A Fabulous Saturday Around Town

As this past weekend approached, Lo Gung asked me several times, "What do you want to do on Saturday?" Since I didn't think he'd understand if I just hopped up and down and said, "I dunno...wha'd'you wanna do?"(Come on, guys...name that movie. And if the line "Try to take over the world!" just popped into your head...you're probably related to me. Sorry. And try to keep your cartoons straight!)

We had several friends who were heading off into the various and sundry Pumpkin Patches available around here, and that sounded interesting...but far, and dicey. We like to know the prices before we bundle a toddler up into the car and head off into New York State. Call us crazy.

Since we already knew the prices at Stew Leonard's, and it was a whole lot closer than Hardscrabble Road in Croton Falls, NY...off we went.

Well, first I wanted to snap some pictures at home. I dressed BBJ up in her farmerliest duds (aka: her overalls that won't fit her for another year or so...but whatever!) and asked her to pose for a picture.

This is what I got. Don't ask me. I don't know. I said, "BBJ! Smile!" She immediately turned around and showed me her backside.

Trust me - she was cute from the front, too.

We took off for Stew Leonard's. Our first stop was the Little Farmyard. It was rather devoid of any and all farmyard-life during the summer, but now that Fall is here, it's packed! There are cows, sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and a turkey, all strutting around in their small enclosures. The whole Farmyard is fenced in, with paths criss-crossing between the different enclosures. I tell you - those Stew Leonard people think of everything! BBJ could run around, ogling the various animals, and I never had to worry about her getting hit by a car, a stray cart, or getting too far!

The ducks were definitely her favorite...but she was sorely tempted to switch to the sheep when they kept calling out to her as she left! (She's watching the ducks and chickens in the above picture, while a Chinese Silkie watches her!) (Yes, I realize that cow in the picture is fake. There were real cows...we just chose to take lots of pictures of BBJ's backside, and none of the animals. Sorry!)

LoGung and I popped inside the store for a gander at their fresh local produce - BBJ was only there to see the dancing cartons of milk, poetry-spouting conifer...oh, and the Chiquita Banana that dances and sings.


I saw this ad for Bubba Burgers and couldn't resist taking a picture with "bubba jyu". (Bet you all forgot what BBJ stands for, huh? Yeah. Cousin Ernie called my stomach a "bubba" when I was pregnant...and the "jyu" means "piglet" in Chinese. We're all about mixing it up here in Casa LoLo.)

Yeah, apparently BBJ didn't get the memo - she thought I was trying to stuff her in that Haunted House up there. In the picture, she's trying to haul herself off my shoulders by the jaw. How's that workin' out for you, BBJ? This is actually after we took the original picture - I was trying to get her down, but she had her knees clamped around my neck and wasn't about to let go. Lo Gung had to pry her off. I really think she's looking forward to Halloween!

Finally, it was time to go outside and pick out our pumpkins. I had seen the circular, I had seen the huge sign in the parking lot - 3 pumpkins for $18. All the pumpkins were in a fenced enclosure next to the Nursery, so I hadn't taken a good look at them. I knew I could find cheaper pumpkins somewhere else, but...we were there, the pumpkins were there...it seemed like the thing to do.

Then we went in to pick out our pumpkins. Oh. My. Word.


You really can't tell, unless you get right up inside the fence, that these pumpkins are really, truly ginormous. We chose our three pumpkins (Daddy gets the biggest one) and brought them home. When we weighed our pumpkins, we realized we were now the proud owners of three pumpkins that weighed, on average, 40 pounds apiece! 117 pounds total, in fact. Pumpkins that I fully intended to carve Halloween Day so I could cut them up that night and start the process of cooking them and pureeing them for baking at Christmas time. (Yes, I know there are pumpkins better suited to baking, but these jack 0' lantern pumpkins suit me just fine if I'm making them into anything other than a pumpkin pie.)

Pumpkin bread anyone?


We had a great day, just tooling around our own little Hometown. What did you do on Saturday...and what treasures have you found in your own hometowns?