As many of you may or may not have noticed, it has been a while since I submitted my last article to the Redding HamletHub. Truth is I’ve been busy. No, I haven’t been bogged down with school work, even though this is my last week of undergraduate classes. I have not been: saving lives, working to end world hunger, making blockbuster films, translating speeches for world renowned professors, finding homes for orphaned puppies, replying to fan mail, training dolphins to communicate with apes, reenacting Shakespearean plays down to the T, overseeing the construction of a super specialty hospital, or swimming across the Pacific Ocean just for kicks. I was also not participating in menial tasks like conducting Beethoven's Fifth Symphony from memory or crocheting by hand 48'x48' blankets for the poor. I wasn’t doing any of those boring chores. I was gardening and cleaning out our shed.
You would be surprised how quickly things accumulate. When we moved into our house almost fifteen years ago, it was clear that being homeowners meant that there would always be something to repair, change out, or install. It’s like a cloud of unrest wraps over you, your family, your house, and any free minute you have the moment your realtor hands you the keys to your new abode. There’s always something that needs to be done and it’s amazing how quickly you need to keep on top of things before you fall behind.
So over the past few weekends, my parents and I took it upon ourselves to start gardening and once again, take an active role in maintaining our landscape. About ten years ago, this was something that we prided ourselves with. We grew all sorts of vegetables and fruits. We had vibrant flowers. It was a sight to see. Almost every weekend, we were outside doing something fun. But then something happened that caused us to lose interest, and by us, I mean me.
It was the summer of 2002. I had taken it upon myself to grow my favourite fruit in the whole wide world. I watched this little guy grow from a seed, literally daily. I watched the stock grow taller, I watched the leaves grow fuller, and I watched this five pointed bloom spike on top of my fruit grow bigger. It was a fantastic sight. So about 85 days after I planted the small seed, I went outside to check on my eggplant. Yes, my eggplant. It was majestic, royal purple in color, bell shaped and wonderful. But for whatever reason, I got greedy. I wanted my eggplant to get an extra day outside, soaking up the sun, hoping its coat would become the slightly darker purple I was used to seeing at the grocery store. That night, I stayed up late, scouring the internet for mouth-watering recipes; I was looking forward to making something delectable with it. Sure enough, the next day…it was gone.
A squirrel stole my eggplant. No, I didn’t see a squirrel actually robbing by eggplant plant of its love, passion, hard-work, and dignity. But I knew it was a squirrel because when I went outside to pick my eggplant, he was staring at me. He just stared at me, playing dumb. I knew what he did. He knew what he did. So for a few seconds, we glared at each other and then the squirrel did something horrific. He slowly hopped away, as though to tell me “I had the most delicious eggplant, at your expense, and I am so full. See you tomorrow when I poke around your garden for another tasty treat.”
But this year is different. We’ve grown. We’ve matured. This year, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to reclaim our turf. We’ve planted all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and beautiful flowers and we’re doing something clever. We’re growing them in pots inside, under special lights, and once the weather fully picks up, we’ll replant them in planter boxes, lined with plenty of chili pepper and chicken wire to prevent any robbers from getting a five finger discount (squirrels and chipmunks have five fingers, just like humans, according to WikiAnswer.com).
Aside from gardening and installing an ADT alarm system on our planter boxes, there are plenty of other really great projects we have planned for this summer. Unbeknownst to my dad, I plan on emptying out the shed in the back and turning it into a slash room where we can set up our Nintendo Wii, maybe install a green screen and karaoke machine, and add a small television where I can watch my Indian Premiere League Twenty20 games. Not sure if it will actually pan out the way I hope it will, but a kid can dream. We also want to redo the deck, making it spacious for a patio set, a fire pit and a barbeque. We want to redo some of the bathrooms inside the house, keeping them up-to-date, and perhaps install hardwood floors in the remaining few bedrooms. It sounds like quite a list but its well worth the time, energy, and money. Let’s be honest- if we spent our summer on vacation somewhere and we didn’t need to do anything to spruce up our house, it wouldn’t feel right. All of this is simply the perks of being homeowners. Embrace it.