Halloween Window Cleaning & Eggs

Window cleaners, Frankenstein (Horemo Reyes) and the Wolfman (Jorge Estrada) pictured as they worked their way down the Wells Fargo’s Duke Energy Center.

Window washing monsters: A team of window washers from Scottie's Building Services celebrated Halloween by dressing up as Frankenstein (Horemo Reyes) and the Wolfman (Jorge Estrada) as they worked their way down the Wells Fargo’s Duke Energy Center on Friday October 30, 2015. Reyes, who has washed high rise windows for about 10 years says this is the first year he decided to work in costume.

How to clean egg off windows - Halloween Window Clean - Year after year our phone starts ringing after Halloween because trick or treat often means “give us a treat or we will egg your windows!”  Is a very sad state of affairs but don’t despair, here is our guide to cleaning egg from your windows.

How to clean egg off windows: The first point to make is that egg is like glue. When it drys it really takes some shifting.  So if you see egg on your windows the first thing to do is to clean it off before it drys.  This can be done just by squirting your window with a hose pipe.  It will leave a horrible drying mark, but at least this will come off easily when your windows are next cleaned by your regular window cleaner. If it is a downstairs window that you can reach, use soft sponge and some washing up liquid.  Allow it to dry a little then buff up the window with some kitchen towel.

If you are unfortunate and the egg has dried onto the window then it is going to be a little more tricky.  If the window is downstairs and you can reach, the best tool to use is a decorators glass scraper.  These are available from most DIY stores for about a pound.  Scrape the glass and finish by cleaning the window as described above.

If the window is upstairs and you don’t want to risk getting the ladder out, then wait for your window cleaner to arrive.  To be honest once the egg dries on the glass then it will no more tricky to remove the egg from the glass if you wait days or weeks.  Good window cleaners will have a professional window cleaners scraper that fits onto a pole. The window cleaner can then remove the egg from the glass safely.  It isn’t worth purchasing the tool your self as a pack of blades for a professional window cleaners scraper will set you back £20.00 and in many cases this alone outweighs the price of the window cleaner removing the egg for you.  The window cleaner will also be more used to using a scraper at a distance and will more than likely do a better job.

Eggs are difficult to remove from a home's exterior, especially when they dry. However, with some elbow grease and proper preparation, you can simplify the egg removal process.

How to Wash Egg off a House (Wall):  Egging a house has been a longtime prank of vandals. As anyone who has been the victim of egging can attest to, eggs are difficult to remove from a home's exterior, especially when they dry. However, with some elbow grease and proper preparation, you can simplify the egg removal process. Here are some suggestions for how to wash egg off a house. 

1. Start cleaning your house as soon as possible. The longer the eggs are on your house, the more they will stick to the exterior surfaces. Due to their high moisture content, eggs remove somewhat easily when the egging is fresh. Prepare cleaning supplies as soon as you notice that your house has been egged.

2. Prepare a bucket of warm water. The water should not be hot. Hot water will cook the eggs and make them stick even more to the exterior of your home. Eggs are protein-based, so they cook quickly (and stick quickly) when exposed to heat. A bucket of warm water from the faucet will give you a good start in removing the egg from your home.

3. Hose the eggs off the exterior of your house. Get out the garden hose and spray the area below where the eggs are present on your siding or other surface. By washing down the area below the eggs, you are creating a surface that they can run down once they are removed. If you don't hose down the area below the eggs, they may stick to the siding. After washing below, spray directly above the egged area. Many times the water running down the surface of the siding is enough to remove the eggs. If you choose to directly spray the egged area without spraying anything else, you run the risk of splattering the eggs and making a worse mess on your home.

4. Use a cleanser with a high alkaline base to scrub the eggs. Sometimes the eggs won't come off any other way than scrubbing them. A cleanser with a high alkaline base works well to break down the protein structure of the egg. Many household cleaners or de-greasers are effective. Look at the pH level in each product. The higher the pH level, the higher the alkaline content.

5. Scrub the area with a brush. Dip the brush into the cleanser or spray the cleanser on the scrub brush, then rub the eggs off of the house's exterior. If necessary, use a long-handled brush or a ladder to reach stains. Rinse the area with warm water. If the stains persist, scrub harder. If the eggs have dried, you may have to scrub and rinse several times to remove them. Repeat this step several times, if necessary.

Halloween Window Cleaning Super Heroes

Halloween treat: Superman and friends seen flying outside DeVos Children's Hospital.

