This was gonna be a great Halloween

[DeeBye]

Here's a picture of my absolutely pathetic jack o' lantern.



It looks like a dork. Look at it. It seems to be saying "I'm a huge huge dork!". I suck at carving pumpkins :(

Before I ruined it with my knife, I spent some time with my son washing the pumpkin. We put it in the bathtub and scrubbed it down. We then dried it and showed mommy how clean it was.

Then I cut the top off and scooped out the guts. Mommy and my son scattered at this point. They both said "EW YUCKIE!" and ran away. I perservered and scooped the guts out and separated out the seeds. It took me a lot longer than I originally thought it would.

This flesh on this pumpkin was a lot thicker than anything I recall from my youth. It's about 2" thick. The flesh around the top is about 3". This made for some tough carving.

I am a determined father though. I said that I would carve a pumpkin, and I did. It's not a great pumpkin face, but I tried.

On a more happier note, the seeds that we salvaged from the pumpkin were plentiful and made for GREAT roasting seeds. They taste great.

edit: here's my son previewing his OMG SCARY dragon costume.


Imagine him posing for this picture and saying "RAWRRRR!"

[Wyrm]

That's one of the best pumpkins I've ever seen.

[Doc]

Scarface the Pumpkin!

I see a great big scar running over his eye. Great use of natural features.

[ShadowHM]

It looks like a dork.  Look at it.  It seems to be saying "I'm a huge huge dork!".  I suck at carving pumpkins  :(

Ok, you sucked at carving a pumpkin this year. :P You have plenty of years ahead to improve on your skills. ;)

However, since I too suck at this endeavour, I have learned that teh besto Jack'o' Lanterns are the ones that the kids make themselves. They always like the "I did it myself." ones best. :) Here are the results of today's carving project, not done by me, but by the sons.

First, the 20 year old and the 9 year old's efforts:




And here is the one by the 11 year old: :o

On a more happier note, the seeds that we salvaged from the pumpkin were plentiful and made for GREAT roasting seeds.  They taste great.

I was disappointed that three large pumpkins yielded so few seeds. My job, while they carve, is to clean the seeds and get them ready for roasting. The yield was small, but the results are sooo good. B)

BTW, have you seen the 'Ghost' pumpkins? They arrive white already ! :blink:

[Yrrek]

Cute son Dee, good thing he doesn't like *too* much like you! :P

[LochnarITB]

And here is the one by the 11 year old:  :o


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I hope your 11 year old doesn't see this. I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings, but that is worth :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

As an aside about pumpkins, do any of you, in other parts of the country/world, get radio ads for Bud Light beer where they salute "real genius"? They have been running one recently that salutes the vandals that smash giant pumpkins that gardeners have been working all summer to grow. It made me mad. Would they salute vandals that slashed the hedges they worked hard to get just right or the ones that spun cookies with their car in their neatly manicured front lawn? I know there are bumpkins out there that heard the commercial and went out and smashed their neighbors hard work because of the stupid commercial. :angry: Just because of that, I am going to boycott their product! Oh wait, I can't boycott what I wouldn't buy in the first place. Maybe, instead, I'll have a Minneapolis Bud Light Boston Tea Party and encourage everyone to throw their cases off the Hennepin Ave. bridge into the Mississippi.

[Doc]

I rather like the Picasso Pumpkin. It's free expression. It's clear to see that he has an artistic soul.

Don't poke fun. :angry:

We should encourage children to be free thinkers and not box them in to conforming to whatever we think realistic ideals are. Children should be encouraged to colour outside of the lines, make people with six fingers, big heads, and misshappen bodies. Like I said. Don't poke fun. People laugh, poke fun, and point out how they should be doing it. Soon, they are shamed in to being a bland thinker. A little slip outside the lines is a cause for alarm... When it should be seen as an artistic possibility.

Shadow, please, encourage your son's artistic visions. I very much like them.

Oh, and DeeBye, your son makes a great Godzilla. At least he is not Barney

[ShadowHM]

To LochnarITB: He would not mind in the slightest if you laughed. HE likes it! :P

To Doc: Fostering creativity and independent thinking is the hardest part of parenting. There are quite enough sheep out there. I want to raise lone wolves who are willing to walk alone if that means doing what suits them. Or lead the rest, if they want company. :)

As to vandals, whether extolled in beer ads or anywhere else.... :wacko: My other sentiments about vandals should not be written in a forum. :blush:

[Occhidiangela]

As to vandals, whether extolled in beer ads or anywhere else....    :wacko:  My other sentiments about vandals should not be written in a forum.  :blush:
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Hitting for distance comes to mind, with a cricket bat . . . :D

Occhi

[Guest]

I think Deebee made the monstrosity himself. At least thats how I read it.

