[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eQljtg3tAA]

Well it IS fall even if the weather in Southern California doesn’t seem to reflect it.  106 in October?  Are you kidding me?  It makes me sad for the kids that go and buy pumpkins to carve in early October.  Sure, where I grew up in Wisconsin, the weather is cool enough for those pumpkins to last a week or two.  But here?  In 100+ degree temperatures?  A carved pumpkin has a shelf life of a day or two at most.

Speaking of which, did ya see the pumpkin in the video up there?  Did ya?  Now that is one giant gourd!  I love watching how excited everybody is at the weigh in.  And it is pretty amazing.  This pumpkin utterly crushes the previous world record holder–outweighing its nearest competitor by over 200 lbs.  These pumpkins are really amazing–growing by 40 or even 50 lbs. per day in peak growing season.  In fact, rapid growth can lead to bursting, which is one massively messy problem to have.

I think even Linus would agree this is one Great Pumpkin!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiSIQzwIPzQ] I don’t have a lot of stats for this one other than the fact that the pumpkin is the first ever to reach the one-ton mark.  And at 2009 pounds the world’s heaviest pumpkin weighs more than me.