It’s Finally Happened 

    All my life I’ve claimed that members of the Cucurbitaceae, or the gourd family if you’re speaking English, are hazardous to my health. And finally, I have corroboration to my theory. 
    I’m talking specifically about pumpkins, squashes of all kinds, zucchinis, and a few other things to be named later. 
    This aversion to Cucurbitaceae comes from the following circumstance, and here I’m depending on the memories of my siblings, and a few comments I remember my parents making on the subject. My family moved from the Portland, Oregon, area up to Sequim, Washington, in the mid-30s. That’s 1930s. They settled on forty acres of prime land. How did they know it was prime? Because it was completely covered with all manner of very healthy trees and brush. So much so that they had to clear a patch of land just so they could build a house. 
    While the house building was going on they also planted a garden so they would have something to eat in the future. As time went on they found that the thing that the garden was very good at growing was squash. For the first couple of years things were tough to the point that one winter the family lived mostly on squash. Luckily, and for some odd reason the rest of the family loves squash. Go figure. In the middle of this great adventure of establishing themselves in this wilderness, I came along. I’m eight years younger than my next oldest sibling, a sister to be exact. So I’ve gathered that my arrival was as much of a surprise to the family as was their predicament of having to survive by eating primarily squash for a whole winter.
    So, there I was, a nursing baby, while my mother was living on squash. See where I’m going with this? I evidently got very tired of squash flavored mother’s milk, even though it seems to have given me a good healthy start in life. So, to this day I would rather eat almost anything other than a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. 
   
    Now for the corroboration - - - 

    Recently in Baltimore a noxious smell permeated a school causing it to be evacuated, the fire department called, and a hazardous materials response team brought in. Five people were taken to the hospital complaining of upset stomachs and/or problems with their breathing. 
    After some investigation what did these professionals find? A pumpkin spice aerosol plugged into an outlet in one of the classrooms. I rest my case.