September 24, 2009

• Perfect punkin' pickin' people...

  Well, maybe not "perfect," but it was certainly fun!

  Jason & Tiana were here Sunday for lunch - filled peppers baked in tomatoes, with mashed potatoes.  Mmmmm.  Only thing missing was the wonderful baked corn my mama used to make.  We just didn't go that far. 

  After lunch, which we enjoyed on the porch, as it was a lovely, cool but sunny day, Faron & the kids decided to go and pick pumpkins, so he and Peter can begin to start conditioning the garden for next spring's planting. It seems the ground is devoid of several essential nutrients (Peter had it tested) and now is the time to start replenishing it.  Winter buckwheat planting will come after a load of wet mulch.  As they got up to go, I decided to get my scooter and go with them.  Of course, once down there in the beautiful sun, I wished I'd grabbed my camera.  Never fear, Jason had his in his pocket.  That's my boy!

  

  Faron drove the truck (which will forever be "Tiana's truck," even though it's Faron's now) down into the field to carry the pumpkins up to the house. They all had to make several trips to pick them all.

  

  

  Silly things like this are always an adventure with Tiana.  She just makes it all so much fun! 

  "This one is the very best!  This is MY pumpkin!"  "Oh, THIS one is PERfect!  I want this one!"  "Look honey, this one's shaped just like your head!"

  Here she is showing Jason a couple of beautiful pumpkins which are all stuck in brambly stuff. 

  

  Of course, she only said it was stuck in the vines.  She didn't mention the brambles until Jason was all itchy and scratchy.

  

  Then she marched off, triumphant, with the "best pumpkin, EVER!"

  

  Of course, there were lots of icky pumpkins, and some were sluggy - covered with slugs.  Jason decided to leave this one.

  

  His dad came back and knocked off the slugs and put it in the truck. 

  

  Quite a lot of pumpkins for $2.50 in seed and a half an hour to plant and pick 'em.    Faron said it was worth more than that just for the fun Tiana made it Sunday afternoon.

  She was so cute.  She hasn't quite caught on that she's our kid now, or maybe that we spoil our kids so much.    She asked if she could have one, and then she wanted to carve it right away. 

  This is her "Perfect Pumpkin."

  

  We convinced her it'd be gross by Halloween if she carved it now, but she wanted to roast the pumpkin seeds Sunday night.  I told her to go and get another one to cut up today for the seeds.  She was shocked!  So I convinced her to get the one that mice or something had chewed on when it was small, and it had grown up all scarred on one side.  "Oh, ok!" 

  

  We all sat and watched as she scooped out the guts and sorted seeds from slime.  BTW, she's a champion top cutter-upper.  Can't wait to see what kinds of faces she cuts in hers and J's pumpkins.  He stayed far away while she was slimey.  Faron & I had ring-side seats.  Faron's on the stacked plastic chairs.  "Dad's booster seat," J called it. 

  Brat.

  But it did look funny.

  

  We haven't heard from them since Sunday so I don't know how the seeds turned out.  They're headed north this weekend to (hopefully) catch some fall foliage and perhaps see a whale or two on a whale-watching tour.  They'll be gone 4 or 5 days.  I told them Faron & I were a bit jealous of that trip - it's one we have always talked about taking.  We thought of inviting ourselves along. They both got that kind of shocked silence that only someone who is holding his or her breath can get.  I quickly reassured them that we wouldn't dream of inviting ourselves along - only that we thought about it.   They were much relieved!

  This weekend we have no big plans - Faron has a few odds and ends he'd like to get done before our next visitors, Bret & Jane, come next weekend.  Rachel and I may do a project with her birthday present from us.  Photos to come when it happens, this weekend or whenever. 

  Joe & Amy and the kids plan to be here the weekend after that to go "pumpkin pickin'" and considering the itchy-scratchy stuff, I'm glad they are pre-picked before we let Derek loose in the brambly stuff to choose a pumpkin.  G-pa (that's "Gee-pa," Faron's most recent name from Derek) will arrange a few pumpkins in the field for his little hayride that weekend.    The rest will be used to decorate the front of the house for the fall.  I'd hoped to tie a few corn stalks to the porch posts also, but Peter was too quick with the mower for me!   Oh well, we've got lots of pumpkins!

  me<><

  • 12:49 am
  • 2 Comments