The Money Tree, Part 2

Okay. Getting back to the money tree / plant:




I received this plant from a student who was moving to Texas and couldn't take all his plants with him.

I went to David's apartment and while waiting for him to answer the door, spied a large pot with a small toy car in it. Before I could comment about maybe the neighborhood kids should pick up after themselves, the door opened and I was overwhelmed with all the chaotic images of moving.
When I got past that, I thought, “WOW! All the plants!”
I peered at the many pots, shook hands/leaves with several plants and tried to decide which ones would fit in neatly back at home without disturbing the calm of our house.

[I know. You're scoffing at the thought: Tidiness at our house. Trust me, the BigBear is very tidy. The common areas of our house are very tidy. I don't think I've lived in a home that's this tidy as an adult. Even though I wish it were less chaotic, my office/studio is the one wee (ahem) bit of creative chaos amidst the order.
There is a difference, however, between tidy and clean, though. You can rest assured – neither of us really dusts.]

Okay, so shaking hands/leaves … I liked the money plant. I hope it will bring good (money) luck.
And peered in and saw a White cow.

I go, “David. Do all your plants have little special friends in their pots?”
And he goes, “Yes. I call them 'moo's”.
And, yes, there were plenty of cow moos and non-cow moos: more toy cars, bottle caps from unusually-named beers, marbles, unusually shaped rocks, lots of little mementos. I was impressed. That's something I'd do, but David had done it with even more carefree whimsy. Nice.
I decided to take the money plant and its moo, and two other plants.

One fine day, several weeks later, I was cleaning out some of the gravel and rocks and dried leaves from the money plant pot, spied something brown and decided that the offending brown bit of trash must go!

I poked at it, then yelped!
There, peering up at me was a brown cow. Where did the Brown Cow come from?!?

“Ha?! What? How now? Brown cow!”

See the brown cow?

Talk about camouflage. It took me three different tries to get a picture where you can actually see the brown cow against the potting soil.

So now, apparently, we have a herd. I poked even more, to make sure I wasn't missing any more stealth critters. I think we're good, at least for now.

When I water the plant, drenching it from the faucet, the white cow stays firmly planted, standing proud on high ground. The brown cow, for whatever reason, is far less sure-footed and goes floating around, bobbing helplessly until the flash flood subsides, usually coming to rest on its side. I have to check back in after the water's drained, and set him upright, just to make things right.

It's like I'm a gargantuan supreme being, causing floods and unleashing other kinds of havoc on my little plastic cow subjects. Bwa-ha-haha-Ha!

My Godzilla fantasies aren't long-lived, though.

Lucky for everyone.

Especially the Brown Cow.