Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 110 Entries. Friday, January 2 View Page A new year and a new patch,new home and a new P.B I hope, good luck to all this coming year Wednesday, January 14 View Page Well back in Noven=mber on the way back from Thanksgiving with family I headed out to pick up some mint compost and a guy felt the erge to pass on my left as I slowed to make a left hand turn and amashed into the side of my truck and as of two weeks ago I have gotten my truck back and happy to say better than it was before the accident. Awesome!!! Wednesday, January 14 View Page We have moved to a different house in Sumner Wa Wednesday, January 14 View Page Could there be a long gourd grown in 09? Wednesday, January 14 View Page Breana standing in the back yard. It will soon house 5 plants of mine and 2 for Breana Thursday, January 15 View Page Stan Pugh and I have been collecting alot of Rabbit and Alpaca manure from a couple of local resources. each of the 2 places we get our rabbit manure from both have a minimum of 80 rabbits so the acumulation adds up quickly. In this pic is some rabbit poo that had been sitting for awhile at her place. I rented a tractor (Brim Tractor/New Holland) and loaded up. Thursday, March 19 View Page The Wiz with Steve and Sherrie (hopefully I spelled her name right)Handy checking out the NY side of Niagra falls Thursday, March 19 View Page Ya almost never know who you'll meet in the gift shop at the falls. Ron Wallace, Joe Jutras, Steve Connelly. Thursday, March 19 View Page It was a little chilly when we went down to the Falls Thursday, March 19 View Page Just thought this pic was cool (Really cool, brr!) Thursday, March 19 View Page view from our Floor Thursday, March 19 View Page Even the Wiz's rat got to hook up with some friends Thursday, March 19 View Page Our club member Jake VanKooten with the champions trophy for his 1536.5 pumpkin. Thursday, March 19 View Page Jake with his new jacket. Looks good Jake. Thursday, March 19 View Page Cousin and Uncle get inducted into the 1400# club Thursday, March 19 View Page Now if I could only get one of my own. Receiving Brad and Walts jacket Thursday, March 19 View Page Just when you think your doing well at this you get a BIG dose uf humble pie! Incase you hadnt heard it enough Quinn NICE JOB!!!!! Tuesday, March 31 View Page Well as planting season draws near I have narrowed down my line up to. 227 Leland (Stan Pugh and I co-grow) 898 Knauss (thanks Russ Pugh) 1370 Rose,772.2 Poirier, 1184 Barker, 901 Hunt, 1112.5 LaRue,and either the 862 Perham or 1247 Pugh. Breana will once again grow her 1016 B. Barker and also the 497 Lohan (1041 McKie x self) grown by a young girl I saw while at Cooperstown weigh off 2 years ago and told Breana about her and she said she would like to grow hers along with her own. Sunday, April 12 View Page Well a bit of a shocker rain in the forcast. So Today I got One trailer load of dirt from my old place. (yes it is true) Then along with 2 heaping trailer loads of Alpaca poo and the countless loads of rabbit poo I tilled it in. then with the use of Stan Pughs subsoiler I commensed in subsoiling.................... Sunday, April 12 View Page ..............now if only it doesn't rain on Easter I may get my ammendments in. Yea Right!!! Tuesday, April 14 View Page Ok it is true trying to move your old soil just plain sucks and to find out what I leave behind will soon be covered with grass. UGG! Tuesday, April 14 View Page Just another shot of it Tuesday, April 14 View Page Would like to thank the guys at my local Brim/New Holland tractor co. for letting me use a nice new tractor to move and load the dirt. Thanks Nathan Tuesday, April 14 View Page Now to spread my Alpaca and rabbit manure around before I till and sub soil Tuesday, April 14 View Page Listening to the Mariners game and tilling what could be better. Baseball and growing pumpkins SWEET!! Tuesday, April 14 View Page This is what you get when you ask the wife to take pictures of me working in the garden. I told her to take a pic of me ON the