Pumpkins 2006

Fall is pumpkin time - my dad and brother had another bumper crop and sold thousands. Of course you can do all kinds of food stuffs from pumpkins - from the very common pumpkin pie to the buying the slightly unusual pumpkin soda or beer. And in between you can get your pumpkin soup, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin ice cream, oh, lets not forget pumpkin bread (yum!) so at that point you might as well make pumpkin pancakes and then I’m sure the list could go on.

I never really think about eating pumpkins – I’d rather think of them for their decorative purposes. Jack-O-Lanterns! (See my post from last year for some nighttime pumpkin pictures.) And it surely is not too early to get to work (well, maybe a little too early to carve and have them not rot by Oct. 31), but you have to get planning, right?

The totem pole idea is a great one – I first saw neighbors pull this off years ago, so a year or two later I thought I would try it. Heckava job! Unfortunately it got smashed a few days later. A few years later I tried it again at my own house. Again a success, drew raves from the neighborhood and survived until November.

It's easy. Pound a long pipe of metal conduit into the ground, carve the pumpkins and start stackin’. Of course you don’t want to deal with candles, so use the 7 watt Christmas lights to light each one. A good way to spend a late fall afternoon.

If that is too much bother you can always carve the same amount and just leave them on your lawn.