[Sir_Die_alot]

As to vandals, whether extolled in beer ads or anywhere else....    :wacko:  My other sentiments about vandals should not be written in a forum.  :blush:
[right][snapback]93642[/snapback][/right]

I don't think you have to worry about vandals. The pumpkin already looks vandalized. :lol:


Sorry, couldn't resist. I'm glad you aren't raising another idiot, there are plenty out there. Just play WoW alliance, especially the barbielves. ;)

[LochnarITB]

Don't poke fun.  :angry:
[right][snapback]93639[/snapback][/right]

Oh, I most certainly wasn't poking fun. My laughter is the pure giddiness of the wonder that is child. Because so many of us have been squashed down into the societal mold, I am delighted by kids expression. If I was there, I would have done my best to hold the laughter in though. Because kids haven't been molded yet, they don't understand the wonder of being "outside the lines" and might have their feelings hurt.

ShadowHM, I hope all of your kids are proud of their creations, especially the 11 year old. Creative people are the ones that give us sheep something to take to and follow.

[Rinnhart]

Pay homage to the mighty gourd. Now, I want some pumpkin seeds :(

We should encourage children to be free thinkers and not box them in to conforming to whatever we think realistic ideals are. Children should be encouraged to colour outside of the lines, make people with six fingers, big heads, and misshappen bodies. Like I said. Don't poke fun. People laugh, poke fun, and point out how they should be doing it. Soon, they are shamed in to being a bland thinker. A little slip outside the lines is a cause for alarm... When it should be seen as an artistic possibility.
[right][snapback]93639[/snapback][/right]

I'll defend the social norm and point out that being unwilling or unable to accept the wisdom of those who have gone before is as great a disability as a complete lack of originality. Moderation in all things.


Except roasted pumpkin seeds.

[Taem]

Here's a picture of my absolutely pathetic jack o' lantern.

It looks like a dork.  Look at it.  It seems to be saying "I'm a huge huge dork!".  I suck at carving pumpkins  :(

Before I ruined it with my knife, I spent some time with my son washing the pumpkin.  We put it in the bathtub and scrubbed it down.  We then dried it and showed mommy how clean it was.

Then I cut the top off and scooped out the guts.  Mommy and my son scattered at this point.  They both said "EW YUCKIE!" and ran away.  I perservered and scooped the guts out and separated out the seeds.  It took me a lot longer than I originally thought it would.

This flesh on this pumpkin was a lot thicker than anything I recall from my youth.  It's about 2" thick.  The flesh around the top is about 3".  This made for some tough carving.

I am a determined father though.  I said that I would carve a pumpkin, and I did.  It's not a great pumpkin face, but I tried.

On a more happier note, the seeds that we salvaged from the pumpkin were plentiful and made for GREAT roasting seeds.  They taste great.

[right][snapback]93599[/snapback][/right]

I'd show you my kids pumpkin carvings, but sadly, they melted yesterday and I had to clean up the moldy orange blob this morning - well to be honest, my wife cleaned most of it up while I was at work. I was hoping they would last till at least tommrow. <_< Oh well. The kids had a great time carving up the pumpkins and that's all that really matters, although showing the pumpkins off on display for trick-or-treaters is kind of exciting in a strange sort of way. Guess I won't have to worry about pumpkin bandits this year!

[whyBish]

Children should be encouraged to colour outside of the lines, make people with six fingers, big heads, and misshappen bodies.
[right][snapback]93639[/snapback][/right]

As long as they aint genetic engineers, I agree :P

[Doc]

As long as they aint genetic engineers, I agree&nbsp; :P
[right][snapback]93656[/snapback][/right]

You bring up an excellent point.

[Rhydderch Hael]

...As an aside about pumpkins, do any of you, in other parts of the country/world, get radio ads for Bud Light beer where they salute "real genius"?&nbsp; They have been running one recently that salutes the vandals that smash giant pumpkins that gardeners have been working all summer to grow.&nbsp; It made me mad.&nbsp; ....
[right][snapback]93637[/snapback][/right]

Umm, the beer commercial salutes the insanely huge pumpkin grower, not smasher.

The smashup is the incidental consequence of fostering such obsession.

[krishta]

Here's a picture of my absolutely pathetic jack o' lantern.
I suck at carving pumpkins&nbsp; :(

Hey, that ain't so bad. I've made worse.

Here's this year's effort, entitled "Runs With Scissors"



My daughter's jack-o-lantern features ping pong ball eyes on twisted pipe cleaners, sort of an eyeball deely-bopper effect. Weird looking thing. Camera battery just died so no pix of that one (rats).

Krishta

[Minionman]

Krishta
[right][snapback]93712[/snapback][/right]

It's the tic-tac-toe pumpkin, with an O and an X for eyes.

I'm guessing he's frowning because the scissor in his eye hurts.

Edit 2: that's actually pretty neat. Those bits above look sort of like old scars, and the mouth looks real.

[[wcip]Angel]

I really dug the "scissors in eye"-thing :) Very creepy...