It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

He's just a little early!!

Last Halloween, Tony innocently hauled all of the pumpkin slime from our jack-o-lanterns out to compost. We thought that was the end of it. Buh-bye pumpkin slime.
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But..................up from the twisted branches, decaying grass clippings and rotting vegetables of the compost heap sprouted the Great Pumpkin!! Unfortunately it was the beginning of July.
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Throughout the months of July and August we watched the plant grow. We often wondered what the heck it was. From the size of the plant and the shape of leaves we surmised that it was some kind of squash. We then watched as a single blossom gave way to a tiny pumpkin.The mystery was solved. Oh my, was Molly thrilled!


Every morning after our breakfast smoothies, we would don flip flops and trek back to the compost heap to check out the pumpkin. We watched in amazement (well, I wasn't really amazed, but Molly sure was) as that tiny green pumpkin grew bigger and bigger.


Then one day tragedy struck. The pumpkin plant formed a powdery, white mildew and began to wither away. This spelled doom for the pumpkin unless we took drastic action. Even though it was only August and our poor pumpkin had no little chance of making it until Halloween, we cut him free from the vine.

We set the Great Pumpkin on the back deck and Molly watched him slowly turn from green to orange. Another source of amazement for her. We played games with the pumpkin, danced around him, sat on him, and even kissed him. We just loved having him around.


As a last ditch effort to try to make his life stretch until October 31st, we finally moved His Greatness down to a dark, cool corner of the basement. We have our fingers crossed that he'll make it, but at this point it doesn't look good. I may have to sneak out to the market mid-October and find a suitable replacement. It's kind of like swapping out the goldfish floating at the top of the bowl with a new goldfish before your kid finds out. Cruel? Maybe. But I won't tell her if you don't!