Pumpkin Story 5 of 5 - Humpty Dumpty Pumpkin

Murphy’s Pumpkin
As you have guessed I did buy this monster, but there is so much more.
These pumpkins cost between $75 to $150, I can’t even squeeze out #25 for my Flickr Pro account. Which I did have until this day… When buying any pumpkin you must always check the bottom, it should be firm., never soft. (don’t go there), Every day an employee is supposed to check their bottoms (lol, yes they do)
and the owner was checking them. When A car swooped up, a man got out dressed in a business suit, , walked up to this pumpkin and said “I’ll take this one” . paid the owner cash, said he’d be back in 15 minutes, then drove away.
The owner put a sold sign on this one and went back to checking his pumpkins. When he got back to this one he discovered this one’s bottom was real soft. Death to a 100# pumpkin. Can’t sell it , not for the regular price and he’d have to find a sucker to pay anything for it…. Enter the sucker…me….. The negotiations began. $20 payable once it was loaded in the trunk. If ‘the man’ did not want it.
… We’d have to wait for the man to return. It was almost closing time. But the man returned dressed in jeans and did not want the “soft bottom” pumpkin. YEAH

The fun part. LOADING. You cannot pick up a 100# pumpkin with a soft bottom , from its bottom. You have to roll it over without touching the soft parts. You can’t squeeze it, the soft part will cave the entire pumpkin. With the owner’s help, We did manage to get it IN the trunk.
Getting it out. We did not tell her father what we had in the trunk and sent him off to work for the night (7;30pm). With him gone we gathered the equipment to unload. My wheel barrow would be used. A simple lift from the trunk into the wheel barrow Then wheel it into place, and roll it out of the barrow…. A GREAT plan. a piece of cake.
We did not consult the warring outside cats. Somewhere between gently lifting it out of the trunk but before it was in the barrow. The yowling & screeching began at our feet. A cat fight or a step on a tail we will never know. The last lucid thing I remember is looking at my daughter as we both fell towards each other, the pumpkin lifted higher for a moment before it crashed into the bumper of the car and the edge of the barrow.. Pumpkin goo and seeds, and chunks of pumpkin flew, comedy writers could not have envisioned this. Through our laughter we watched as the child , standing between the barrow handles, Pointed at the 2 cats peering out from under the bumper smelling the mess, and she said to them with pointed finger, “you killed it !”. We were just glad she didn’t blame us. We soothed her. With visions of magic pumpkin seeds for next year. Then she asked “Grammy, you fix it in a picture?” I told her I think I can.. That made her happy , Its also when I realized my camera was covered in goo and why there are no pictures of the dastardly deed. My daughter & I can’t look at a giant pumpkin now without a giggle.

On the bright side, you have to have giant pumpkin seeds to grow a giant pumpkin. Something I have always wanted to try. I would never have paid the $10 for the small packet of 12-18 seeds. Now I have enough for several years planting . Kept refrigerated the seeds can be productive for up to 4 years. Plus a half gallon or more to bake and munch.
One might say God had a plan.

Happy Holidays

An 8 minute video
CHOW Giant Pumpkins - You'll never believe how big they can get
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCgGOk7HIAU


get past the beginning of this one & prepare to shake your head in disbelief.
a 6 minute video
Stuck in Vermont 147: Giant Pumpkin Regatta
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCqkHomnbHU


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