As promised and predicted, with Halloween over I am watching the local wildlife have its way with my pumpkin. That’s my squash in the photo above. Squirrels were trying to take away pieces of it within an hour of its arrival on our front porch on Halloween, and I really wasn’t able to protect it for long. Thankfully, they started by expanding one ear into a gaping hole—in other words, a part of the carving that faced to the side. But now…just look at it. I came home from running errands today and discovered that it had been dragged all the way off the porch to the sidewalk and tucked partially in the garden foliage. I righted it and moved it fully into the foliage, then left it to rot and continue providing food for critters.
My husband’s pumpkin, meanwhile, remains basically unscathed. I mean, just look at it: face intact, still on the porch, even its lid is still in order. It doesn’t seem fair, does it? Perhaps the squirrels recognize the work of the carving ninja. Certainly the rest of us bow before the master; so why not the squirrels? We all have our aesthetic sensibilities, right? Still, I prefer to think that the wildlife simply delights in the deliciousness of my work. Right. That’s it.
Speaking of the master and Halloween, and hearkening back to watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” as I awaited trick-or-treaters on Halloween, the husband has published a fine riff on Peanuts and Snoopy and Charles Schultz over on Escape into Life. Go read it; I promise it will make you laugh.
I saw my first Christmas-themed billboard on the expressway on Nov. 1, and I have to say I was not pleased. I want Thanksgiving. Turkey, fallen leaves, cornucopias. Pumpkin pie, for Pete’s sake. Not Christmas trees. Old man shakes fist—that’s me. Grouchy curmudgeon doesn’t want Christmas. Yet. It will come soon enough.
Meanwhile, Election Day. Make that election season. I vote today (and proud of it), and am pleased to report that election workers told me turnout is running even higher than in 2016. I hope that’s true everywhere. We need more engagement, more ownership of the government and political process, less sitting on the sidelines and believing our votes don’t count. One thing I can tell you for sure: Your vote won’t count if you don’t cast it.
The lines were long for voting at our village hall, and the aforementioned election worker said that’s apparently the case across the county. We waited at least half an hour to get our ballots, and I have to say voting wasn’t the easiest process ever. Both the husband and I found ourselves having to jab the voting screen multiple times to get it to register our votes, and the review and confirm process really did not work well. But we had ample opportunity to review and confirm that our votes were cast as we wanted them, including a paper receipt of all votes cast that remained behind in the machine. I’ve heard anecdotally from friends in other parts of my state that they are seeing electronic machines casting votes for the wrong candidate on multiple occasions, but that wasn’t the case for us. So be vigilant in watching to make sure your vote gets cast the way you want it, but get yourself to the polls and make your opinions known.
End of sermon. Now that I’ve voted, maybe I’ll make myself a pumpkin pie this weekend.