Coronavirus Disinfecting Services : 2

Showing posts with label 2. Show all posts

Tuesday, 10 October 2023

2,749-pound pumpkin sets world record for biggest gourd

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — A Minnesota horticulture teacher set a world record in California on Monday for the heaviest pumpkin after growing a giant jack-o'-lantern gourd weighing 2,749 pounds (1,247 kilograms).

Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minnesota, won the 50th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, California, with an enormous, lumpy, orange pumpkin that could produce at least 687 pies.

Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minn., reacts after winning the Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Gienger won the event with a pumpkin weighing 2749 pounds. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minn., holds his two-year-old daughter Lily and poses by his pumpkin called "Michael Jordan" after winning the Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Gienger won the event with a pumpkin weighing 2749 pounds. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
The final four pumpkins to be weighed are lifted up for the crowd at Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minn., won the event with a pumpkin weighing 2749 pounds. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minn., lifts his two-year-old daughter Lily off his pumpkin called "Michael Jordan" before it was weighed at the Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. A pumpkin grown by Gienger won the event in 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Brooks Taner lifts his six-year-old daughter Sevilen to take a closer look at a pumpkin before it was weighed at the Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Brian Werner, right, of Gridley, Calif., talks about his pumpkin before it was weighed at the Safeway 50th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Pumpkins are displayed before being weighed at the Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Pumpkins are transported to be weighed at the Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minn., holds his two-year-old daughter Lily and poses behind his pumpkin called "Michael Jordan" after winning the Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Gienger won the event with a pumpkin weighing 2749 pounds. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
A pumpkin called "Michael Jordan," grown by Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minn., is lifted to be weighed at the Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Gienger won the event with his pumpkin weighing 2749 pounds. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Travis Gienger of Anoka, Minn., left, reacts after winning the Safeway 50th annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Gienger won the event with a pumpkin weighing 2749 pounds. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

“I was not expecting that. It was quite the feeling,” said Gienger, 43, who has been growing pumpkins for nearly 30 years and last year set a new U.S. record for growing a giant gourd.

The previous world record for heaviest pumpkin was set by a grower in Italy who produced a 2,702-pound (1,226-kilogram) squash in 2021, according to Guinness World Records.

Gienger grows his gourds in the pumpkin patch in his backyard. He said this year he decided to give his plants extra care, watering them up to 12 times a day and feeding and fertilizing them a bit more than usual.

Gienger, a landscape and horticulture teacher at Anoka Technical College, has been growing pumpkins since he was a teenager, inspired by his father who also grew them. He first competed in Half Moon Bay's annual weigh-off in 2020 and has won three of the city's last four giant pumpkin contests.

“I put in the work so that I can put a smile on people's faces and it’s just so nice coming out here to see everyone in this town," he said.

The pumpkin champ won a $30,000 prize for growing the biggest pumpkin and setting a world record.

The gargantuan pumpkin will be on display in Half Moon Bay along with the three runner-ups through next weekend when visitors to the city's Art and Pumpkin Festival will be able to take photos with Gienger and the enormous gourd.

from KRON4 https://ift.tt/ogymMdA

Monday, 15 August 2022

2,600 without power after Brisbane fires

BRISBANE, Calif. (KRON) -- Two fires in Brisbane knocked out power for 2,626 customers Monday night, according to PG&E. One fire started on West Hill Place on Monday night and the other near the 2800 block of Bayshore Boulevard on Sunday.

The power outages began at 8:13 p.m. PG&E expects they will be restored by 11:00 a.m.

The power outages have knocked out some traffic lights in the area. Police advised people to drive with caution and treat all intersections with stoplights as four-way stop signs.

The fires have been contained. Crews will be mopping up in the area of West Hill Place for several hours.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.

from KRON4 https://ift.tt/jTVOnaX

Wednesday, 6 October 2021

2,700-year-old toilet found in Jerusalem was a rare luxury

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli archaeologists have found a rare ancient toilet in Jerusalem dating back more than 2,700 years, when private bathrooms were a luxury in the holy city, authorities said Tuesday.

The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the smooth, carved limestone toilet was found in a rectangular cabin that was part of a sprawling mansion overlooking what is now the Old City. It was designed for comfortable sitting, with a deep septic tank dug underneath.

“A private toilet cubicle was very rare in antiquity, and only a few were found to date," said Yaakov Billig, the director of the excavation.

“Only the rich could afford toilets," he said, adding that a famed rabbi once suggested that to be wealthy is “to have a toilet next to his table.”

Animal bones and pottery found in the septic tank could shed light on the lifestyle and diet of people living at that time, as well as ancient diseases, the antiquities authority said.

The archaeologists found stone capitals and columns from the era, and said there was evidence of a nearby garden with orchards and aquatic plants — more evidence that those living there were quite wealthy.

from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3oKuJUC

Monday, 12 October 2020

2,350-pound pumpkin wins Half Moon Bay contest

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — Being cooped up at home due to the pandemic paid handsomely for a Minnesota horticulture teacher who used the extra time to constantly water and feed a massive pumpkin that won this year’s Half Moon Bay pumpkin contest.

Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota, spent a lot of his free time in the pumpkin patch in his backyard, watering his plants up to 10 times a day and feeding and fertilizing them at least twice each day.

People haul a pumpkin to be loaded onto a scale to be weighed at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Gienger, 40, then drove his gargantuan gourd for 35 hours to see his hard work pay off at the 47th World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, where his winner came in at 2,350 pounds (1,066 kilograms).

“It was nerve-wracking because with every bump on the road I kept thinking, ‘is it going to make it?’” And then finally it got weighed, it was the last one, and oh, my gosh, it’s been incredible!” Gienger said.

Gienger, a landscape and horticulture teacher at Anoka Technical College, has been growing pumpkins since he was a teenager, inspired by his father who also grew them. It was his first time competing at the Half Moon Bay weigh-off but he’s not sure he’ll be back next year.

“I might need a year off from the work and the nerves and everything,” he said, laughing.

The first-time pumpkin champ won $16,450, or $7 per pound, for the lumpy, orange pumpkin that will be showcased during a parade through Half Moon Bay later Monday.

Gienger’s pumpkin was the second-heaviest ever weighed at the 40-year-old California event, but it was still far from a U.S. record. That was set in 2018 when a grower in New Hampshire produced a pumpkin weighing more than 2,500 pounds (1,134 kilograms).

The record for the heaviest pumpkin in the world was set in 2016 at the Giant Pumpkin European Championship in Ludwigsburg, Germany. A Belgium grower’s winning whopper came in at just over 2,600 pounds (1,179 kilograms).

Latest Posts

from KRON4 https://ift.tt/2SNHMn9