Our Pumpkin Saga For Today

Last fall the boys decided they wanted to plant pumpkins. I thought that would be a great learning experience for them, and for me. I washed some seeds, and stored them for use this spring.

In May I planted the seeds. I have watched, watered, learned about, and asked questions about pumpkins. The pumpkins are getting ripe now. I have baked 4 and have about 15 cups of pumpkin in the freezer.

One thing I still need to learn is: how to tell if they are truly ripe!

Today I was out looking at my pumpkins and found one that was orange and when I moved it, it came off the vine very easily. My thought was, "Oh! I have a ripe pumpkin!"

Side note: I do not have a good record with knives. 2 years ago I used a large knife at my sisters house and had to go to the ER to have my finger glued.

Lana has, luckily, been here to cut the other pumpkins open for me. But, she was not here today. I decided to give it a whirl. The knife I chose did nothing! So, I got a BIGGER knife! It did nothing. I called Lana and asked how she did this. She replied, "determination!" Okay, Mike will have the determination.

When Mike came home I asked him to cut it open. He saw the pumpkin and said, "let the boys make a face in it first." Mike just recently bought some "Mr. Potato Head" type of facial features that you put in pumpkins. The boys enjoy them!

He tried to start a hole for the face, but couldn't. Then he said, "I'll just cut it open" He tried my bread knife. That didn't do anything. He said, "maybe a saw..." (huh???), but then decided to bust it on the carport. However, when he got outside he said, "maybe I'll crack it with the car!" When I heard this I grabbed the camera!

He place the pumpkin under the wheel. At first it rolled away so he propped it with a piece of wood.

And.....CRACK!

It worked! But, now I know the reason it was so hard. It wasn't ripe!!

I still have some learning to do about pumpkins, even so, Mike and the boys keep things interesting!

I do wonder, though, how would they do the Christmas turkey?

Now The Whole Neighborhood Knows!

This evening I went for my walk. I didn't get very far before I had to turn around, come home and get my camera. The reason being, I found this written on the road.

It's a little hard to read, but it says "Mr. Wampole Rocks." Some of Mike's students live down the street from us, and they are letting everyone know what they think of their teacher.

I have to say, I knew this about 11 years ago. Now the whole neighborhood knows!

We got the 1st one!

Yesterday I was excited to find a package between the doors when I got home. It was a small package, actually just a padded envelope. I got even more excited when I saw who it was from! It was from the publishers that is doing Mike's book! We now had a actual book!

The boys were excited about this as well. They liked that Daddy's name was on the cover.

I think he did such a great job on the illustrations. This is a gift that I have not been given, so I am always amazed as to what he can do!

The boys were able to sit down and read the book this morning before school. What a great feeling to have the boys reading a book written by their Daddy!

1 down, 2 to go.

Several years ago, Mike wrote a children's book. At one point, he printed it out for his Dad (just a paper copy). I remember hearing people say that he should try to publish it. Then I started thinking, "hey, that's not a bad idea!" So, I did some research on the computer, and found a publisher. We submitted 3 books that had been done over a period of years. THEY ACCEPTED ALL 3!!! So, Mike has worked very hard to get the pictures "just right," make sure that all the verbiage is correct, and just the way he wants it. I am so proud of him! He has done a fantastic job with these books.

We got an e-mail the other day, the first book is published and ready for sale! This is a link to the book. Take a look if you like!

http://www.publishamerica.net/product88417.html