My neighbor Bob came over and saw the pumpkin yesterday.

"Oh my god!!!" he said.

For a moment I thought I had a convert!

But after thinking about it, I'm pretty sure it was just a figure of speech.

Bessie has pretty much stopped growing. Latest estimate is 460 pounds. I'll make a final measurement next Sunday, then remove the tarp and do some tricks to help make her as pretty an orange as possible.