Yesterday (Thursday), on the way to work, I stopped at a 'farmers market' type place that sells pumpkins. It was pouring rain. It was cold. Miserable. I walked around for a few minutes, not seeing anything I liked. Most of the pumpkins were really big, and they were selling by the pound. I heard the guy working there tell a woman that just one of her five pumpkins was $21 :O I left! lol

Today (Friday), I woke up, the sun was shining. Still cold. Windy. I headed out to a 'u-pick' place just a couple miles from my house. A woman and her two kids were leaving... covered in mud. I thought to myself 'crap, this is gonna suck.'

I walked up to the little store/shack ...and saw exactly what I was looking for right there on the first step. I was thrilled! I grabbed it and asked the (cliche old farmers wife) woman if it was actually a pumpkin (thinking maybe it was a squash). She confirmed that it was. Yay!!! I glanced down along the side and saw another larger one that would work for what I had in mind. I spent a few minutes walking around the piles of already picked pumpkins (I wasn't about to head out into the mud field! lol), but in the end, went with the first two I saw. $11.75 for both. woO!

I got home and decided to gut the bigger one first... it was quick work. I started on the second one... I cut into the top, managed to yank that out... only to discover that the thing wasn't hollow with seeds inside. It was solid. Obviously not a pumpkin. I was bummed! Since it was tall and narrow, I thought I'd just try to hollow it out anyway because it was the perfect color and shape for what I wanted to carve. After several minutes, and much effort... I realized that wasn't gonna work. I put down my knife and left the kitchen (top chef reference! lol).

So, now I'm heading out a different farmers market type place to see if I can find something suitable. Wish me luck!

boo! :(

UPDATE
Ten minutes into my 20 minute drive, it started to rain! lol dammit!!

They didn't really have many to choose from. Due to the weather, a lot of them were rotting and turning to mush. I finally found one that I figured would do... and of course as I was walking to my car, spied a better one. But by this point I was soaked and annoyed, so I just kept the one I had.

On the up side, I stopped at my sister's on the way home and grabbed some new movies to watch. So if carving doesn't go well, I'll just say screw it and pop in a dvd :P

Cal's Market had baby cows and goats... d'aawww!