We weathered Sandy just fine. Central Virginia had, at worst, a glancing blow. We had rain, rain, and yet more rain. The promised high winds never really materialized and as a result there was no massive power outages or road blockages.
John, however, did have to deal with window blockages. The final step of my hurricane preparations was to bring in the pumpkins. I didn't want them smashed before they were even carved, so in they came. I set them just inside the door, no way was I going to lug them through the house to the garage.
And thus I got this lovely shot of one of the red boys by the pumpkins.
Showing posts with label pumpkin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pumpkin. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Artist of the Week: Lone Pumpkin
This week's artist is Rebecca, who in a small way saved us from a pumpkinless Halloween.
As I mentioned yesterday, I completely failed to get any pumpkins. It was my own fault for waiting until Halloween itself to buy them, but I've been a bit preoccupied by Nate's up coming Bar Mitzvah and figured there would be pumpkins somewhere.
Well I was very, very wrong to assume that there would be any pumpkins left on Halloween. I went to all my usual sources and came up with zip, zero, and zilch. In most cases all evidence of pumpkininess was completely swept away. Only once did I find an empty display rack. It was a very sad thing indeed. I had Meryl help out and we discovered via phone that even a local farm stand could not help me out in my quest for pumpkins. Crushed by inability to find any suitable gourds I dragged myself home.
Rebecca, as I would have predicted, was the one most disappointed by lack of pumpkins. She stewed around and had it very clear she was not happy with this turn of events. She didn't quite believe the total absence of pumpkins in our county, so I took her out with me to try one more store. In the end I bought three balloons, one orange and two black.
When we got back home Rebecca ran upstairs. A short while later she came back down and asked to use one of my sharpies, in black. It had to be black. I told her to help herself, I kept them by my computer.
A few minutes later she triumphantly presented to me the cutest little wee jack-o-lantern I had ever seen. It was the gourd she won at the county fair and had held onto since the beginning of September. Technically it is not a pumpkin, but it'll do in a pinch. Rebecca had done a lovely job drawing on the gourd and saved us from a pumpkin free Halloween.
As I mentioned yesterday, I completely failed to get any pumpkins. It was my own fault for waiting until Halloween itself to buy them, but I've been a bit preoccupied by Nate's up coming Bar Mitzvah and figured there would be pumpkins somewhere.
Well I was very, very wrong to assume that there would be any pumpkins left on Halloween. I went to all my usual sources and came up with zip, zero, and zilch. In most cases all evidence of pumpkininess was completely swept away. Only once did I find an empty display rack. It was a very sad thing indeed. I had Meryl help out and we discovered via phone that even a local farm stand could not help me out in my quest for pumpkins. Crushed by inability to find any suitable gourds I dragged myself home.
Rebecca, as I would have predicted, was the one most disappointed by lack of pumpkins. She stewed around and had it very clear she was not happy with this turn of events. She didn't quite believe the total absence of pumpkins in our county, so I took her out with me to try one more store. In the end I bought three balloons, one orange and two black.
When we got back home Rebecca ran upstairs. A short while later she came back down and asked to use one of my sharpies, in black. It had to be black. I told her to help herself, I kept them by my computer.
A few minutes later she triumphantly presented to me the cutest little wee jack-o-lantern I had ever seen. It was the gourd she won at the county fair and had held onto since the beginning of September. Technically it is not a pumpkin, but it'll do in a pinch. Rebecca had done a lovely job drawing on the gourd and saved us from a pumpkin free Halloween.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Trick or Treat !
It was a rather soggy Halloween last night.
The day itself was sunny and mild, but as the day progressed clouds gathered and darken. Then at about 4:30 the first drops of rain fell and from then on it only got worse.
But the real tragedy was the dearth of pumpkins on our front steps.
I had been busy and kept putting off my big pumpkin purchase. I didn't actively start shopping until Monday. At which point, much to my chagrin, there were no more pumpkins to be had.
Oops.
So there was no massive festival of pumpkin carving for me this year. A disappointment to be sure, but due to the rather foul weather not necessarily a bad thing.
