Carved

Dad decided to try carving into the surface of the pumpkin like the ones we saw at the pumpkinfest (Pumpkin Envy, Oct. 3). His result is a leonine rendering of Old Man Winter (the wind is blowing from the "mouth," which doubled as the belly button or nose in some costume photos.)

Halloween dinner

Bread crumbs, pumpkin, onions... a few other things (see Cooks.com Pumpkin Soup recipe). Soup cooked in the pumpkin. Delicious. Lots of variations to this... I've also tried a version that uses chicken stock in addition to light cream. My pumpkin was bigger than the recipe called for so I threw in some other things... cottage cheese in addition to swiss, for example. Dad said we should build a bonfire and cook our giant pumpkin.

Halloween short film

Love this short film (as seen on PBS's "Director's Cut") but I guess it's not really the kind of thing to watch as we get ready to carve our giant beauty...

Thank you

Thanks to everyone who followed the giant pumpkin progress and enjoyed the costumes! We won't be dressing it up anymore -- the idea was to continue until the big weigh-in at the pumpkinfest. We didn't quite get there, but it sure was fun to try. Maybe next year. Dad wants to carve the pumpkin, so please check the blog again -- we'll be posting more photos soon.

Pumpkin Envy

So, our giant pumpkin wasn't giant enough to compete with the top dogs this year. That's okay. We still enjoyed the Nekoosa Giant Pumpkin Fest where a 1,468 pound pumpkin was the second biggest (the first had already gone home). Ours made it somewhere in the 400 pound range. Dad is pictured below with some 600- and 700-pounders. This year the festival was moved away from the river because of the flooding, so they cancelled the pumpkin boat regatta (it seems like a good reason to HAVE pumpkin boats...) But they proceeded with the pumpkin drop, a much-anticipated event where a giant pumpkin is hoisted onto a crane and dropped onto a field. People like watching stuff explode. Today, they smashed a 1,288-pounder ... felt the ground thud when it hit. The best part, though, was when scads of children rushed the smashed pumpkin, hoping to find prizes (yesterday's pumpkin apparently contained ping-pong balls). Finding none, they carried away pumpkin chunks, ant-like.

Matryoshka Pumpkins, Sept. 28

Chicken, Sept. 26

Hiatus

The giant pumpkin will return on Sunday.

Royalty Among Vegetables, Sept. 20

Avast, ye orange land lubber!! Sept. 19

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

DJ Funky P, Sept. 18

That is an actual oversized hat I found at a thrift store.

Apumpkalypse, Sept. 17

St. Lucia, Sept. 16

Biker, Sept. 14

1,001 Pumpkins, Sept. 13

The Unknown Pumpkin, Sept. 11

Beer belly, Sept. 10

Bought a big t-shirt just for the pumpkin (and still had to cut it up the back) at Fleet Farm. Where you also can buy a John Deere hat for your dog. And the men's beer-themed fleece is now on sale.

Crushed, Sept. 9

What happens to pumpkin thieves.

Houdini Pumpkin, Sept. 8

Also from the garden

The pretty sunflower that I was trying to have the pumpkin imitate a few days earlier. Thought I'd give you the real thing instead.

Sleeper, Sept. 7

Finally saw "Inception." Wish we could give the pumpkin the idea that it should grow twenty or thirty pounds a day.

Days of Summer, Sept. 6

Those are oversize sunglasses, BTW.

Aspirations, Sept. 5

I really tried today but it just didn't come together -- I was attempting a sunflower but it just looked like a first-grader had put it together (more so than usual). So this is what we have.

Hypnopumpkin, Sept. 4

Chill out, Sept. 3

The General Pumpkin, Sept. 2

I just saw "South Pacific" starring Tom Wopat as Emile De Becque. Tom Wopat as in Luke Duke, who I was completely in love with as a kid. My friends and I used to play "Dukes of Hazzard" during recess until we started fighting over who got to be Daisy.

Oh, no! Mr. Pumpkin! Sept. 1

Happy Birthday, Aug. 31

For Cousin Erin!

A League of its Own, Aug. 30

Pumpkin pie, anyone? Aug. 29

Hey, cupcake! Aug. 27

Deer hunter, Aug. 26

In keeping with the Wisconsin theme. Thanks to Matt and Megan who not only supplied the cheesehead for yesterday's photo but also the deer antlers. (Complete with partial skull attached. And fur and whiskers.)

Packer backer II, Aug. 25

OK, so the jersey is a bit outdated, but it was only $3. And you know you're in Wisconsin when the first person you ask for a cheesehead actually has one.

Pumpkin Shark, Aug. 24

Boo, Aug. 23

OK, so not one of my more time-consuming costumes...

Easter Island, Aug. 22

Thanks to my fairy godmother Kris for the chocolate rabbits. I wish they ate mosquitoes -- I'm losing blood out here.

Dexter Pumpkin, Aug. 21

About 315 pounds. Growth seems to be slowing...

Fifty-fifty, Aug. 20

About 310 pounds.

Do you wanna hula? Aug. 19

I don't know... it kind of reminds me of something from Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

Pumpkin of the Evening, Aug. 18

This 300-pound lady is not for sale.

Angel of Gourd, Aug. 17

Thanks for the loaner, Kate. Today about 289 pounds.

Have a Nice Day, Aug. 15

The shoe doesn't fit