'Superhero' window washers visit DeVos Children's Hospital (Grand Rapids, Mich.) - A day filled with treats, spooky stories and dress-up, Halloween is many kids' favorite time of the year. A group of superheroes in Grand Rapids wanted to make sure that those spending the occasion in a hospital bed still had an epic experience. Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Flash and The Hulk scaled the walls of the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital Wednesday, and inside, kids had the chance to watch--and for a minute, forget why they were there. This is the first year the hospital has done this. They had some help from the superheroes at Modern Window Cleaning.

Superheroes drop in on young patients: Superman may come knocking at your door tonight, pillowcase in hand, but first he has to finish his day job. In this economy, even superheroes have to work for a living. That’s why many of them could be seen hanging around — literally — Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital during the lunch hour today, much to the delight of the hospital’s young patients. Employees of Modern Window Cleaning, all gussied up in their superhero finest, dropped in on patients today as part of their day jobs, many of them hanging from ropes outside of various patient playrooms. After waving and interacting with the patients through the window, the superheroes joined the kids for a Halloween party.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Superman and a few of his superhero friends flew outside the 14-story Spectrum Health DeVos Children's Hospital Wednesday, waving and giving a Halloween treat to the young patients inside. Connor Videtich, 4, of Muskegon, and Randall "Rico" Simmons, 13, of Howard City, saw the Man of Steel, Hulk, Flash, Spiderman and Captain America outside their ninth-floor window on Wednesday, October 31, 2012. In reality, the super heroes were employees of Modern Window Cleaning, the company contracted by the hospital for window washing. The company and a child life specialist at the hospital came up with the idea to don costumes and hang from ropes outside the building to give hospitalized children a holiday surprise. Crowds gathered outside, looking skyward as the crusaders braved a chilling wind for the descent. Jaws dropped and smiles formed. In reality, super heroes. 

The Halloween Window Cleaner

A Halloween story: The mystery of the ghostly handprint By John R. Schmidt - April 18, 1924 was a Friday. At 7:30 in the evening, a passerby noticed smoke coming from Curran Hall, a massive four-story brick building at 1363 South Blue Island Avenue. The man ran to the corner fire-alarm box and pulled the lever. Two miles to the west, at Engine Company #107, fireman Francis Leavy was washing a window. The call came in and Leavy rushed out with the rest of the company. He told the captain he’d finish the window when they got back.

Chicago firemen at work, 1924.

Five squads converged on Curran Hall. The blaze seemed to be minor. The firemen were getting it under control when one of the outer walls began buckling. Then it collapsed, trapping eight men. The falling wall knocked out electrical power at the site. Portable lighting was brought in, while firemen combed the wreckage for their comrades. But all eight men had been killed. Among the dead was Francis Leavy. It was later determined that Curran Hall had been deliberately torched for the insurance. The building owners were tried and convicted of the crime.

Now for the rest of the story . . . The day after the fire, one of the men at Engine Company #107 noticed the window that Leavy had left half-washed. In the middle of the window was a handprint. The man tried scrubbing it out, but the handprint stayed. From that time forward, so the legend goes, every fireman assigned to Engine Company #107 attempted to remove the handprint. They used water, soap, ammonia and acid; they scraped it with razor blades. Nothing worked.

(Chicago Daily Times)
The ghostly handprint in 1939.

The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company was called in. My dad was a glazier at PPG, though years later. The way he heard the story, PPG applied their strongest chemical solvents to the handprint–and still couldn’t remove it. Was the handprint a ghostly souvenir of the dead fireman? It’s said that Leavy’s thumbprint was obtained from his personnel records, and compared with the print on the window. They matched perfectly. The end of the tale is prosaic. A newsboy threw a paper through the window and broke it. Most accounts say this happened in 1946. But one version claims that the window was broken on April 18, 1944 – 20 years to the day of Francis Leavy’s death.

The face in the window of the White Hart in Ironbridge.

Mystery face appears in 'haunted' pub's window: Drinkers in one Shropshire pub have been left scratching their heads after a series of spooky goings on - including this face appearing on the bar's window. Drinkers in one Shropshire pub have been left scratching their heads after a series of spooky goings on - including this face appearing on the bar's window. Staff and punters at the White Hart pub in Ironbridge might have been accused of drinking one too many ales until one customer snatched this picture on his mobile phone. Bar manager Mike Herbert said there have also been spooky goings on upstairs in the pub's restaurant. The mystery face was only noticed on the window on Wednesday and since then, staff have noticed other peculiar things happening. Mr Herbert said: "We just don't know what it is. "It was noticed on Wednesday and everyone has been trying to guess who it is. One person said it looks like Elvis Presley. "It just appeared on the window and we don't know if it is on the inside or the outside.

