be quite weather resistant through a rather turbulent October, that made me think of leaving it up through the winter after that first snowfall.
By this time, most folks knew what the numbers were for. Very few asked, but I still got a lot of comments. Often with someone hollering whatever the number was for the day. But, we had the problems of the numbers starting to fade in the sun. Well, except the few that I had mistakenly painted with non-flourescent spraypaint first before going back over it with the flourescent.
We joked about getting it out at several points during the year. Having a ‘285’ or a ‘139’ sign out for a day or two during the year. But, once it hit double digits, Jen’s been a bit more vocal about it. Several times mentioning ‘we should put up the sign’.
Well, it’s been burried, and I really only had enough numbers to start at 59. Then, this last week, Jen got asked if we were still doing Halloween, for a neighbor was wondering as they hadn’t seen anything yet, and the sign wasn’t even up.
Well. Who am I to argue with requests? I did have some scrap subflooring left from construction, so another number or two wasn’t so hard. So, Sign V 2.1 got a fresh coat of that outdoor paint for the sign and all the numbers last night. And the numbers all got a base coat of orange prior to the flourescent.
And, we moved it off the grass and onto the porch to prevent problems with the lawn for now. 
I’m thinking of adding the blog address to it as well.