Monday, October 21, 2013

Mystery of Prudence, the Potted Plant On The Porch

Last Tuesday I opened the front door to find a three-foot terracota pot plonked on the porch. The pot was filled with dirt and plants and it was so heavy I could not even tilt it. I guessed (correctly it turned out) that it weighed more than 100lbs. Someone or something had bought it up our 32 steps in the dead of night. Where the heck had it come from? Friends, I've (binge) watched enough mysteries to deduce a couple of things:

Prudence, the potted plant that landed on our front porch

Prudence: We will not be moved

Cy watered Prudence twice a day

1. Prudence was not a gift. The plants were tired looking (sorry Pru) and there was no card. None of the neighbours were expecting her (I asked). I love terracota pots but we don't have any at our house.

2. Kids carried Pru up. They had left trails of dirt and bits of the potato vine -  a delivery company would not have done that.

3. It may not have been kids we know. I asked Harley, 16, and he said: "No one I know would have put that much effort into a prank."

3. Prudence was familiar. Making my fourth trip that day to our deli-grocer at the corner (others grocery shop once a week, I prefer to waste  use my time forgetting stuff and visiting often) I glanced to the left to the Broadway Nursery and there (Da! Da! Dum!) was the dirt-strewn space ...where Pru had been taken from. Happy Ending: the Nursery came two days later and took Pru home.

Hillary from the Broadway Nursery stands in the empty spot, Pru's proper home.

Case closed. I am The Mofo Mystery Solver. The Dot Connector.

Carrie: Call me re Brody whereabouts (I can hear his annoying nose-breathing from here)
Stella: Call me re serial killer whereabouts (Just saw Jamie Dornan modeling undies for Calvin Klein)
Miss M: Call me re knitting needle doings at the Vicarage.


Friends, did you solve any mysteries of your own last week?



41 comments:

  1. That is a strange story. Perhap's Harley's friends had a little something extra fueling them that night. It is the weird kind of trick only an inebriated teenager finds amusing.

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  2. I solved a mystery of how quickly I can eat an entire bad of Reese's Cups. Turns out it's two hours!!

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  3. What?! I don't think I would have solved that mystery, yup you're Carrie's replacement, how do you feel about Brody?
    Harley's comment: Hilarious.

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    1. I also have Carrie's mouth twisting whining - so good to go!

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    2. Find Brody really irritating, esp after watching the SNL depiction of him

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  4. Hmm, very interesting. No mysteries unravelled around here except the final plot twist in Season 4 of Damages. Patty Hewes can be so predictable!

    xo Mary Jo

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    1. Was binge watching that at one stage. Love how she leaves everyone to twist and turn in the wind!

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  5. Thank goodness it wasn't a baby. They require more than twice a day waterings! I've had my urns stolen off my front porch (old, heavy ones), but nothing has ever appeared! Too bad it wasn't your style!

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    1. Never though about the possibility of a baby, though of course that is how they arrive after all! haha!

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  6. Nope no mystery for that cat
    He just knows everything already, unlike Pat haha

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  7. I cannot take carrie's lip quivering and I vote for annoying daughter Dana Brody as culprit who hauled Pru up onto your front step since that was an annoying thing to do! Fingerprint Harley and make sure Dana is not new girlfriend!

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    1. Daughter Brody would not be able to haul Pru up the steps because she always has her sleeves twirling in her hands.However good instincts - I will duly look for sweaters in the house that are pulled in the sleeves!

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  8. We once had an 8-foot tall tree in our yard disappear overnight. No hole, no sawdust, no stump, the ground around completely undisturbed. Nothing but a few dead Madrona leaves on the ground to let us know we probably hadn't hallucinated the tree for 3 years prior. We deduced aliens had beamed it up for research. :)

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    1. I would have thought that is the most plausible explanation.

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  9. Great sleuthing!

    I can't think of any mysteries I've recently solved but my mother is still trying to find her blender, egg slice and something else that went missing during our big party in the summer...

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    1. My friend lost her lemon squeezer at our house and it was the most complicated squeezer I've seen with lots of moving parts like a contraceptive device...for an elephant

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  10. In an drunken state in college once I tried stealing a topiary tree from a frat house party. My boyfriend wanted a house plant. I slowly inched it out of the house and called him to come pick me up. I got pulled over by the cops because the tree sticking out the window looked suspicious. I said they were "party favors". But when he took me back to the party, the frat guys said NO they weren't. They didn't press charges, but I was banned from the house. :)

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    1. Wait: you had me at topiary in a frat house. That is an oxymoron, They must have stolen it themselves.

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  11. Hahaa...the mo-fo mystery solver, that was hilarious! Something my husband would say. Well done, how strange it ended up at your place, maybe some kids thought it would be a funny prank or something. How strange. Hope you're having a great week so far xx

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  12. That is very strange....maybe someone felt sorry for her and thought she should go to a better home?

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    1. As soon as she returned to her space besides her identical family - there were six pots in a row, they changed the plantings!

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  13. HOW FUNNY you put two and two together!
    Those Nursery people live in my town!
    As far as a mystery from last week I will send you a photo and you have to guess where I am.......okey dokey?

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  14. I thought London from the gravely paths, fog and trees, but you tell me France on a photoshoot- you look like someone out of Tatler - need to know more!!

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  15. You are the new nancy drew! Did you tell the local paper bout this?

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  16. Others pranks friends have told me about on facebook - Sticky-noted - someone puts sticky notes all over their car (cute!!) and from my friend Kathleen: "Best prank on me was someone completely wrapped my van in Saran Wrap. It required scissors to remove, ( and it made me late to dance class)! Worse was some horrid white goo someone plastered on Jeremy's car. It took us a half a day to remove it and if we hadn't worked on it right away there would have been a police report filed."

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  17. Great sleuthing! I know friends who woken up to find a "For Sale" board in their front garden!!

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    1. Never heard of that one before. Even worse would be "Apply Within" (unless you didn't get any enquiries...)

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  18. Prudence looked a darn sight healthier after her visit. Was that the idea?

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    1. Ha! Never thought of that, a spa week for pot plants!

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  19. That is so so funny! But I must admit, after living in San Francisco for a few years, not much surprises me. All San Franciscans, present and past, seem somewhat aloof to these kinds of acts that defy logic :-)

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    1. Actually today I saw some writing high up on a highway sign, I can't even imagine how they got up there, must have taken so much work

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  20. Hilarious. The recurring mystery around here is where did I put my keys. Or cell phone headset. I never solve the riddles. My husband is the sleuth, thankfully.

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    1. We have chargers head off with the socks in this house

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  21. OUr son is starting the key song too now he has his license...I am always missing the cash that I took out when I went to the grocery store - no mystery where it went when I see the candy wrappers though

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  22. I love Harley's remarks. That is so odd, isn't it?

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  23. Leigh: then I saw some grafitti on the very tip top of some road signs yesterday, someone had put loads of effort into climbing up and putting words on them - same people? The hardworking pranksters?

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