This time I was prepared, or more so than I was when I was constantly running down the block scooping up my props that blew away. Ah! The wonders of PVC and rebar. Just about everything that could be staked was, including my reaper who got knocked over so many times last year that he started to come apart. I finally left him laying down until the winds died down and then tied him up.
Not this year, though. This time I drove an 8-foot pipe 2-feet into the ground and slid his PVC support brace over it. In the wind that we did have, he was something like a weather vane turning where he stood depending on which way the wind blew, but he didn't fall!
There were two props that did fall however. One was my "pumpkin kreep" prop; the other was simply a wood column I had scored off of Freecycle and painted. The pumpkin prop didn't really fall so much as bend waaa-a-a-ay over. It has a PVC superstructure too, and was surrounded by corn stalks that were tied to the PVC. I'm assuming with all the rain the stalks became saturated and toppled causing the PVC to bend.
When I had erected it, I drove a short piece of rebar into the ground and slid the PVC over it. While it was still dry outside, that was sufficient to hold it erect. By rain and wind took its toll and made him bow down to the other props. If the winds relent tomorrow, I'll drive another steel pipe into the ground and slide him over it too.
The column I left lying on the ground. No sense in picking it up to have it fall over again. The only other "damage" was one of my tombstones busting away from its PVC support. Apparently adhesive for foam insulation isn't as strong as I had expected. I'd read Gorilla Glue was excellent and wouldn't damage the Stryofoam, but I couldn't find my bottle and substituted the adhesive. Next time I'll not be so lazy and drive to the store and buy another bottle.
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