Sorry, little pumpkin.

I cannot have pretty things. Well, I try to have pretty things but then kids come around ruin everything.

I'd like to decorate for Halloween, but I'm afraid of what would happen to my decorations. Based on how the kids just treated a cute little pumpkin, I fear they would have a hey-day with other decorations. They have this way with making something nice turn into something ugly or maimed or ruined in a matter of minutes.

I think they learned this behavior from the squirrels in Chicago. I don't think Joe and I act this way.

This pumpkin got "squirreled."

A couple years ago, we lived in Chicago where 2 squirrels terrorized our back porch. These bold little buggers ate all the bird seed in our bird feeder, ate all the strawberries on my little strawberry plant, and destroyed a pumpkin. They didn't touch the tomatoes, thankfully. We would find them sitting on our porch every day (waiting for a cup of coffee, perhaps). From what I could tell, they didn't bother other people. Just us. I guess our porch had the most to munch on. They even tried eating my jade plant but those don't taste good, so the squirrels left it alone.

Yeah, I think I became known as the "broom lady" because every time I saw the squirrels on our porch, I would run out there with the broom hoping to knock one off the porch. We lived on the 2nd floor. I don't think a squirrel could survive that kind of fall. At least I hoped it wouldn't survive (Ok, say it, "Squirrel Killer!"). But the squirrels were too fast for me. Our neighbors probably told stories about this crazy woman hunting squirrels with her broom. I know I would if I was in their shoes. If I wore curlers in my hair and pink robe, then I would have been on the news for sure.

My cute little ruined pumpkin.

The kids still talk about the squirrels and our pumpkin (and me with the broom). Last year, we were here in Montana. All seemed to go well with the pumpkin. Miles let me carve it and we put it outside. We don't have squirrels here to contend with (just nasty magpie birds that sit on our porch) so the pumpkin stayed in tact for the length of the Halloween holiday.

But this year, I picked a small pumpkin. It was a cute little pumpkin to keep in the house. You know, for decoration. It sat so nicely on a hutch... for all of 2 seconds. Miles decided he wanted to play with it and broke the stem off. Then the kids found a black sharpie marker and decided to "decorate" the pumpkin. I was sad for the little pumpkin. It was so cute until it got all marked up and named "Harry." I don't think it looked like a Harry. Maybe a Marlene, but definitely not a Harry.

Um. Yeah.

I chased then kids around the house with a broom. They ruined my pumpkin, what else was I supposed to do?








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