We don't want to touch it incase we disturb it either. "Then on the same day, upstairs in the restaurant we noticed something weird on one of the seats. It was only a short time after we saw the face on the window. "It was a strange triangular indent on the seat and when the housekeeper when to clean it off it just disappeared. "Then we went back later and it was there again, so we went to get the camera, but it disappeared again. No one can explain any of this, it's very strange." Mr Herbert added the pub has never seen anything like it before. "No one knows who the man in the window looks like and we have not come across this kind of thing in the past." Mr Herbert had to intervene yesterday when it appeared the face might be destroyed. "We had the window cleaner around and I had to stop him from cleaning that window," he added.

No such thing as ghosts – except the spitting kind: Do you believe in ghosts? The tales of otherworldly events that I am about to relate are not for the faint of heart. If you read any further, it may take you at least five extra minutes to get to sleep tonight. You have been warned (CATHERINE FORTE).

Do you believe in ghosts? The tales of otherworldly events that I am about to relate are not for the faint of heart. If you read any further, it may take you at least five extra minutes to get to sleep tonight. You have been warned.

I was on my first summer home from college. My sister Karen, five years younger, and I were bored, so we took a drive. We headed out into the nearby countryside with no particular destination in mind. After awhile we neared the top of a hill where a small cemetery stood.

“Let’s stop!” Karen said, so we did. It was about 8:30, just starting to hint at getting dark. We started walking around, reading headstones, when Karen spit on a grave. “Karen, don’t spit on graves, that’s disrespectful!” I said in my best big-sister tone of voice.

After walking around some more, we went back to the car. It wouldn’t start. So, we walked down the road about half a mile to where our dad’s friend Mr. Willander lived. He came back with us, and we were all standing outside of the car with the hood up, when suddenly the car started on its own. Then it died again (pardon the expression, ghosts).

Needless to say, we were more than a little spooked. Finally we got it running again, and Mr. Willander followed us home for safety’s sake. Back at home, Karen confessed, “All the kids at school say that cemetery is haunted.” “Well, why did you spit on a grave in a haunted cemetery?” I asked incredulously. We said our prayers with extra sincerity that night.

The kids at school also used to tell stories about hauntings in the school building itself. In the hallways of my small, rural high school were pictures of all the graduating classes dating back to when the school was first built, around 1916. Rumor had it that a kid was helping clean up after school one time, and when he sprayed window cleaner on the picture of the Class of 1918, one of the pictures spit back at him. Clearly, ghosts don’t like you spitting at them, but they feel that they can do it to you. Perhaps ethereal beings feel they have the lock on that particular form of rudeness.

19th century depiction of ball lightning. A new scientific paper, and has also given the first mathematical solution explaining the birth of ball lightning and how it is capable of passing through glass.

Scientist Claims To Have Theory On Mysterious Balls Of Lightning: CSIRO scientist John Lowke thinks he has the mysterious balls of lightning thing figured out, despite himself never witnessing one. Lowke has written a new scientific paper, and has also given the first mathematical solution explaining the birth of ball lightning and how it is capable of passing through glass. Documented sightings of ball lightning have been made across the world for centuries, but no explanation of how it occurs has been universally accepted by scientists. These balls of lightning have been known to form on glass, appearing in homes and even in airplanes.

Previous theories of ball lightning include microwave radiation from thunderclouds, oxidizing aerosols, nuclear energy, dark matter, and even black holes as causes for ball lightning, but Lowke disputes all of these theories. He proposes that the ball lightning is caused when leftover ions are swept to the ground following a lightning strike. After lightning strikes the ground, it leaves behind a trail of charged particles, or ions. In most cases, these positive and negative ions recombine in a split second, and any remaining ions travel down to the ground.

He says this is a result of a stream of ions accumulating on the outside of a glass window and resulting electric field on the other side excites air molecules to form a ball discharge. He said the field gives free electrons on the inside of the window enough energy to knock off electrons from surrounding air molecules, as well as release photons, which creates a glowing ball. “This is the first paper which gives a mathematical solution explaining the birth or initiation of ball lighting,” Lowke told Discovery News.

