Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 45 Entries. Thursday, September 22 View Page I believe in curses. Sometimes things happen in this universe which cause streaks of bad luck. This is the story of my personal curse...and the journey I have been on to break it.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Last summer my journey began shortly after I lost all of my pumpkins the last week of July during an extended period of 100+ degree days. I had been experimenting with using considerably less water in growing giant pumpkins. It didn't work. It did however free me up to begin my curse breaking journey. I took my son to Chicago to see the Cubs play our Giants and we learned about the Curse of the Billy Goat.   Thursday, September 22 View Page In 1945 during the World Series a man was not allowed to bring his goat into Wrigley Field. Apparently the goat was a good luck charm for the Cubs. After the goat was turned away, so were any chances for the Cubs to return to the World Series. As I exited the "L" at Addison Avenue outside of Wrigley Field I was drawn to this dumpster where I found a card printed with the words: "The Third Time is a Charm."   Thursday, September 22 View Page For some unknown reason I kept the card.   Thursday, September 22 View Page That evening after the game I saw this woman sitting on a park bench. Twice I attempted to take her picture. The first time I was far away from her & a car pulled between us blocking her from the image. The second time I took a nice pic of my hand. On my next attempt I walked up close to her and took this beautiful photograph. Immediately after I clicked the shutter of my camera she turned & looked directly at me & said, "The Third Time is a Charm."   Thursday, September 22 View Page Jake Arietta was the Cubs pitcher who beat the Giants that day. He held the Giants to three hits. For those of you who do not follow baseball, the Cubs have the best record in the Major Leagues this year and are probably going back to the World Series for the first time since 1945. The Curse of the Billy Goat may have been lifted.   Thursday, September 22 View Page You may be wondering why I'm writing this here on bigpumpkins.com? Partly because I am bored, but partly because earlier tonight I put it all together as I was clearing off photos from my camera. One-by-one, it all started to make sense. You see, I've been obsessed with winning Half Moon Bay for quite a while, and I have been cursed.   Thursday, September 22 View Page There is just something about having your prized gourd being raised high above a crowd of cheering fans. The bright lights of the Half Moon Bay media has its lure too. But for me, twice I have waited for Columbus Day and the Half Moon Bay Weigh Off, only to have my big pumpkins be bad...and if I had taken them to Elk Grove (which is always a couple weeks earlier, they most likely would have been good). I had a 448 incher in 2012 and a 452 incher in 2014. Both with defects which made them officially DMG entries.   Thursday, September 22 View Page So I began my 2016 season, like the Cubs, with the curse still in place. Yet I was determined to work my way out of my streak of bad luck.   Thursday, September 22 View Page The work began last fall when I started building a huge screen house. I really believed that in my Northern California climate a screen house would be the answer to creating the perfect growing conditions.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Spring rolled around and a couple of cover crops later it was time to plant.   Thursday, September 22 View Page I built hot houses inside of screen houses.   Thursday, September 22 View Page And I grew more cover crops.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Over the winter I became obsessed with the 2096 Meier and its offspring. Big, heavy & they wanted to grow forever! I fell in love with the 2109 Zywiec, the 2185 Brandt, and was interested in the 2145 McMullen. The seedlings were off to perfect starts and held so much potential.   Thursday, September 22 View Page All carefully double planted so I could pick the best seedling. Or probably more truthfully, so I could screw one of them up and still have the genetics I was banking on to grow the big one!   Thursday, September 22 View Page They were off to great starts. None better than the 2109 Zywiec. Undoubtedly the best plant I have ever grown.   Thursday, September 22 View Page 15 feet out on the 2109 my dreams started to materialize.   Thursday, September 22 View Page I'd never seen anything grow like it!   Thursday, September 22 View Page By day 30 it measured 290 OTT and was well on its way to greatness. Perfect shape, fast growing, and on the best plant ever!   Thursday, September 22 View Page Then on day 30 disaster struck when I attempted to reposition it to get it a little further from the vine that it was rapidly growing into.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Once again proving that 1. I am an idiot. and 2. The curse was still intact.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Fortunately at the other end of the screenhouse, the 2185 Brandt was just a couple days behind the crushing disappointment that the 2109 Zywiec had become. It too showed great potential.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Day 49 was greeted with a high of 90 degrees and a low of 46 degrees. The morning of day 50 I discovered a blossom end split that was big enough that I could put my hand into the center cavity. It had grown 5 inches OTT that night and managed to blow out its 4 inch thick blossom end. Nothing quite like a 44 degree temperature swing while growing about 50 pounds in a night. Apparently that is not a combination that works in our world.   Thursday, September 22 View Page It is late & time for me to go to bed. I will continue my story tomorrow. By the way, Siri just informed me that "the Cubs pounded the Reds by a score of 9-2 today." They have clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs and are well on their way to overcoming the Curse of the Billy Goat.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Before I get back into my story, I need to let Chris Dunn know that I am mainly writing this for him. He sat at our table at Elk Grove this year and maybe some of our Northern California magic rubbed off on him, as he has a pretty nice one going right now. Perhaps Chris is part of the process of eliminating my curse. Who knows.