tractor. She mentioned that this was my better side. Tuesday, April 14 View Page You never no what you'll find when you sub soil a new patch. I found a couple old cement fence post (no biggie) but when I ran across something that was buried about 3 ft deep I was kinda surprised to uncover a front fender of a old Belair car with headlight still on it. All be it all rusty it was still kinda weird to find a buried fender and one that old and still in realively good shape (pic soon). That is not what I would consider a good soil ammendment for iron though. Monday, April 20 View Page Well this is how my day ended after spending 5.5 hours at the Puyallup spring fair maning the club booth I quickly darted home and started tilling the ammendments that where spread out in the garden at 6 am that morning. Sleep? HUH! who needs it. Monday, April 20 View Page Can you see who or what is whitest? Anyway as you can see there is along ways to go. I managed to finish in about 2+ hours. Then take a quick 2 hour knapp and of to work. Holy crap I am tired!!! Monday, April 20 View Page This years ammendments included Kelp meal,Blood meal, 2 50# bags of Humical, 75#'s of Calnite, and about 400 -500 #'s of Soundgro Bio fertalizer, and 75#'s of gypsum. Now I will have to send of another soil sample to see if things are more inline than the intial (which was pretty bad)test revealed. Tuesday, April 21 View Page These are the 2 pumpkins that Breana will be growing. Her 1016 and the 497 Lohan. The Lohan was grown from a girl NY that is about the same age as Breana. When I was at The Cooperstown weigh off a couple of yrs. ago I saw her weigh it and then when I received my club seed packet and it was in there I told Breana that this was the seed from 1 of the 2 kids I saw at the weigh off in Cooperstown. She then told me she wanted to grow 497 with her 1016. Tuesday, April 21 View Page Here is what is soaking and will be put into pots on Tues. The 768 Barker and 1325 Starr are my back ups but if all come up I may just......................... ahh heck lets wait and see before I say it. Thursday, May 14 View Page Well after a couple small wind storms everything seems to be coming along. my only concern is the 901 Hunt seems to be trailing the pack and if it doesnt come around soon it will be replaced by a back up of Stan Pugh's from his 1174 Pugh. Which I thinks is 930.5 LaRue x 1566 Rodonis. Suposed to have some nice weather this weekend so I plan to plant it next to the 901 hunt and may the best plant win. Friday, June 5 View Page startied covering vines today managed to get the 1112,5 LaRue plant done. Main is about 9.5 ft out. The 1184 Barker,1174 Pugh, and the 1370 Rose are close seconds at about 8FT and the 1325 Starr and 772 Poirier are pullin up the rear at about 4 FT. Picked up 3 yrds of Tagro today to bury the vines with. My 2 88.5 Leland field pumpkins are ready to go out in the patch. Monday, June 29 View Page Ok Pollenation update: 1370 Rose x 1184 Barker 1st set 1370 Rose x 772 Poirier 2nd and will be the 3rd also. 1184 Barker x 1370 Rose 1174 Pugh x 898 Knauss (thanx Quiz) 1112.5 La Rue x 898 Knauss 1st and 2nd sets 772 Poirier x 1370 Rose and a 2nd of the same if it opens in time 1325 Starr x ????? hoping to be either the 1112.5 La Rue or 898 Knauss Sunday, August 2 View Page 772 poirier is 263 OTT @ day 31 1370 Rose is at 94 Circ @ Day 25 Havent measured the others yet. Tuesday, August 11 View Page Hey monster I would have gladly given you 1370 or even Knauss pollen but Manure Man asked me not to. LOL How come no pics of my 1184 bro! hehe Sunday, August 16 View Page 1174 Pugh on 7/27 the innie concerns me but keeping the fingers crossed. Sunday, August 16 View Page here a poor pic of my 1370 Rose and I x'd the 772 Poirier into it Sunday, August 16 View Page All pics are taken on the 27th of July. Here is the 772 Poirier. Yes I put the 1370 Rose into it. Sunday, August 16 View Page here is my problem child but if she hold together watch out!! she thumps REAL hard. This is the 1325 Starr and I put 898 Knauss into it. She has some interesting