He said the next step is to use the theory to replicate ball lightning in the laboratory, which could prove to be difficult. One account of ball lightning comes from the 1960s, when a C-133A cargo plane was flying from California to Hawaii. Former Lieutenant Don Smith says he saw two horns of Saint Elmo’s fire appear on the planet’s radar cover, followed by ball lightning inside the cockpit. “It looked as if the airplane had bull’s horns…they were glowing with the blue of electricity,” Lowke told Discovery News. “(It) was driven by ions from the aircraft radar operated at maximum power during a dense fog.” He said about a third of the sightings end in a bang, which may be because the electric field tends to heat the gas making it hotter and hotter.

Zombie Window Cleaners?

I came across this article & thought wouldn't it be great if window cleaners could get in on the act? Just imagine putting some coloring in your normal cleaning solution & making a fundraiser or Halloween special out of the concept. Make sure you watch the video at the bottom for the public reactions from a marketing stunt in NYC to bring back a zombie TV series...

 

Car Wash of the Living Dead - There were buckets of blood and suds aplenty at yesterday's fundraiser for the Toronto Zombie Walk. When zombies are around, trouble looms. Whether caused by disease, viral outbreaks, space debris, or science gone bad, a gathering of the undead tends not to turn out well for the living. And yet even though logic dictates that one should run when faced with a mass of shambling, shuffling creatures, curiosity draws us to them despite the mortal danger. I’m guilty of this. How else can I explain why I ventured into the middle of a gathering of zombies who appeared to be…washing cars?

I had heard rumours that the undead were being used to clean the vehicles of the living. The washes are reputed to serve as a fundraising effort for the annual zombie walk through the streets of Toronto. Further rumours suggested that the Heart and Stroke Foundation is a partner in this year’s walk. As I pulled into the Classic Coin Car Wash at College Street and Lansdowne Avenue, my heart jumped a little. Was I putting my life on the line to discover if a zombie could wash my vehicle? Perhaps, but I had to find out if the undead could do a better job than some of the mechanized car washes around town, whose programmed cleaning cycles can miss a spot or two.

Judging from her fresh-looking gaping wounds and relatively peachy colour, it appeared the zombie collecting my money had recently joined the undead. Her partner was grey and slower-moving, which made it easy to close the window on him when he attempted to eat my brains. I was motioned to park the car and wait for a bay to open up. Since the air lacked agonized screaming, I figured the situation was under enough control that it was safe to wander the lot. There was a table where several zombies had been pressed into bake sale/T-shirt-selling duty. Even the undead have embraced the cupcake craze: frosting swirled like a brain was a good match with the chocolate cake, even if I tried not to ponder what (or who) might have gone into the sweet topping.

As I drove my car into an open bay, it was swarmed by a legion of groaning zombies. Their eyes spoke of their inner longing to have me for lunch as they slowly spread blood across my vehicle. Their slow, jerky motions shook the car a bit, which was unnerving until I realized they were spreading their bloody mess onto every spot of dirt. Still, the thought that they might turn on me at any second made me want to flee the car the second the horde shuffled off to work on another car.

Back in the lot, more zombies had ventured to the curb to draw in traffic. Their efforts appeared to be working, as a line snaked westward along College Street. While some undead mumbled about brains, others offered children cotton candy. One brave kid smiled when a zombie grunted that he could leave a bloody print on the child’s t-shirt (with parental approval, of course). Any lingering worries about a sudden attack evaporated.

Soon it was time to drive off. I looked over the car and determined that training the undead to clean vehicles might have been a good idea. The car smelled fresh and soapy. The blood had been washed off. With the zombies’ attentions turned to other drivers who shared my morbid sense of curiosity, I drove out of the lot. Just to be to safe, I checked the trunk a few miles down the road just to make sure nothing had crawled in while I wasn’t looking.

The Halloween Window Cleaner

Neo-Gotham: A window washer—J.R. Elkins of G&M Window Service—dressed as Batman works on the 8th floor of the Wells Fargo Building in Lincoln, Neb. Elkins began the Halloween tradition of window washing in costume in 2002. Hoffman is a freelance photojournalist based in Portland, Ore.

Former Fergus Falls State Hospital source of many legends: The story is one Chris Schuelke tells while giving tours of the Gothic-looking edifice that for decades dominated both the Fergus Falls skyline and the region’s economy. The hospital’s long-vacant buildings and lonely, sprawling grounds appear at once imposing and more than a little spooky, even with a late-autumn sun still high in the sky. The vibe is a valid one, said Schuelke, executive director of the Otter Tail County Historical Society. He tells visitors the hospital’s past contains both light and shadow. “They did good work here,” he said. “But there are definitely dark instances at the state hospital.” His tours, which recently ended for the seasons, lean heavily toward the latter.

