Pumpkin Carving
Last night was another first at the homestead.
Last week we went to a local farm/amusement park and took a hayride out to a pumpkin patch and we (my daughter, my wife and I) proceeded to each pick out a pumpkin.
Last night was the moment of truth.
One by one, they came to the table.
Mine was the guinea pig. Since none of us had ever carved one before, we figured we were bound to mess it up, so I sacrificed mine.
It wasn't too bad. I should have cut the opening bigger; my hand is apparently much bigger than I thought.
A pumpkin is mostly hollow, I discovered. There's some goop and stringy stuff (I know, technical terms. Google'em!) and seeds (big seeds, too!). Pain to get out. We bought a simple tool kit for carving pumpkins, a little too simple, apparently. When we read the basic instructions, we discovered we should have purchased separately a scooper and a lid removing tool, or some such. But we made do with some small saw-like knives, a spoon, a butcher knife and (yech!) the right hand.
Well, I did simple stuff. Two triangle eyes, an inverted triangle nose and a simple smiley face.
Then came my daughter's. Well, much to her disappointment, it was moldy inside. Now, I'm no bacteriologist, so I don't know if one can safely expose the epidermis to mold. So my wife's dad came over with some gloves and helped out. My daughter chose to go with heart-shaped eyes, heart-shaped nose and also a simple smile (I think we all did simple smiles).
My wife's pumpkin had two cross-shaped eyes, a heart nose and, yep, the simple but effective smile.
Next time, maybe we'll go for the church suggestion; heart-shaped eyes, cross-shaped nose, smile, and Bible-shaped (rectangular) ears.
They survived last night, but the true test is tonight.
Last week we went to a local farm/amusement park and took a hayride out to a pumpkin patch and we (my daughter, my wife and I) proceeded to each pick out a pumpkin.
Last night was the moment of truth.
One by one, they came to the table.
Mine was the guinea pig. Since none of us had ever carved one before, we figured we were bound to mess it up, so I sacrificed mine.
It wasn't too bad. I should have cut the opening bigger; my hand is apparently much bigger than I thought.
A pumpkin is mostly hollow, I discovered. There's some goop and stringy stuff (I know, technical terms. Google'em!) and seeds (big seeds, too!). Pain to get out. We bought a simple tool kit for carving pumpkins, a little too simple, apparently. When we read the basic instructions, we discovered we should have purchased separately a scooper and a lid removing tool, or some such. But we made do with some small saw-like knives, a spoon, a butcher knife and (yech!) the right hand.
Well, I did simple stuff. Two triangle eyes, an inverted triangle nose and a simple smiley face.
Then came my daughter's. Well, much to her disappointment, it was moldy inside. Now, I'm no bacteriologist, so I don't know if one can safely expose the epidermis to mold. So my wife's dad came over with some gloves and helped out. My daughter chose to go with heart-shaped eyes, heart-shaped nose and also a simple smile (I think we all did simple smiles).
My wife's pumpkin had two cross-shaped eyes, a heart nose and, yep, the simple but effective smile.
Next time, maybe we'll go for the church suggestion; heart-shaped eyes, cross-shaped nose, smile, and Bible-shaped (rectangular) ears.
They survived last night, but the true test is tonight.