things going on, I may have some pics later to show what I mean. Sunday, August 16 View Page Brean with Her 1016 She hasnt been giveing her plant the attention she should but should still have a realatively nice pumpkin for the Fair again pic taken on 7/27 Wednesday, September 2 View Page .....ever else....planning.... Saturday, September 12 View Page Puyallup fair pumpkins.........some of them Saturday, September 12 View Page Brad Perham and Jake with some of the others Saturday, September 12 View Page Breana and cousin Jon with there winning 662 Pumpkin grown off Breanas 1016. it went 112# heavy was crossed with the 497 Lohan Saturday, September 12 View Page Also listed in the last pic in 2 place was Amy Maggi and 3 Cameron Jensen. Camerons pumpkin was off of my 1184 pumpkin Saturday, September 12 View Page Ryans Pumpkin was a TRUE Monster biggest by measurement and still ends up with a nice weight and a new PB @ 991 Nice Job Ryan. It was off the 1055 Jutras and crossed with my 1184. and good enough for a VERY close contest with Joel Holland Saturday, September 12 View Page Joel Holland finished 2 with this beauty?..........Ok not so pretty gut who cares as long as it is big. Saturday, September 12 View Page Stan the man was the talk of the fair with his 1136.5 Pumpkin that went 200+ over the chart and set a new fair recoed he previously held of 1050. NICE JOB my friend 1053 Pugh x 898 Knauss Soooo you want heavy next year hear ya go! Saturday, September 12 View Page "record" I hate typos Saturday, September 12 View Page Honey you have to zoom in people might want to see.................the pumpkin. Me with my 7/23 set off the 1112 LaRue it went 60# heavy and came in at 388# I X'd it with the 1174 Pugh which will add length to the next gen. You will see when my 1174 Pugh pumpkin is weighed Saturday, September 12 View Page Stan with Joel and Ryan Wednesday, September 23 View Page Another shot of the new fair record pumpkin grown by Stan Pugh. Est. @ 920#'s and as you can see it went WAY!!! heavy. grown off of the 1053 pugh 08 (902 Pugh x 1016 B. Barker) and he crossed the 898 Knauss into this one. Tuesday, September 29 View Page Stan the man with his 1040.5 Farm winner edging out Mr. Sherwood by 2 lbs. Tuesday, September 29 View Page Forgot my shameless plug. He won it with my 1184 Barker and again crossed it with the 898 Knauss Tuesday, September 29 View Page Sherwood with his 1038.5 off of the 1388 LaRuex with 1142 VanKooten. Tuesday, September 29 View Page Lori Sherwood tryin to help Erin look for you know who..............................me Tuesday, September 29 View Page Lee Roof snuck up and tied me @ 908 with his 1207 Young and it went 23% heavy x the 998.6 Pukos in to it. Wednesday, September 30 View Page I posted a sign and a local farm and feed store in Sumner WA about our weigh off this week end at Scholz Farm. The feed Store is doing a Geuss the weight contest with John & Breanas Pumpkin and Cindy Tobecks Pumpkin and the money collected will go for Breast cancer research. They will be on display until the 10th of Oct. Saturday, October 3 View Page Well I loaded the Pumpkin and then took the tractor back with the pumpkin in back. Met my wife at the tractor place so that I could help another grower load his so she took the truck home........ moments later I get a call from her frantically saying that the Kin had slid forward and SMASHED into the cab. "anything broken" I replied. She says "no the truck is ok except it bent the front of the bed" My reply was "no is anything broken on the pumpkin!" Oh "no just the long stem part that was at the bottom" WHEW!! It made for an anxious trip home to see for myself. All is well except for a bent up truck bed UG! Saturday, October 3 View Page I think I was just a little happy. A new PB @ 1191 (1174 Pugh x 985 Werner) It went 157#'s heavy Saturday, October 3 View Page A family pumpkin photo. It meant SOOO much to have my mom and dad see the weigh off as it is the first one they have seen. Brother,cousin, neices and nephew and it was also nice to have my broth in