Way Back Wednesday: Winning the Pumpkin Wars

For the past two weeks, I've been pondering the resin pumpkins at Target. Last weekend, my husband brought home purple mums for the porch. As we contemplate decorating for fall (on a day it's supposed to hit 90 degrees here), realizing mums and a flag might be our only safe option, it seemed like a good day to pull an old October post out of the vault.

How do you decorate for fall?

My poor white pumpkin never stood a chance.
Less than a week after I put it on the porch,
a third of it was gone.
Photo: Renee Olmsted Photography, via Pixabay

It's almost Halloween and the critters are winning.

When my daughter was small, she and my husband used to decorate and/or carve pumpkins every Halloween. I got in on the fun sometimes, too, but mostly, it was a Daddy-daughter event.

Now, with her away at school, our front porch decorations are more likely to be undecorated pumpkins and gourds. There's just one problem.

They've proven to be a tasty treat for the squirrels and their friends.

We started with a small pumpkin. In fairness, it was sold as a "pie pumpkin," so perhaps it was sweeter and more tempting. That one got demolished in short order.

Its replacement was much larger, so it lasted longer but it, too, bit the dust.

Along the way, I added a gourd that I thought was cute. The critters managed to move it off the porch, but it mustn't have been as yummy because it survived unscathed.

Ah, yes. Gourds. They must be the answer.

So, last weekend, we tossed the pumpkin and picked up a few more gourds. This week, the gourds began walking off the porch -- with assistance, we assume, based on the missing chunks and bits of gourd littering the ground in front of the porch. The smallest gourd disappeared completely.

Jlewoldsen via Pixabay

If this weren't so entertaining, I think perhaps I'd have given up. But, curious to see if I can outlast the critters, I picked up another "pie pumpkin," tossed the partially chewed gourds and kept the lone surviving gourd to keep my newest pumpkin company.

Here's hoping the newest pumpkin survives the critters' plans to trick me and treat themselves.

If not, at least the squirrels are having a happy Halloween.