He called the former state hospital “a castle of questions” and says the institution’s mystique is something people find endlessly fascinating. Schuelke’s stories are taken directly from newspaper accounts and oral histories. “I’m not making stuff up,” he said, referring to tales of murder, escaped patients, suicides, lobotomies and shock treatments. The fact that disturbing things happened at the State Hospital shouldn’t be surprising, given it once housed 2,000 patients watched over by 500 employees, he said. “It was a tremendously large community,” Schuelke said. “Of course you’re going to have instances that aren’t pleasant.” And in another cleaning-related incident: A hospital attendant was washing a fourth-floor window when a patient was seized by a sudden desire to go through it. The attendant tried to stop him, but the patient succeeded in making the leap. The nurse was almost pulled through the window trying to stop him.

Shop forced to take down gory window display.

A window display too far: A Commercial Drive store owner was forced to take down his Halloween mock-up after it was plastered last week with photos of missing women, apparently because the bloody bed behind the display was too lifelike. Mintage Vintage’s year-round vintage displays have never been a problem before, said co-owner Skylar Stock. But last week, the vintage shop was bombarded with complaints, with some saying the storefront — which featured a bedroom splattered with fake blood — conjures negative images to victims of violence. “They plastered glue all over my window and then they plastered photographs all over my window,” Stock said, shocked after discovering the damage Friday. He’s since taken down the display for fear of further vandalism.

“As I was cleaning it off, there were people yelling at me calling me a typical f---ing male,” he said, adding there were many negative comments also scrawled on walls and the sidewalk. “I didn’t know whether or not they wanted to smash my window or firebomb my store, either way I don’t want to find out.” Protestors held signs calling for the display’s removal last week, citing missing and murdered women in the DTES, just hours before the window was vandalized. Stock said displays during previous Halloweens were equally grotesque. “Every year I do a window display, and every year people tell me what they think of it. … (This) gets beyond the realm of that.” The co-owner added he has not called police. A disclaimer has now also been put up on the storefront, saying displays are not intended to reflect real-life events. “I’m a victim of vandalism, that I can handle.”

Haunted Honolulu: Ricky L.’s friends lived in the Moana Pacific condominium and would see handprints on the glass outside, but figured it was from the window washers. They sometimes saw a shadow in their unit, but hoped it was their imagination. The last straw in a series of incidents happened one night, when their baby was crying, the wife went to the room to check on it, and saw a shadow standing over the baby, clearly a local guy, trying to calm it down. They moved out the next day.

Window Cleaning for 10 Panes - Crystal Clear Window Cleaning - Sold by LivingSocial. The Details: If your windows' cobwebs weren't meant to be Halloween decorations, rid your house of its haunted vibe with today's deal from Crystal Clear Windows: For $40 (regularly $100), have 10 of your window panes cleaned. It's spooky what can build up on windows -- grime, toxic dust, chemical residue, and pollutants. Let the friendly and professional Crystal Clear crew ease your filthy fears by leaving your panes as clear and glistening as a ghoulish ghost. The cleaning solutions used are never diluted, so you know you're getting the best clean imaginable. Cobweb-crawling spiders may terrify you, but today's deal will deliver a treat so outstanding you'll scream with delight.

“Bleeding” Cupcakes for Halloween: Provocative series like Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, and True Blood have made vampires the sexiest thing since sliced bread that has been molded into the shape of a sensuous woman. That is why bleeding cupcakes are sure to win any Halloween/Sexy-Themed Baking Contest you might enter this week. They’re not only showy and delicious, but super simple to put together as well–just like the scripts for all those dramas. (I’m just kidding. Don’t bite me.) Here’s how:

1) Bake cupcakes using your favorite recipe.

2) Once cooled, dig a small lump of cupcake out of the top. Set the removed chunk aside.

3) Pour a little bit of an edible, reddish, runny substance, such as strawberry jam or cherry pie filling, into the hole.

4) Re-insert removed chunk.

5) Frost the top (thereby covering up the evidence of step 2).

6) Dip a toothpick into some of the leftover jam (filling, sauce, red icing, etc.) and stab the top of the cupcake twice to give the appearance of fang marks. Put these cupcakes out on your Halloween snack table and you will be crowned the buffet vampire slayer.

L. A. McMahon window washing services residential, commercial, apartments, condos and businesses of all types.