Kuidas ma oravalt söögi ära võtsin

Ma olen natuke potipõllumees ka. Mul on kaks potti pelargoone ja üks suur pott piparmünti.
Pelargoonid on sellepärast, et nad on lilled ja nad ei sure kohe ära, kui ma neid iga päev ei kasta. Sellised pika kannatusega lilled. Meil on suvel ju miljon kraadi sooja ja päike seniidis (no peaaegu) ja kui ei taha, et loodus su ümber kollaseks kuivab, siis oleks kena iga päev kasta kõike seda, mis mullas kasvab. Talvel on mul need lillepotid toas akna peal ja kevadel, kui tundub mulle, et nüüd on soe, siis viin lilled õue. Soe on tavaliselt juba märtsi lõpus.
Eelmise aasta maikuus, kui mu lillekesed kaunilt õitsesid, avastasin ma, et ühes potis miski umbrohi lehtede all. Kiskusin siis selle taime välja, mis sinna potti ei sobinud - ta hästi ei tahtnud tulla, oli juba suure juure alla kasvatanud. Paar päeva hiljem leidsin teisest potist samasuguse taime, selle lehed piilusid pelargooni lehtede vahelt välja. Tõmbasin ta välja ja vaatasin lähemalt, et mis tugev taim see selline on - tal oli tammetõru all.
Nojah, sügisel ma nägin küll, et meie õue orav oli paar korda mu lillepotte kaevamas käinud. Ju ta siis pistis omale talveks tõrusid neisse. Ja nüüd kevadel tuli välja, et olin orava talvevarud julmalt ära varastanud, omale tuppa tassinud. Oleks et ma siis ise sööks neid tõrusid, aga ei - ise ei söö ja teisele ka ei anna.
Mul sel talvel ka lillepotid toas. Eks kevadel vaatame, mis seekord sinna külvatud on.

***

I like to have my hands in the soil. In the back yard, I have two flower pots with geraniums and one really humongous pot or a container, rather, with peppermints. Geraniums are great to have because of the little care they need. It gets pretty hot here in summer in NYC. If you don't want your plants to dry and turn into the Gobi Desert you have give them water daily. Geraniums will live even if you forget for them a few days. In winter we keep them indoors on our window sill. When it gets warm they'll migrate out to the back yard again. The end of March is typically warm enough already.Last May when checking the plants, I discovered something else in the pot. At first I thought it was a weed of sorts, being that it had grown a rather strong root already. A few days later another one. What's going on? A closer inspection revealed that it was actually an acorn. How did it get in my "field"? This past fall, however, we saw our own squirrel dig out our plants and stashing something in the soil. Sure enough it was another acorn. Looks like we have a fairly smart animal, it is asphalt all around and the closest soft spot is in the pot. Now thinking about it I kind of feel bad because the squirrel must have come looking for it. Had I eaten it, it would perhaps have lessened sorrow but I didn't! Just took it away from him. Imagine how you would feel when your Citibank account was empty one day!Anyway, I have our flowers indoors right now. We'll see what's in there come spring...