law there as it was his first time seeing a weigh off also. Sunday, October 4 View Page some of the people gathered together before the weigh off for our clubs first pumpkin parade through town. 16 vehicles with Kins weaved our way to the weigh off. Quite a site Sunday, October 4 View Page another pic of mom and Dad with the 1191 Barker 09 Sunday, October 4 View Page third place Kin belong to Ken Taylor with a nice one at 1109. off of the 1462 Holland Sunday, October 4 View Page Another shot of the now 1191 Barker. The innie on the blossum made me nervous all season. No worries anymore Sunday, October 4 View Page I just love my Kin Sunday, October 4 View Page Mike Popps with his 1280 winning Kin. Nice Job Mike. Sunday, October 4 View Page top 3 1280,1191,1109 Sunday, October 4 View Page Brad Steph and Jake Perham. If it werent for him I probably wouldnt be growing these things. Thanks cus (more like a brother) Sunday, October 4 View Page I cant forget the help I had loading my Kin. My neighbors were real curious as to what I was growing and after they saw the kins popping up in my back yard they were quite surprised and willing to help me load them. So thanks alot guys. Sunday, October 4 View Page After the weigh off we took a little drive. Wednesday, October 14 View Page my 960 Barker 09 was happy that it went 183 lb over the chart (19%). Was only hoping for it to hit 900 but I will take the extra 60 lbs. Plus my cousin Brad and friend/co-worker Ben Jergens had a little $1.00 side bet being that all three of ours were close in measurements. Wednesday, October 14 View Page Oh crap not again. Ok here it is 1370 Rose x 772 Poirier. last pic was of Lee roof and his Kin at scholz farm weigh off Wednesday, October 14 View Page Brad and Jake with off Brads 936 off of his 862 kin. Wednesday, October 14 View Page Ben Jergens with his 863 Wednesday, October 14 View Page Time to pay up guys I win. Well so much for a glamour shot here. Ugg! Wednesday, October 14 View Page Dick Kilburn with his amazing 35% heavy pumpkin it was est. at 1002 #'s and went 1355. Because many couldnt believe it after every one was weighed we remeasured and re weighed it It is lagit. talk about a cant wait to slice this sucker open!!! grown of off the 1467 Perham. which has been having alot of offspring going heavy Wednesday, October 14 View Page end to end Wednesday, October 14 View Page side to side Wednesday, October 14 View Page circumfrance Wednesday, October 14 View Page And there you have it D. Kilburn and his official 1355 Nice job man!! Wednesday, October 14 View Page So you add it up and 96 s.s it was just under making it being a half inch. 96 E.E and 171 circ. 363 OTT Wednesday, October 14 View Page took a little trip to the Roloff farm (little people big world on TLC) just out side of Hillsboro Oregon on Tues. to drop off my 960 to be on the show along with the Sherwood and Starr pumpkins. Wednesday, October 14 View Page Kinda bummed we didnt get to meet them but maybe when I go back down for the pumpkin Reagatta on the 31st Wednesday, October 14 View Page ..............to collect the seeds we can meet them Monday, October 26 View Page Here I am just tossing out my cover crop seeds and something happened that not only hurt but I was surprised that they were still hanging around. That being said and the fact that I was wearing a thick long sleeved shirt a damn Hornet stung me right on my elbow. Now it is monday morning at work and this sucker ITCHES and is pretty swollen from my forearm to about half way up to my shoulder. AGGGGG! But I did still got my cover crop down so take that mr Bee your probably dead and I still got my cover crop in. Ha ha ha ha. Monday, November 2 View Page Cindy Tobeck and I getting ready to represent the PNWGPG in the Pumpkin Regatta in Oregon. She is in her 600+ pounder grown from Erin Huffs 1027 08 Monday, November 2 View Page Jack LaRue battles it out and finishes 4th Cindy took 3rd (wahoo) Oh and I had the infamous DNS. Or plainly put when the said go I made about 3 swings with my oars and promptly capsized. Ah