Pumpkins, Hayrides, Cornstalks and....Slurpees?

This morning we decided to take the family out to do a little pumpkin pickin'.  Annually, this is a family event.  We do the hayride, apple cider, pick pumpkins, get our bales of hay, cornstalks, etc., etc.  This year was no different except, it was too HOT for warm apple cider (it pushed 84 degrees here today), pumpkins cost a FORTUNE (apparently there is a shortage due to the rainfall we've received) and we went out of the way to find FREE cornstalks since our local farm wanted $5.00 per!!  After our pumpkin shock at the register...$30.00 for two pumpkins!!!!, yes they were and at $.49 per lb, you do the math at how big these suckers are.  We went for Slurpees to cool down and to decide our next move on getting the rest of our outside Fall decor on the cheap.  We remembered about a local area that feeds deer with corn...we went there for stalks...SCORE they were FREE for the taking!!  A few cornstalks, a couple of pumpkins, a yardstake that I started today (hopefully you'll see it tomorrow ;-) and a couple of mums, looks like we'll be decorated in no time.  Luckily, nobody seemed to care that our family tradition changed a little bit and everyone had a great time!