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Before I get along too far I need to make a small correction. Last night my story got a little bit ahead of my research. Facts are important when you are attempting to eliminate a curse. It is Addison Street, not Addison Avenue. Wrigley field is located at 1060 Addison Street.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Our seats at Wrigley weren't real good--but they were real cheap on StubHub.   Thursday, September 22 View Page As we sat there behind our post that was holding up the upper deck (even though it looked like it might collapse at any moment) occasionally I got a glimpse of the hot, new rookie the Cubs had playing shortstop--Addison Russell.   Thursday, September 22 View Page There is was again--ADDISON. Followed by my name--RUSSELL. I looked up Addison Russell on Wikipedia and learned that in 2015 he was ranked the #3 Top Prospect according to Baseball America. As far as I know his batting average was .333 on the day we were at Wrigley field. I sure am glad I kept that card I pulled out of the dumpster on Addison STREET.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Ah, here is a much better pic of the Billy Goat from the Curse of the Billy Goat. At this point of the season and after losing my two best fruit I was ready to pack it in. I was considering following in Josiah Brandt's footsteps and taking the rest of the year off to do nothing but pump iron (of course I would supplement it with injections of Big Stem & drops of Antithesis directly under my tongue for maximal results).   Thursday, September 22 View Page Then one day something magical happened. I noticed this humble pumpkin growing behind the curtain.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Well, it wasn't anything like Ron's pumpkin, or the Patton's monster for that matter. Although my #2 pumpkin was right on pace with theirs at the time it blew, I can only imagine the stress they endured as they pushed the limits of the biggest ever for several more weeks. Been there, done that. I still dream about it, and the ending still makes me feel like heroin addict who was unwillingly thrown into rehab without warning. Yes, this one, although it was about 30% smaller than my deceased friends would do just fine.   Thursday, September 22 View Page It was growing on a well-behaved, modestly growing 2145 McMullen plant. Everything laid down nicely and cooperated as well as could be expected.   Thursday, September 22 View Page I'll take a rocket ship ride like the 2109 any time. But when that rocket explodes and a 2145 comes along to pick me up as I lay beside the rubble that was left behind, who am I not to get in and go along for the ride when given the opportunity? I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid.   Thursday, September 22 View Page As time went by and the reports of the other souped-up models crashing and burning, the 2145 just kept chugging along at 55 MPH. I was growing to like this all-American ride. It was comfortable, the air conditioner worked, and the sound system was more than adequate. It reminded me lot of my parent's Ford Focus.   Thursday, September 22 View Page I lived in Boston in the late 1980's when the Curse of the Bambino raised its ugly head and Bill Buckner was celebrated as the goat of the Red Sox's world series.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees in 1919. It was 84 long years until Kurt Schilling & the bloody sock came along in 2004 and the Red Sox finally won the World Series. Now that is what I call a CURSE. I also think selling the Babe to another team was just plain STUPID.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Also in 1919 the Black Sox scandal started the south-sider's own curse that wasn't broken until they managed to win the series in 2005.   Thursday, September 22 View Page When Owen & I showed up for a tour of US Cellular Field the day after the Cub's game only to find a sign that read "No Tour Today" my curse was certainly still on. Somehow we managed to get someone from their PR to lead us around where ever we wanted to go...so there was some hope.   Thursday, September 22 View Page So now here we are with 8 more nights to grow until Elk Grove and 18 more nights to grow until Half Moon Bay. We even have a nice run of 80-90 degree weather coming down the pipe the next week or so! Do I go for the glory of Half Moon Bay and risk the curse???? Or do I settle for a shot at somewhere around $13,000 and maybe just one TV station at Elk Grove?????   Thursday, September 22 View Page From what I've seen, most curses revolve around people doing STUPID things. My curse probably does too. So I think I will do the SMART thing and bring my bigg'un to Elk Grove this year. Maybe the third time will be a charm for Half Moon Bay, but I won't be finding out with this pumpkin.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Especially considering that I have this bomb-proof beast growing on my 2096 Meier! I think I will challenge my Half Moon Bay curse with it. I hope my tractor will be able to lift it.   Thursday, September 29 View Page The past couple of days I've been getting things ready for game day. Here is the big pallet I built for the 2145. It was time to build a new big pallet as the old was getting rickety and had a bad track record in being associated with the curse.   Thursday, September 29 View Page I also built these extensions for my tripod legs. When we loaded the 1828 DGM Pugh two years ago we could barely get it high enough in the air to get the pallet underneath the pumpkin. This will give us room to spare.   Thursday, September 29 View Page Grandpa & I took down the screen house that the 2145 has lived its entire life in so we will have easy access for loading tomorrow. I have a big crew of helpers lined up for loading tomorrow. It is not too difficult to get volunteers to help you load up something really big. Either it is because it is something you can't experience every day, or it is because it is great opportunity for my friends to torment me and possibly even seen me have a complete meltdown if the fruit is damaged or something goes wrong during the loading! Let the fun begin.