Crap! That was also after hussling up at the last min to just get in the race with a barrowed kin Monday, November 2 View Page Got a ribbon for the person furthest away......... Monday, November 2 View Page ............. cool.......... What Jim? Oh another one? Monday, November 2 View Page ........Oh I get one for choking at the starting line too? Saweet! Monday, November 2 View Page Our own Cindy Tobeck get her 3rd place ribbon. Pretty awesome for a first time rower. She was already pplanning next year tactics on the way home. So watch out B. Savage she will be gunning for ya or whom everelse get in her way. (cariots of fire theme playing in the background followed up with a little Eye Of The Tiger) Monday, November 2 View Page The Champ B Savage Monday, November 2 View Page Cut open Dick Kilburns 1355 today man was that sucker THICK!!!!! Monday, November 2 View Page Brad Perham Left, Dick Kilburn Right and me in the back. Monday, November 2 View Page Erin Huffs 700+ pounder Squash that went 32% heavy Monday, November 2 View Page Some cut views Bottom Shoulder Monday, November 2 View Page Upper shoulder Monday, November 2 View Page Blossum end. The crack you see in the pic was the only flaw in the whole pumpkin and as you can see it wasn't very deep at all. Monday, November 2 View Page Brads son Jake posing for a size comparison. Monday, November 2 View Page Well as you can see that seed cavity inst that big and the chuncks on the ground ......... well you get the idea as to how that sucker went 35% heavy at over 350#'s(1006 weighed 1355) Monday, November 2 View Page Took my 1191 Barker 09 to work to get a pic with the peps I work with. It was cool to see some of there expressions when they saw it. Very cool thanks guys. Monday, November 2 View Page Ya know when you cut these things open how you have that fear of the being no seeds? Well lucky me (NOT!!!) my 960 (1370 Rose x 772 Poirier) only had roughly 6 yeas I said 6 viable seeds. Ok I thought things cant get any worse can they? YEP!!! My uncle brought by the seeds out of my 898 Knauss and out of about 200 seeds probably 30 or so were good the rest were black. But he mentioned he couldn't/didn't see any signs of rot on the or in the pumpkin. 908 Barker 09(898 Knauss x 1689 Jutras) Damn it!!!. Ok it does get a little better my Puyallup Fair Kin yielded seeds. Not alot but all were good and fat. 388 Barker 09 1112.5 LaRue x 1174 Pugh. My 1191 is the pollinator (1174 Pugh x 985 Werner) let hope I get a descent count when she gets cut open on tuesday. Wednesday, November 18 View Page Breana Wants to thank Erin (and the others that were in the chat room with me on 11/17)for the AWESOME flowers and rprise she was still VERY happy to get them. The Card read.... "Hospitals are smelly and rotten pumpkins do to Hope you feel sunny with some flowers for you" Thanks again everyone. Even though I ruined the initial surprise Breana was wondering all day when and if she was going to get them and whaen they arrived you should have seen the look on her face...... PRICELESS!!! Wednesday, November 18 View Page Ok the screwed up sentance was supposed to say.... "even though I screwed up the Surprised she was still......" so sorry about that. Wednesday, November 18 View Page Ok grammer was ObViOuSly not my best subject... No really!! Sunday, December 13 View Page Well This last 30 days has been a very HARD for me and my family. 1st Breanas surgery (thankfully went well, 2nd this last Weds. morning while at work I sustained a concussion. 3rd while all this had been going on my mom had a stroke and was fitting for her life. Sadly for me she passed away at 1:15 am this morning. It has eased the sorrow knowing that she was a christian and undoubtedly is in heaven. I was real happy that her and my dad got to see a weigh off this year as they had never seen one. So as you can imagine it will be the most important weigh off of my life for that reason alone. So as you can imagine I have dedicated this next season to my mom. Monday, December 14 View Page darn it I did it again Crap Crap Crap!!!!!