It just so happens that this weekend there was a watermelon festival in the tiny town of Fair Bluff, NC, which is about an hour and a half from us. On Thursday night when I picked my 93 lb watermelon and found out about the festival a few hours later I thought it was a sign. I was going to take my melon to the festival and sweep the blue ribbons (or at least the white ones...). So Saturday morning we woke up at 6 am (!) so we could get to the festival in time for the large melon competition. I was like a puffed-up rooster thinking I had this awesome watermelon that was going to win all the prizes. When we got to Fair Bluff (don't blink - you'll miss it), we stopped to ask where we were supposed to take the watermelon to be weighed. As we were pulling away, Mark thought to ask what the winning weight normally was. To my astonishment, the gentleman answered, "200 lbs". WHAT? Hold balloon. Insert pin. Deflate. That is how I felt. To pacify my injured ego we decided to go to Hardee's in the next town over for breakfast. Walking from the truck to the restaurant we saw a giant, no, a colossal watermelon in the back of someone's truck. It had blue ribbon written all over it.
(On the bright side, I did learn a few things. 1) Watermelons can reach 200 lbs. This will give me something to strive for the next few years. It's good to know I didn't peak too soon. 2) When you cut your prize-winning melon off the vine, you should cut a few feet of vine with it and place the end of the vine in a bucket of water. This will keep the melon from dehydrating. When I have a 200 lb watermelon, you better believe I will do this.)
No comments:
Post a Comment