The life of a pumpkin named Pearl

This is Pearl on her pollination day.

The day she was born. 

If only we knew her true potential at this point. 

This is Pearl as an infant.

She was so beautiful and round...

A nice long stem and a five lobe belly button.  

What a cute little bundle of joy!

Just look at how perfect she is....

That beautiful soft, perfect skin.

Gaining some nice color here!

Getting some real weight going.

Hey!  How did you get in there?  

Just doing my job of pumpkin guarding. 

Just look at that shape and size.  

The day before her lift onto the truck.  

Miss May had to put her little hat on to visit Pearl.  

This is the device we use to lift our pumpkins.  

It was very hard for me to cut the vine.......sob.

The lift!  

Not sure if it shows up well here....but this shows the concave area in Pearl's bottom. 

That cost us a bit of weight.  

Here she is in the truck.  

We only had one scary moment when my dad's foot slipped off of the brake on the tractor.  

Sorry Donald!  I just about fainted.

This is Pearl wrapped up in the "Barf" sofa.  

My neighbor's sofa that was used for the kids when they did not feel well.  

We got lots of interesting comments about the barf sofa at the weigh off.  

I thought the colors complemented Pearl's beautiful skin.  

This is a shot of the crack of dawn.  I do not see it very often.  

I do not do well at the crack of dawn...

It is really not a good time of day for me unless I am at the beach fishing.  

Me with Pearl right before the weigh off.

Did I mention that it was 90 degrees???

That is why I look like a lobster.  

Pearl was looking pretty good here........

Then

The Monster Pumpkin drove up!

and 

Another monster pumpkin. 

My sweet, beautiful niece and her little dog max. 

Poor Pearl was dwarfed by the monster pumpkins.

I figured that I might have a chance to get in the top ten.  

Pearl getting an escort to the scales.

When your pumpkin is weighed, you have to stand behind your pumpkin with the weight card.

I am a bit shy about things like that, but very proud of my pumpkin. 

Me with the fourth place ribbon and prize envelope. 

The MONSTER!!!  1201 pounds!  These guys have another pumpkin that is larger!

They are taking it to a different weigh off this weekend.  

I was entertained with stories of the brothers blowing up their pumpkins with too much fertilizer or too much rain.  Pushing the pumpkin to the limit.  

This is unbelievable!  

A 291 pound watermelon!!!

A New World Record.  

The people who grew this were getting phone calls from every T.V. station in the area for an interview.  

I miss Pearl.........