Excuse me if I seem a bit grouchy lately in the mornings, it’s because I’ve been waking up everyday way before my usual rise time to get up the roof to pollinate the pumpkins and watermelon.  There is a very small time frame when the girls flowers open, so I need to be there with a Q-tip ready to assist.  Sometimes those males are shy, sometimes those males don’t like to bloom at the same time as the females, sometimes they just need encouragement, so that’s where I come into place.  Every morning for the past week, I sleepily walk down the hall in a wrinkled blue dress, hair pulled up, hoping none of my  neighbors will see me.  Then I get some pollen from the males, spread it all over the females and do my ritual pumpkin dance.   Then I come back downstairs, wash my hands and arms, and slide back into bed with a groan.  Then a cat usually thinks it means play time and slides in next to me and I stay awake as a paw kneads my belly or rubs my head. 

Hello pumpkin plants.

Hello male. And red hand.

Hello female.

Good job males. Now we wait to see if a miracle has happened!