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South Hill, Virginia

There won't be much dispute that we all get the milk question more than any other but there is something else I get this time of year and I want to see if it's just me.

Anybody that knows that I grow giant pumpkins will report (with varying degrees of accuracy) whatever giant pumpkin news they see or hear. At a meeting at work a colleague told me about the "world record pumpkin" by saying "it was about this big" (as she motioned to an area about the size of a large SUV) and "it weighed something like 500 lbs!". I got a call last night to let me know the world record had been broken by an 1100 pound pumpkin in PA.

I know these people mean well but I can't help but wonder that they think all giant pumpkin growers are a bunch of buck toothed farmers. I tried to tell them that we are wired pretty good and know all breaking giant pumpkin news just about as it happens but I still get the same thing every year.

What they don't understand that this is really a sport (or at least sport-like) and we follow it like any fan would. Telling me "world records" in the middle of October is like telling a football fan who won the Super Bowl in March.

10/15/2003 10:59:25 AM

Key West, FL

You're not alone Brent, I get the same stuff too. Another thing I get is people who buy a large jack o latern and think the've had something huge. This lady told me the other day that she bought a huge pumpkin once and she stretched her arms out as far as they would go and said it was about "this big" and it was hard to pick up. I asked how much it weighed and she said I think 80 pounds.

"Telling me "world records" in the middle of October is like telling a football fan who won the Super Bowl in March." Thats pretty good!

10/15/2003 11:08:04 AM

Montoursville, PA

I certainly do not know why pumpkins incite excitement in little kids or adults clear up to aged grandmas. It seems to me they just can not resist trying to top whatever the discussion or person present may represent.

I seriously doubt that Santa brings the level emotional response that the real pumpkin.

10/15/2003 11:16:40 AM

Nova Scotia

well here the problem lies in the disbelief in what they see so they all try and scratch out a peice of my pumpkin to show that it is wax or painted foam.

10/15/2003 11:25:27 AM

Knopp, Germany

I had a guy leave me a note on my desk about a 800 plus pumpkin that he saw on the news. He thought that I would flip out because my pumpkins were only in the 600 plus range. I just laughed when he showed up about an hour later and I told him that the 800 pounder was a really good size, but that the heaviest one weighed is over 1400 pounds. He left shaking his head, I do not think he believed me.

10/15/2003 12:43:33 PM

my parent's friends send them newsclippings about pumpkins for me to look at, and by the time i see them, i've known about that specific pumpkin for a week or so....

my mom sees pumpkins on the news and tells me about them...

one report from Mom included a "Tom from near New Richmond" on the news (she was talking about Joe Ailts from Deer Park)

another report from Mon included a "Dilites" that weighed a large pumpkin in California... (she was talking about Steve Daletas 1180 in Half Moon Bay) LOL she tries, ya gotta give her some credit :-)

10/15/2003 3:25:04 PM

Stouffville

ya but if ya'll were growin' em back in the early '90s we're talking 'bout another story...especially when there was wpc,gpc,etc popping up all over the place, getting information then was tough, at least for a young naive boy who didn't know how to network. Technology has made our pursuit much easier in my view

10/15/2003 5:18:59 PM

Cincinnati,OH

I love the is it real question. I like driving down the highway watching the cars slow down and keep pace to look at it. I even saw a grown man look over and say What the f*#k !!??

10/15/2003 6:23:14 PM

Greencastle, PA

i heard a radio report that the 1180 Daletas is the new world record (apparently it broke the old one by 7 pounds)

10/16/2003 12:03:58 AM

Pumpkintown, SC

Who says we're not all buck toothed farmers? BF {:^)>

10/16/2003 11:52:26 AM

Oz

it is a human desire to share amazing news.
and with some to "top" any thing they see/hear.
they want to share the mongo pumpkin experience.
most cant grow weeds!lol i can!
my neighbor came over to show me a article about a pumpkin grower i know.
i said i knew him and her happy bubble deflated!
but next year im going to give her a big pumpkin.
best to share the good times,,,,,....

10/16/2003 11:54:31 AM