The Vegetables of our Labors

Little did we know that fateful day last spring when our neighbor handed over two innocent-looking seeds that our garden plot would shortly be overrun with giant pumpkin plants. How could we have known? Anything that I sprout I also shortly thereafter kill. Luckily, Troy was in charge and so the plants flourished. And I mean flourished. We had to tear the vines off our neighbor's roof! What was fascinating to me was how each vine chose two pumpkins to grow. When the vines first flowered there were blossoms everywhere and I thought we'd have to pick them off so that each vine would focus its growth on just one or two pumpkins, but the vines did that themselves. Interesting. And so all summer long we watched these four pumpkins balloon in size and weight until I suddenly realized this week that, Hey! It's October! Pumpkin month, right? Time to quit growing them and get them out on the porch. I carried one out there but Troy had to do the rest. Those mothers are heavy! I won't deny that I'm dreading the idea of carving them - we'll need Troy to pull out his hack saw or something. But for now they look really fun on the porch. I've already had two people ask how much dough we shelled out for those babies, and I was happy to report that the total spent was zilch. You just need a nice neighbor. You know, I think we'll save the seeds from these pumpkins for next year. Anyone want a couple?