Fun

It is a camera!!! SMILE!

Oh Otis, you are such a ham.

Hey, May.......What is this????

Cool Weather

The horses are getting wooly.

It has been quite windy here (40 mph gusts). You can see how my plants leaves are going sideways. Along with the wind we have had 40 degree temps at night. Highs during the day only around 52. No new growth.

This poor baby has a split near the stem. It is however still growing and I think that the split may not go all the way through. This one is the most orange and has the best shape of all of the pumpkins.

Concrete

I decided to sell some things that I have been making this summer. Here is a picture of some of my work. I actually made some of these pieces last summer. I am having a hard time parting with some of these things. Especially the faux bois planter. If it sells though, I think that I will get over it....

This is a picture of the sky. Oh and I just happened to get Zippy and the pumpkin in the shot. I call this one ZSky. Get it instead of The Sky it is Z Sky. Zippy .....Z ..... Sky. I think that I have cabin fever.

This is my second largest pumpkin; it is around 360lbs. Just a baby.

Well.....we had a couple of days with no rain. Today it is raining again! Mushrooms are growing on my mushrooms. That being said, I thought that I should post even more pumpkin pictures.

Dreaming

Taken several days ago. The yellow thing in the middle of the picture is my beautiful pumpkin that is now around 380lbs. Slow but sure. The arched plant on the fence is actually part of the pumpkin vine. This was an incredibly vigorous plant.

Bumble really dislikes the rain. She was a bad girl and started a fight with her brother Zippy last night. Luckily we stopped the disagreement quickly, but not before there was injury. Both dogs are okay, but sore. Zippy was doing so well with Bumble. The fight started over a cracker that had fallen onto the floor. Zippy had no clue it was even there. I guess that they are getting a little grumpy from lack of sunshine. They had just been on a nice long walk, so it is not from being stuck inside. These dogs are going to drive me nuts.

Nothing to do except sleep. Dreaming of the day that the sun will shine and we can go back outside.

Rain

Danza........Is that you????????

This is what happens when your Bull Terror gets to close to you and you know he is wet and muddy and you are at his mercy.

I know that we need rain in many parts of the state, country and world. I am grateful for rain. I love rain sometimes. Today is not one of those times. This marks the 5th straight day of rain that we have had and it is supposed to go on until Wed. On Wed. it is only going to be a two golf ball day according to Ray's Weather. Still a chance of showers until Friday which is still only a two golf ball day. Ray makes his forecast according to whether or not you can play golf. This being a one golf ball day is really misleading because if you were to even go outside, you would not be able to see the ball on the ground. It really should be a zero golf ball day. My one last big pumpkin is hanging in there. If you happen to hear a scream and then crying; that means that the pumpkin has exploded. Please, please do not explode. I have not even given my pumpkin a name because I am scared that it will be in vain. At least the temperature is low enough to keep the little jewel from growing too fast. If I can just keep her skin soft and supple I think she may make it.

Good news and Bad news

Well......the good news is that my main pumpkin is still ever so slowly adding weight. It is up to 370lbs. and gaining about 6-8lbs. a day. I really, really, really would like to get up to 500lbs., but I do not think it will make it. We are in the third day of 10 forecast days of rain and cool weather. Not good at this stage of growing.

Now the bad news......My other two beautiful bright orange pumpkins that were both in the 300lb. range have developed splits. A moment of silence please. Poor things...... IF and a big IF I am lucky, the splits will not go into the cavity. Oh please do not go into the cavity. I will know more in a day or two. What a bum year for pumpkin growing. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. There is always next year.

I am not complaining, just a little disappointed. I am very thankful to still have one pumpkin standing. That sweet little Bumble is sticking her tongue out at me! Silly dog.

Exciting News

While playing Extreme Mountain Golf, I made back to back hole in ones. Very exciting for me because I almost never get a hole in one. What is Extreme Mountain Golf? Well, my neighbors that live on the side of a mountain; decided to make a small three hole golf course on their property. Instead of greens, we have dirts. We play in the rain, snow, sun, and whatever else is going on. Lots of fun and great exercise. We have even been known to play in the dark. The above picture does not do the course justice. That shot was taken on a hazy day and It really does not show the steepness of the fairway. The little white spot on the left is Bumble and the black spot is Gus. I will have to fish around for some more pictures.

ANOTHER pumpkin picture

My pumpkin is slooooowwwly gaining weight. We are over the 300lb mark and gaining about 10lbs a day. Cool night temperatures are really slowing things down. Hopefully the next few days are going to get things going again. Bumble had to take a break from pumpkin watching, so her big brother Zippy took over. He has a dirty nose from rolling his ball around. He rolls it under the fence and makes his personal assistant (me) go get it. He is a really good trainer.

May

Miss May has to be the cutest mini donkey on the face of the earth. At least I think so. She is also the sweetest. The little brown guy in the background is Ollie the mini mule. He is a wild man. May keeps Ollie and his half brother Otis in check. I have a hard time getting a good picture of May because when she sees me, she wants to be very close. Luckily I had the fence to stop her this time. Otherwise I would have only gotten a shot of her nostril.

Newt

I took this picture yesterday. This is the eft phase of an eastern newt. These guys are a beautiful orange color with bright red orange spots. They have a phase of a year or so that they are terrestrial and then move on to a pond or some other body of water. I thought this one was rather stylish with his mushroom cap.

Miss Bumble

Aside from pumpkin watching duties, Miss Bumble is in charge of being cute and making me smile. Bulldogs are good at that. They have a somewhat human quality that is hard to explain. It could be the smashed in face, or the big round eyes. Who knows....I just know she is cute.

The pumpkin is getting bigger, but not big enough. The cool night time temps have kept things going very slowly. My assistant is also upset over the slow growth. I am only just a tad over the 300lb. mark and I am doing everything possible to plump up this little beauty. I also have another pumpkin that is coming along, but it is slightly smaller. This is a beautiful pumpkin though; nice and round. I just hope that we have some nice warm days ahead to help at least get me over the 400lb. mark.

The Great Pumpkin

It has been a bad year for my giant pumpkins. We have had such a cool summer the pumpkins are growing at a snails pace. We have had plenty of rain, but not enough warm days. The highs have been in the 70s most of the summer. Tonight we are supposed to have a cool upper 40 degree low. BRRRRR..... Not ready for that! I got my plants in early enough, but did not have a good pollination until mid to late July. The one large pumpkin that I have is an estimated 260lb. baby. I guess that there is always next year. You can see some of my other plants in the background. They are beautiful plants, just no large pumpkins. Bumble is in the picture for size reference.