Subject: Lessons Learned

Beth,
Sorry for the bastardly stench in your back yard and the fact that your season is over. Must tell ya it got my funny bone! It came at the perfect time.  Helped me to get off my pity pot. I hope others that read this list  get as much enjoyment from reading your posts as I do.   If Altoona don't need ya .....then come to Canby and HMB... We want you!
Only growing in Rochester is the GooseBumps on my arms..
All the best to the rest out there who are still in the race.
Shellie Cramer
 
 
season is over.  It's okay.  Though I haven't yet grown a contender, each
year I learn many cool new things.

I've been working a stem split on the last pumpkin on my last plant for the
last few weeks and it had been gaining respectable amounts.  Then last
Sunday the 24-hour growth was 10 pounds, Monday 2, Tuesday 0.  Because of
the angle, I couldn't poke the pencil the whole way into the cavity, but it
was soft enough and deep enough that there was no doubt that it was over.

I wanted to weigh the pumpkin to find out if it was over or under the
charts, and get some feedback on all the soil amendments I've done in the
past year.  I've been trying to figure out where there might be an
accessible scale, plus round up a few lifters (plus work, kids, school
shopping, fixing the car, etc., etc.).  I wasn't making much progress and
knew my time was limited, so I decided to cut it up and weigh the pieces. 
Yesterday I stopped on the way home from work, bought a bathroom scale, ran
home and straight into the back yard.  "Whew.  I hope that stench isn't my
pumpkin!"  It was.  Here's my most recent lesson:

Never procrastinate on a rotting pumpkin.

The darned thing had exploded.  And from the location of glop, it had
exploded with some force.

Trust me, folks.  This experience is not something you have to experience to
appreciate.  You do NOT need a "BTDT" (thanks, Shellie) on cleaning up three
or four hundred pounds of pumpkin rot.  In fact, some with weaker
constitutions could probably be put off of the whole pumpkin experience... 
waitaminute!  I wonder if I could market this as a cure!?  The Rado Pumpkin
Obsession Cureall.  I could be rich!  I could be famous!  Ah, no.  I don't
really want rich or famous.  I just want a big pumpkin.  Hey Diana - you
wanna buy the rights to this thing?  You could even put your name on it!

Oh well.  As usual, it's been a wild ride, and I can't wait till next year. 
Do you Altoona cats need a photographer for your weighoff??

Beth

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