That’s one muscular pumpkin, son.

Last Saturday, I drove out to Syracuse to pick up my New York State Fair photos (and the three ribbons associated with same). On my way back home, I stopped at a couple of farmer’s markets and country stores for some homegrown veggies and whatnot.

And in one of my favorite little “driving stops” – the Dutch Country Store in Fort Plain – I bought a few Amish foodstuffs and items. Of course I did.

The Amish already have their pumpkins out for the holidays. And as I’m looking over the selection … I find one that looks beefy and muscular, like it has some sort of rock-hard exoskeleton on it.

$4.99 later, it was in my car on and on my way home.

And right now, it’s on the table outside my front door.

This looks absolutely freaky. It’s almost as if someone tried to create a Fantastic Four themed pumpkin, and developed one devoted to Ben Grimm. I think there was also a pumpkin designed to represent Susan Storm, but I couldn’t find it.

Did I somehow purchase some cree-pee-dee-pee gourd? Is this thing packed with experimental creepies and crawlies?

Apparently … this is something called a knucklehead pumpkin. And it’s quite desirable for Halloween decorating. The pumpkin itself is quite edible, so it’s not like I’m going to eat this and then suddenly walk around the neighborhood looking for bolts to put in my neck.

But yeah, I thought pumpkins like this were eschewed in favor of smooth, carvable pumpkins.

Well, this pumpkin is now outside my door. So let’s see how the trick or treaters respond to it.

Yeah, I know, Halloween’s six weeks away.

But come on, some of the stores already have their Christmas decorations available for purchase, so technically, I’m late in decorating right now. 😀