It was a brisk autumn day and I decided that I was going to somewhat celebrate the pagan holiday of all pagan holidays-Halloween. But, knowing that i was far too lazy to wander around in the dark w/ my kids I decided to start small and just get some pumpkins. I rushed home from work and picked up my two boys who eagerly had been asking about halloween even though we've never done anything before. We made the quick trip over to the produce stand (on steroids) and proceeded to wander around in the cold not knowing what to do. I prefer my food to be dead, cooked and on my plate. This was a new experience. Finally I asked someone about pumpkins. After giving me a stare usually reserved for dudes and deadbeats, she gave me the low down. If we wanted to, we could take a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and get sweet, juciy, ripe, and beautiful pumpkins there or we could look at a pile of mangy cast-offs. I chose the castoffs. I let the boys pick their pumpkins (of course I had veto power) and then I picked a couple baby ones for the girls. When we got home we started the messy business. I started Titus off first and while he was disemboweling his, I did the two girls baby 'kins. Typical girls. did not want to get their hands dirty. Finally, I got to Forrest's 'kin. I thought it odd that his had a different texture but didn't pay much attention until later. I tried using the same knives on his pumpkin only to bend them. Finally I had a hole in it but cutting was a nightmare. I alternated between a serrated knife and my gerber multi-tool saw blade. Talk about frustrating. Finally, I decided that the risk of slipping and cutting a nearby observer was too great and I went and got a bigger hammer. Figuratively that is. Literally, I got a saw. I came back to the table with a gleam in my eye and a fresh battery. I got the blade in and started cutting. It was beautiful. It was like a knife through butter. Not hot, but not cold. maybe about 60 degrees or so. room temperature if you like it cold or are trying to preserve a body and throw off the time of death for the medical examiner. But I digress. I was careful and finally got the top of the 'kin. And there I found the reason why it was so hard to cut... it was made of gold! Yes it was, wait, no. Well, it turns out it was just really thick-skinned. I'd say it was at least 1/8" thick. probably more but i'm not very good at the maths. less than 1/4 but more than an 1/8. 3/16? maybe? Anyway, everybody was happy. except the pumpkins
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