I get really excited about decorating for fall. I just can’t resist pumpkins and gourds and acorn squash. I love them. Last year, at our old house, I had purchased all these pumpkins and gourds and put them out. We lived on a really busy corner, and within a few days, some of my pumpkins were stolen. I was pregnant with Jude at the time, and my hormonal rage took over. “Who steals pumpkins from a pregnant woman!?!?!?!” I huffed into the phone to my husband. As if the thieves knew they were stealing from a raging, angry hormonal pregnant woman.

Perhaps I have now found the culprit.

I give you suspect A:Description: cute, furry woodland creature. Almond-shaped eyes, enormous tail nearly the size of body. Scatters at any sound. Lured by pumpkins.

I swear, we live in a neighborhood that has a squirrel population greater than the human population. They are everywhere. Digging little holes in the yard, scurrying along the back fence. And now, apparently, I see they are avid pumpkin lovers. At Simon’s birthday party on Friday night, numerous family members commented on my little pumpkins being eaten up on the front porch. There were seeds everywhere! I had noticed one of the pumpkins being eaten. But this morning, as I took Jude up for his morning nap, we stopped to look out the window, as we like to do. And there, caught in the act, was the squirrel, his body nearly entirely in the pumpkin as he was gnoshing away on delish pumpkin flesh.

If you need someone to clean out a pumpkin before you carve it, I’ve got your man! Notice also, the entire stem is gone!