Our Pumpkin Misadventure!

Who knew Louis Dean would enjoy The Great Pumpkin Project so much??

It's an Instagram group committed to putting the fun back in Halloween by leaving a carved jack 'o lantern in a spot hoping someone will see it and be surprised and smile.

A friend of mine carves a pumpkin for all 31 nights - and this is her third year to do so!

She is amazing in everything she does!

My original plan was to do two pumpkins total - one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday.

Except I did not expect Louis Dean of getting such a kick of the project! 

Thursday he wanted to draw the design.......

and then he hovered as I cut it out making sure I did it right!

He was so excited that he couldn't wait to take it to 'Sleepy Hollow.'

That's our nickname for this rustic gravel road that curves down into a tiny hollow and over a creek below. It was 6:23 when we turned on the road and the sun was not due to set for nearly 20 more minutes. We meandered a little while searching out another spot for Friday's Jack since we had already gone to town and bought another pumpkin.

We came back to the ranch and, once it was dark, Louis Dean decided we should go back and see our little buddy shine. Off we went and we were so disappointed! No light glowed!

LD used a solar light from the yard and apparently it had not charged well.

No worries!!!

We went back to the ranch and retrieved the Ranch Jack!

Louis Dean had recharged the solar light earlier that day so it was burning brightly.

It was really dark by now.....

It's straight road driving and next to no traffic ( we saw two cars the whole time we were out) so we went back and replaced the new Jack with the one from the ranch gate post.

And we put the new one in its place  - WITH a freshly charged solaer light in it!

Win! WIN!!

By the way, Dean did notice the pumpkin when he came home Wednesday night!

He stopped by to visit a few minutes before going on down to the house.

I knew it would make him smile!

I woke up this morning and went out to the front room to get coffee and found a note from Louis Dean.

He had gone to Home Depot. 

On his way back, he stoppped to retrieve the light inside the Jack so he could recharge it during the day.

What we did tonight was switch the pumpkin from one side of the road to the other side and up away  from the curve.

It will be perfectly seen off to the side and you come around that bend.

Then we went on to drop off tonight's pumpkin!

He's at the corner of Walt's Road and the paved road. Set off to the side, I think it will be visible to oncoming traffic and anyone turning will certainly see it.

By the time we were finished with him, it was starting to get dark......

so we drove back down the 'Sleepy Hollow' road to get a pic.

This guy looks different in the dark!

So tonight, we have three glowing Jack 'o lanterns!

The one at the gate will greet Crystal (Sherry's daughter) as she arrives to spend the weekend.

Our campfire from earlier this evening....

In the morning we will be heading to the Guest Ranch in El Dorado, Arkansas.

We'll get the solar lights from all the pumpkins and leave LED tea lights in their place.

I'm taking my knives and such so we can continue this project there.

I'm thinking Rayne will enjoy doing this with us!

You're never too old to have some fun!

And we are doing just that!