Inspired by the Dremel tool featured on Slashdot and armed by a complete lack of common sense, I went to Lowe’s to get a Dremel. I learned a number of things.

1) The people at Lowe’s are only marginally aware of Teh IntarWeb, and are completely unaware that their site was featured on a geek website. And they don’t actually have any of the fancy orange dremels in stock. But the regular MiniMite is pretty much the same thing, except that it comes with more bits.

2) The Dremel tool, although terrible at carving, is very good at shaving. That’s where you scoop the pumpkin very thin – perhaps a half inch or less thick – and then shave away the outer skin of the pumpkin to allow some light through. It is also very efficient at covering yourself and everything in a 4 foot radius with a fine mist of pumpkin. Do not attempt this indoors. You have been warned.

3) Chris still has all of my carving tools.

4) The battery doesn’t last very long. Presumably it lasts longer if permitted to attain a full charge, but I really really wanted to get started. So I don’t actually have a finished product that I can take pictures of and show you. Nor will I show you pictures of everything covered in an orange paste. That was unpleasant.

5) When you get those really cool ideas (“Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to work on pumpkins with a Dremel tool!”) you should go with it, rather than waiting for someone else to come out with a product 6 years later. In fact, we talked about this for the zillionth time at our pumpkin carving party on Sunday night. Those silly things you think to invent, someone else will invent and market while you’re thinking how cool it would be.

Ok, pictures later, if I actually get this done tomorrow. Don’t expect great things. But prices on pumpkins should come down next week, and then I’ll get a little more practice.