Can’t be October in the Township without the Dawsons’ Pumpkin Dinosaur – can’t deal with Wintry Mix without pumpkin cake – can’t have Halloween without Jack-O-Lanterns – can’t have elections without wackiness. No question, it’s Punkin Time.
Pumpkisaurus Giganticus
The annual pumpkin display at Cherry View Orchards is just plain fun, and I never get tired of it. One of these days I’ll get a really good picture. [Note to Rhinelander devotees: Don’t you think this dinosaur looks suspiciously like a Hodag?]
Mrs. Raymond Schenk’s Pumpkin Cake
I love this recipe. I’ve had it on a ratty old index card since . . . well, since married women didn’t have their own first names. I don’t know anymore whether I found it in the Dayton Daily News or the Lafayette Journal or the Detroit Free Press, but if anyone in any of those places knows Mrs. Raymond Schenk, thank her for me. The newsprint is ochre, the tape I used to hold it to the card fell off, and it’s still good.
Ingredients:
2 c. sugar
1-1/4 c. vegetable oil
1-1/3 c. pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
4 eggs
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. seedless raisins
1/2 c. golden raisins
1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the sugar, oil and pumpkin puree in a large mixer bowl and beat well on medium speed.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt and fold into the cake batter. Stir in the raisins and nuts.
5. Pour into a greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake one and one-quarter hours or until done. Do not open the oven door under one hour. Let cool slightly in pan before turning onto a rack.
Yield: 12 servings.
Pumpkin for President
This cheery artwork is a contribution to the Bellaire Democratic Headquarters decor from Ray Villafane, a volunteer who has been calling all his former art students to vote for Obama. (Ray won $10,000 in the Home Food Show pumpkin carving contest for another design featuring a skeleton inside the pumpkin, thus becoming an Antrim County Idol.) Babs Young and HQ Manager Sally Hannert both sent photos—click the images for larger views.
Another thing you can do with pumpkins
If you happen to have a supply of blue tarps for covering firewood and motorcycles and other things that shouldn’t be sleeted on, you’ve probably faced the problem of how to keep the tarps from flying off in the first north wind. Well looky here:
Torch Lake Views 
Leslie
October 29, 2008
Um, I carved my first ever pumpkin this year after researching it and reading that they kept the bad things away from your door.
The next day – we have a car blow an engine. Then Alessandro badly sprained his ankle and is still on crutches more than two weeks later. Then Giancarlo has his car run into and totalled. Then Giancarlo let a borrowed car slip down our drive way, run across the road on its own, and total itself and the neighbour’s garage.
So after a couple more awful things happened, we threw it out. And Gerry, that was all in one week.
Gerry
October 29, 2008
And this from a woman who keeps a cat named Pyewacket! I would have thought Halloween would be your favorite time of year, Leslie. This is an appalling series of misfortunes. Of course I have advice. (I am an oldest child. We are full of advice.)
First, STOP DRIVING! Given the blown engine and the way your insurance company must feel right now, this is probably your only option at the moment anyway, but the month is not over and I dread to think what might happen should any of you get behind the wheel again.
Second, consider that the pumpkin may not be at fault. Perhaps it did its work too literally. After all, the trouble was kept away from your door. Next year you must carve one for the neighbors across the road as well . . . and one for each car . . .
Hadley
October 30, 2008
More on Ray Villafane: Antrim County News story
Gerry
October 31, 2008
Angela the Hardware Diva took Ray Villafane’s art classes when she was in high school. She says he was a great teacher. I’m hoping she’ll send me a photo of her Halloween pumpkin so I can post it here.