We had only one trick or treater, the little boy next door. Combined with the steady rain all evening that would have extinguished out jack-o-lanterns, all my carving would have been unadmired.
Next year, however, I'll be a bit more on the ball.
That being said, Athena and Black Ninja had a good time being squired about in the van. A bit of a cop out for me, I prefer walking from house to house. However I'm also a realist and it would have been thoroughly unpleasant to to tramp about on such a dismal evening.
The day itself was sunny and mild, but as the day progressed clouds gathered and darken. Then at about 4:30 the first drops of rain fell and from then on it only got worse.
But the real tragedy was the dearth of pumpkins on our front steps.
I had been busy and kept putting off my big pumpkin purchase. I didn't actively start shopping until Monday. At which point, much to my chagrin, there were no more pumpkins to be had.
Oops.
So there was no massive festival of pumpkin carving for me this year. A disappointment to be sure, but due to the rather foul weather not necessarily a bad thing.
We had only one trick or treater, the little boy next door. Combined with the steady rain all evening that would have extinguished out jack-o-lanterns, all my carving would have been unadmired.
Next year, however, I'll be a bit more on the ball.
That being said, Athena and Black Ninja had a good time being squired about in the van. A bit of a cop out for me, I prefer walking from house to house. However I'm also a realist and it would have been thoroughly unpleasant to to tramp about on such a dismal evening.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Puppy Puppy Pumpkin Eater
John loves eating pumpkins. Actually both dogs do, but after I yelled at Dell for snagging a lid off of a pumpkin I had just carved he has been less interested in pumpkins. Dell will still eat them, he just waits for permission now.
Anyhoodle, John doesn't wait for permission, he just helps himself whenever the mood strikes him. At least he has only been eating one pumpkin and has left it pretty much in place. At this point, two weeks plus post carving, not much is left. It looks like a small explosion of pumpkin pulp near the bottom of the steps.
As for Dell, he now doesn't approve of John's wanton destruction of the pumpkins. After I took the picture above of John, Dell bounced down the steps and gave John the hairy eyeball and stood by the pumpkins.
John's reaction was to casually stroll away, as though Dell had nothing to do with his moving off. I don't know if you can see it, but this picture captured the moment when Dell was standing in rigid disapproval next to the pumpkin. John, meanwhile, is halfway across the yard.
I found the whole thing hilarious. Dell has such a sunny, happy go lucky demeanor 99% of the time. However my chewing him out over the pumpkin lid really made an impression on our goofy boy. He has appointed himself defender of the pumpkins.
At least when I'm around. It wouldn't surprise me if he snuck in a few bites when I'm not present.
Anyhoodle, John doesn't wait for permission, he just helps himself whenever the mood strikes him. At least he has only been eating one pumpkin and has left it pretty much in place. At this point, two weeks plus post carving, not much is left. It looks like a small explosion of pumpkin pulp near the bottom of the steps.
As for Dell, he now doesn't approve of John's wanton destruction of the pumpkins. After I took the picture above of John, Dell bounced down the steps and gave John the hairy eyeball and stood by the pumpkins.
John's reaction was to casually stroll away, as though Dell had nothing to do with his moving off. I don't know if you can see it, but this picture captured the moment when Dell was standing in rigid disapproval next to the pumpkin. John, meanwhile, is halfway across the yard.
I found the whole thing hilarious. Dell has such a sunny, happy go lucky demeanor 99% of the time. However my chewing him out over the pumpkin lid really made an impression on our goofy boy. He has appointed himself defender of the pumpkins.
At least when I'm around. It wouldn't surprise me if he snuck in a few bites when I'm not present.
Friday, October 29, 2010
The Insanity Continues
Once again I have bought a boat load of pumpkins. I seem to be holding steady at 18, I'm pretty sure that is how many I got last year. Either way it's a heck of a lot of pumpkins.My plan is to hollow them out tomorrow after we are all done with soccer. I think I'll be willing to carve a few as well. We'll see how it goes. My main concern is the weather, as long as it doesn't rain I'll be happy. So far it like it will be cool and clear.
Now I just have to find my jumbo bag of tea lights...
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