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Dedicated to my team. They work harder than I do.
by Eric Ludlam:
Twas the night before the chunk
and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse;
 | | Dave builds a modiolus |
suitcases were packed
by the back door with care
in hopes that Roger Nichols
soon would be there.
All the menfolk were outside,
away from their beds
While visions of pumpkins
flew through their heads.
Kevin in his jacket,
and I in my cap
had just pulled out the rope,
with a long skein to wrap.
when out on the lawn
there arose such a clatter
it must be Dave welding
and cursing the splatter.
Through the Modiolus
and down 'cross the skein
I passed the rope off to Kevin
who pulled on the line.
The moon up above
the tree tops nearby
shed no light below
on our rope winding guys
 | | Chucky II |
When, what to my wondering
eyes did appear,
a printout of the competition
for the coming year.
I picked up the page,
and read it up quick
I knew in a moment
the competition was thick.
More rapid than eagles
my smile then came
I hooted and hollered,
and called them by name.
"Here's Slayer! Here's Arthur,
Here's Chucky using torsion!
There's Onager! There's Upchunkin!
and then Hypertension!
"They use big skeins of rope,
and counterweights tall!
Now fling away, fling away,
fling away all!"
Dave turned to look at me,
scratching his head.
"Our captain's gone loony,
let's send him to bed."
We looked at the trailer,
devoid of machine
the work left to do,
was truly obscene.
 | | Winding the rope bundle |
Jeff, Roger, and Kevin
then set to task,
Winding the rope
on our two skeins at last.
Eight hours later,
the winding was through,
Ten inches in each
and the counting of two.
Twas the morning of the chunk,
and all through the house
Not one man was stirring,
except for a louse.
The ballista was resting
on the ground in despair
It was far to heavy
to lift up from there.
The captain arrived
(well rested, of course)
Looked all about,
and with stress in his voice
Awakened his team
so we could pack up the truck
Except the machine
was still sitting there stuck.
 | | Travelling position |
They grunted and groaned,
and made funny faces
Put on their boots,
and did up the laces.
Over six thousand pounds
had to be moved
And I could tell just by looking,
they were not in the mood.
With kinks in our backs,
six hours went by
The ballista was ready
for a ten hour drive.
You can learn more about Mista Ballista and the 2002 Punkin Chunk on our other pages.
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