Saturday, October 23, 2021

GMO Pumpkin


Some of the Michaelmas daisies are still going strong, as you can see, but others have passed their peak and I'm starting to cut them down. As much as I like these flowers I don't want them to re-seed too much. They're prolific and they'd take over if I let them.

More shelf-reading at work yesterday. I found a few more out-of-place books and realized another one, an old volume about American musical traditions, is missing entirely. I think it's one we weeded and somehow failed to remove from the catalog. I love tying up little loose ends like this!

Some of you wondered yesterday why I use a list when I'm shelf-reading, rather than simply going down the line and making sure everything's in Dewey decimal numeric order. The fact is, a list makes the job much easier and faster. When you're just looking at the shelf you've got to calculate integers and alphabetize, but with a list, you simply match. Plus it prevents mistakes. Know what I mean?

Also, one of you mentioned kids who would hide a book in the library so that only they could find it. We had that happen earlier this year -- we could not locate a particular book ("Race to the Sun" by Rebecca Roanhorse) that a boy had requested. I told him that it wasn't where it should be on the shelf and we'd keep an eye out for it. Well, a day or two later, the same boy came into the library and said, "I know where the book is." He took us to a completely different shelf et voila -- there it was. Now, he MUST have put it there. Otherwise, how would he know where it was? I don't know why he then requested it unless he was simply testing our abilities as librarians!


My brother sent this picture of what he calls his "GMO pumpkin." His family bought it at the local pumpkin patch before Halloween LAST YEAR, and it's been sitting on their front steps in Jacksonville ever since. It refuses to degrade, even in the muggy heat of a Florida summer. Apparently they had two of them, but the larger one -- which was orange -- succumbed last April. Squashes and gourds are renowned for their longevity, but this is ridiculous!

30 comments:

  1. I remember I grew some of those small decorative squashes one year and varnished them. They looked so pretty in a bowl but didn’t last long.
    Briony
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    1. I bought a few of those one year and put them out in a bowl -- and likewise, they were pretty for a time but eventually I had to toss them!

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  2. What an odd pumpkin survival story. Maybe your brother bought a ceramic one without knowing.

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    1. Ha! Or wax? (But then, in Florida, it would have melted.)

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  3. The pumpkin that is on its way to lasting as long as McDonalds hamburger is another reason to be concerned about genetic modification. It just ain't natural.

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    1. There's definitely something peculiar going on!

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  4. There are different ways of causing mischief and as you suggest that boy may well have been toying with you. You should have given him a clout round the back of the head - preferably where other librarians couldn't witness this historical but effective punishment.

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    1. Oh, he definitely was messing with us. Probably giving him a wallop would be a step too far, though. LOL

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  5. Good grief. A Methuselah of pumpkins . We have a white one among the orange ones we bought this year - I’ll watch and see how long it survives, barring squirrel attacks.

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    1. I didn't even think about squirrels -- it IS interesting that not only has this one not degraded, but apparently nothing has tried to eat it! (Or maybe nothing can.)

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  6. That pumpkin is unbelievable. I'm surprised something hasn't eaten it (bug or animal).

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    1. In all honesty, my guess is it was so unripe when picked -- hence the color -- that it's basically hard as a rock. Maybe it has even dried out in the interim.

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  7. That is such an interesting long-living pumpkin, especially being outside in the Florida sun. It's got really good genes.

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  8. I avoid corn and soy products unless I know they are organic because almost all corn and soy grown now is GMO. same with sugar beets. and so many others are creeping in the food supply. like Andrew said...it just ain't natural. the fact that some critter hasn't tried to sample that pumpkin in all this time makes it suspect.

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  9. I have no idea why that pumpkin would survive to such an astounding age nor do I have any idea why that boy would obviously put that book in the wrong place.
    Kids and pumpkins can be mysteries.

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    1. Definitely, on both counts! Maybe the boy just wanted to see what would happen if he tucked the book into a different space. Like I said -- he was testing us! I was most impressed that he remembered where he'd put it. (And thank goodness, because otherwise we wouldn't have found it for ages.)

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  10. That pumpkin is incredible. Mine barely last a couple weeks in our damp climate. Is it actually plastic? ;)

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  11. I can't imagine a pumpkin lasting that long.... especially in Florida! I've always found white pumpkins to be a little strange.

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    1. Is it white because it's unripe? That might explain its longevity, too.

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  12. what a weird little pumpkin. i have a small one on my kitchen windowsill that refuses to turn. i think, as mitchell suggests above, mine might be ceramic, too.

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    1. I guess this is why they made valuable food back in the colonial era -- they took a long time to spoil!

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  13. There is something very wholesome about a pumpkin x

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    1. Except one that seems like someone's science project.

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  14. That pumpkin might belong in the Guinness Book of World Records. I wonder why the boy hid the book. Or did another boy hide it and tell that boy where it was? It's a mystery.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Well, that's true -- I suppose another kid might have hidden it and then spilled the beans. We will never know!

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  15. Your daisies are beautiful. I wonder what the inside of that pumpkin looks like. Hmmm? Enjoy your day, hugs, Edna B.

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  16. At this point I think your brother needs to do a dissection - inquiring minds want to know what's INSIDE that pumpkin!

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