Halloween: The Pumpkin-Stuffed Puppy

A few days ago, I was performing my daily pre-bedtime pregnancy routine of trying to find the most comfortable reclining position (spoiler: there is no such position) when I heard a shout from downstairs.

“Jessie! The eyes are gone!” Peter said, somewhat more alarmed than usual.

What in blazes? you may ask. Let me back up a moment.

Goomba Halloween pumpkin

A day prior to that panicked shout, Peter and I broke out the knives and power tools to carve a couple of giant pumpkins. Observe:

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In the above picture, Peter is carving Scooby Doo into a pumpkin using a Dremel, because why not. The only problem was that the Dremel bit wasn’t long enough to go through the entire pumpkin, so we had to go back over the lines with a knife, which was still much easier than going at it with just a knife.

Which I'm trying (and failing) to do here.
Which I’m trying (and failing) to do here.

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Can you guess what I carved into my pumpkin?

goomba

Yep. It’s a goomba from the Super Mario Bros. video games. With a color-changing candle inside, I knew it would scare any kid who dared to approach our place in search of sweet, sweet candy.

You may notice these white things on the goomba eyes.

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Turns out carving thin areas of pumpkin with a blunt serrated knife is difficult. I ended up having to use two sewing pins to hold the eyes together. No biggie — no one could see them anyway.

And that brings us to the events of a few days ago. When I waddled downstairs to see what Peter was shouting about, I encountered this:

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Not only were the goomba eyes gone, the entire carving had been decimated.

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At some point during the evening, Maddie had climbed onto the kitchen table and meticulously eaten out the inside of the goomba. This took precision, planning, and impressive timing, folks. Not unexpected from the pup who ate a pound of dried red lentils, an entire bag of almonds, and many other questionable items.

So, why was Peter shouting about the eyes? Because he remembered that I had pinned up the eyes. And now the goomba eyes were swishing around inside the stomach of my 12-pound terrier.

Needless to say, we both panicked.

I think the most amusing part of this story is the image of me and Peter crawling around on the floor looking for needles in the carpet while Maddie sat comfortably watching us, licking her chops. Eventually, we found both needles at opposite ends of the room among piles of chewed-up pumpkin bits, which basically meant that Maddie had pulled off each goomba eye separately, retreated to a quiet corner of the room, and somehow eaten the eyes without eating the needles. How did she do it? Did she eat around them, or did she put them in her mouth and spit them out? We’ll never know.

And that is why my dog is a glutton. The lesson? Always be suspicious if your dog/child is quieter than usual. On the bright side, this is good practice for the arrival of the baby.

fullmadd

How did Peter’s Scooby Doo pumpkin turn out?

Scooby Doo Halloween pumpkin

Zoinks.

If this story didn’t turn you off pumpkin completely, try these pumpkin recipes in preparation for Hallowe’en and Thanksgiving:

Pumpkin Zucchini Mini Muffins
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Vegan Pumpkin Bread with Cinnamon Cashew Cream
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Sweet Spiced Pumpkin Roll
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Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
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Pumpkin Spice Latte
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Pumpkin Mac ‘n’ Cheese
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Happy Hallowe’en, dear reader!

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Q: What’s your favorite pumpkin recipe?

2 Comments

    1. Haha thanks 🙂

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