Pumpkin Carving Party

I love carving pumpkins.

It appeals to my creative side and my need to do stuff with my hands....

Idle hands...blahblahblah

This year, I decided to have friends over for some home made soup and to carve pumpkins

BYOP, of course.

I, being the pumpkin aficionado that I am, went to my favorite pumpkin farm on Sunday.

45 miles away.

Yep, a little drive for some pumpkins.

Sure, we passed a few other pumpkin farms on the way...

But it isn't MY pumpkin farm.

The one I discovered 3 years ago when I was killing myself selling insurance (don't ask)

I walked away with 3 beautiful carving pumpkins, 2 pie pumpkins, 2 butter squash, and 2 loaves of bread: zucchini with pecans and rhubarb

De.licious.

Home made from scratch (except for the crust) pumpkin pie will happen next week.

Last night, we broke out the tools, some beer, and got cuttin'

I chose my prettiest pumpkin to carve first:

This will be my 'cute' pumpkin this year.

The next one will be a little more scary

And the third is going to be downright creepy.

I think the creepy one will have to take up residence atop my filing cabinet at work...

At first, only Megan and I were the only ones carving...

Her pumpkin:


Then Eric and Scott arrived with their own pumpkins, as requested!

They were hesitant...but gave in to the pumpkin carving temptation.

Eric's pumpkin was kinda small and a bit rotten inside.

Gross.

But it turned out great:























Scott said he's NEVER carved a pumpkin before!

I found that unbelievable.

He cut er open and I helped him pull out the guts and scoop scrape dig...

Then he picked the simplest pattern in the book.

Which was a happy looking pumpkin.

He started with poking the holes and then tracing the pattern....

As he was carving I noticed his pumpkin was cracked on the bottom.

He became frustrated, thinking it was ruined and just about gave up.

Everyone told him to keep going!

So he kept on...then decided to just go with the flow...and started carving every which way!

The result:

I think it's adorable!

A couple of strategically placed eyebrows and it could be menacing.

This weekend: cooking up the seeds and more carving!

Last year's spooky pumpkin post

Getting Back on Track

Alright, so where were we...

Ahhh yes.

Tailgating.

The pictures I said I would post a couple of weeks ago...

Tailgating is an art.

It takes planning, preparation, and dedication.

If you arrive at 8am for a 12:37pm kick-off, you're late.

Especially for the Iowa vs Iowa State Game...

You meet all kinds of people tailgating...

Families, students, alumni...

What do they have in common?

A love of football and drunkenness.

Yes, whole families, wasted off their asses!

Some days are started with an omelet and a Bloody Mary

Not these.

A bowl of chili and crappy beer....not to mention shotgunning and beer-bongs....

That's how you start the College Football Saturday Extravaganza

About mid-morning, after playing bags and that game where you toss a string with balls on either end - way too dangerous for drunks in my opinion - you get a hankerin'

For some brats!

Fire up the grill and get out that spatula!

Spatula?!

Fuck. We forgot the spatula.

No worries.

Iowa State is known for it's engineering program.

Surely there are Engi-nerds present that can solve our dilemma....

You need only look left or right, they dwell among us in large numbers.

5 minutes later, Voila!

A Beer Can Spatula:

Fucking Genius.

After that some drinking games...

Namely, Tippy-Cup

Which I ROCK at!!

My team completely dominated.

I'm a single-flip-attempt kinda gal.

Always on the first try.

That's how great I am.

::Pat on Back::

Other things of note from that tailgate:

PENIS.

For some reason, guys feel the need to show me their dicks.

Not usually a problem.

Except we're drunk in the middle of the afternoon in a tailgating field in a college town in central Iowa!

Meh. I took pictures.

I was looking for a TV to watch the game on...and walked into the arms of a guy named Todd.

It was really odd.

35, recently divorced, father of a 3.5 year old son, from out of town....how convenient

He was cute, tall, claimed to be successful...

And then he took his sunglasses off....

SQUINTY.

Uck.

At least I got to smoke some of his cigar . . . (pervs)

Oh yeah, IOWA STATE WON!!

Eat it, Hawks.

What happened that day...

My paternal family is diabetic.

All five of my aunts/uncles and my grandfather.

My grandmother died September 18, 2004, after years on dialysis.

Dad was a little overweight and had been diagnosed with diabetes late in life.

He'd always been an active person, playing soccer since college, coaching us when we were kids, doing home improvement projects...

His death was extremely sudden.

A heart attack is suspected, although never confirmed.

He was playing soccer that day.

Came off the field at half-time and motioned to his chest.

Told his wife he felt pressure.

Do you have any pain anywhere? Anything tingling or numb?

No, I just feel weak.

At that point they found him some sugary water, thinking it was just low blood sugar.

He couldn't keep the water down, and they set off towards a path to have some privacy.

Once they got there, he got down on one knee.

He didn't feel well...

We should get you to the hospital, can you make it to the car?

I don't know, just let me get it together first...

Then he passed out.

He never really came to after that, a bit of incoherent moaning was about it.

An ambulance was called.

The had to call back for directions because they couldn't find the side entrance to the park.

My stepmother and stepsister followed.

They turned on the siren as they left...but soon turned it off.

After arriving at the hospital, they worked on him, but wouldn't allow anyone to see him

At one point, my stepmother and sister were placed in a small, private waiting room.

They were told it didn't look good, and to prepare for the worst.

After an hour and 45 minutes of working on him, they finally gave up.

He was pronounced dead at 7:45 pm.

The Medical Examiner refused to do an autopsy.

We'll never know for sure what it was that killed him.

I'm glad it was quick, that he didn't go through what his mother did.

He was only in pain for maybe 20 minutes.

And he was doing something he loved when it happened: playing soccer