2008

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My earlier posts on the house are   HERE,   HERE,  and HERE.

Ric's 50's style soda shop is featured  HERE.

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I think I'll drive over to Kenova each day this week and take a picture of the Pumpkin House as a work in progress. I'll post them every afternoon til Friday.

Might be interesting to see what they get done each day!

Whadayathink?

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MONDAY

I'll post the pictures here on this entry and timestamp it when they're up.

Here's todays.

Looks like they have a long way to go!

Monday 10-26-09

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TUESDAY

There's not a whole lot of progress being made and it's supposed to rain this evening and tomorrow. Every year it's always the big question - Are they going to be done by Halloween?

Tuesday 10-27-09

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WEDNESDAY

It's Wednesday, and things don't look much different than Tuesday. I saw two men over here stringing lights, but no one else.

Wednesday 10-28-09

It rained yesterday evening and most of this morning, so I guess they didn't get a lot more done. They only have two and a half more days!

Here's a few bonus pics.

Piled up carved punkins waiting to be placed.

More already carved.

We'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings?

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THURSDAY

It's Thursday and there's been a lot of progress made. I think they're going to make it after all! The weather is supposed to be nice for the few days, that will help.

Thursday 10-29-09

Channel 3's (WSAZ) film crew is here today.

There's a lot of foot traffic already, people taking pictures, buses full of kids coming by.

Looking good!

With two full days to go, the display Saturday night should be awesome!

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FRIDAY

Only two pictures today, friends. It's Friday and they are about 99% ready!

Friday 10-30-09

Tonight and tomorrow night local TV personalities will be reading "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" at 7, 9, and 11 o'clock. With a real, live headless horseman running loose on the grounds terrifying the villagers!

3000 pumpkins carved, lighted, and arranged on display in a weeks time.

Good job, guys!

Pumpkin house preps for Halloween

By MIKE JAMES — The Independent

KENOVA October 24, 2009 11:26 pm

It started with four pumpkins.

Originaly posted at 11:47am 10/25/09

This is in response to Aloysius_son's contest "things that look like boobs, but they're not!"

Don't forget to click the pink button!

Dan reminded me last night that you should only click this link once a day. So if you clicked on his or any other site today, don't click here.

Glanced over at my neighbors yard today and saw these weird lookin' mushroom formations. I don't remember seeing them there yesterday when I got home from work, tho.

It is late October and the temp got down in the high forties last night. Can mushrooms grow that fast in those kind of conditions?

*Edit*

I Googled "can mushrooms grow overnight" and got this answer.

"Plants and animals grow through cell division. They have to produce more cells , to get bigger in size. Cell division is relatively slow process and requires a lot of energy. The mushroom body also grows by cell division. However, the mushroom fruit does not grow by cell division. Just about as soon as it starts to develop, a mushroom has almost the same number of cells that the mature mushroom will have. The mushroom increases in size through cell ENLARGEMENT! This means that the cells can balloon up very rapidly. Very little energy is required, basically the cells just enlarge with water. So a mushroom can increase in size as fast as water can be pumped into its cells. Almost overnight a mushroom can go from a pin head to a large mushroom."

So I guess they do grow overnight!

I love the Interwebz!!!

My friend Carolyn was a little under the weather the other day and Jonesin' for some good soup, so I thought I would post this little gem for her and all my other Xanga friends.

-Old World Soup-

My wife picked this little recipe card up at Kroger's right after we were married back in '71.

We fell in love with the soup the first time she made it, and it's become more or less a staple at our house, especially during the colder months!

This really is one of the best soups that I have ever eaten and never seem to tire of it. Everyone in our household knows how to make it, even Matt's made it a couple of times.

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Recipe

1 1/2 lbs. pork shoulder, cubed

(be sure to use pork shoulder or steak, they're a little fattier than chops, hence much more flavor. And we all know pork fat RULES! Don't we!)

2 tbsp. bacon drippings

2 med onions, chopped

1 tbsp. paprika

1 tbsp. brown sugar

2 tbsp. tomato paste (or small can tomato sauce)

4 bouillon cubes (any flavor)

4 cups water

1 16oz can of sauerkraut

salt and pepper to taste (salt sparingly, the kraut, ya know. You can add more later, if needed.)

2 tbsp. flour

In a large skillet or dutch oven with cover, combine bacon drippings, onions, and pork. Brown quickly. Drain kraut (saving the juice) and add to skillet mixture. Add sugar, paprika and flour and cook 15 minutes over med-low heat. Add tomato or sauce here.

Now add liquids (kraut juice and water), salt and pepper to taste, and bouillon cubes to skillet. Stir to blend and then cover and simmer for 50 minutes.

Serve with crusty bread and a green salad and you've got a great meal going!

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We used to make it in a dutch oven as per the recipe, but as we both work now we use the old Crockpot, and I think it's even better.

We just brown the pork and onions in the bacon grease and put it and  all the other ingredients in the Crockpot and turn it on low before we leave in the morning. 9 or 10 hours later, when we get home,

it's soup!

A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her car.

A resident of Kilgore , Texas she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!

When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened he told her something that every driver should
know:

NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE
CONTROL ON!!!

She thought she was being
 cautious by setting the cruise
control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain.

But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane.

She told the patrolman that was exactly what had occurred.

The patrolman said this warning should be listed on the driver's seat sun-visor:

NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL
WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY,
along with the airbag warning.

We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed, but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the pavement is dry.

The only person the accident victim found, who knew
this (besides the patrolman), was a man who had had a
similar accident, totaled his car and sustained severe
injuries.

NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.

Do any of you guys have any experience with this? It's never happened to me, so I don't really know.