Bountiful - August 19, 2023
I have named our “cottage” home at 63 Beamer Ave. in St. Catharines “Bountiful.”
This is both a joke and a misdirect and a gaff.
The Joke.
Our home is likely the smallest house on the street with the smallest backyard. And it’s pretty “plain Jane.” A 1950’s stucco.
If my mother had been living, she would have said what she said to me when we bought our home at 465 Loach’s Rd. “Are you sure you want to do this?” (We did and I’m glad we did.)
But in fact, it was the proceeds from Laur’s and my share of the family home at 138 Dundas St. W in Belleville that provided for the downpayment.
Hubs and I hadn’t planned to be homeowners again. We thought we’d left this all behind us when we moved into a super wonderful life lease apartment on Vine St. It was an end unit and we were on the ground floor so had a patio and our own private entrance. Plus a garden box in the park-like back area.
But two things conspired against us. The first was covid. Living in a Seniors complex, we were not allowed to have folks over – including our grandkids. And I thought covid would go on forever.
The second was that a specific house became available. This house shared part of a backyard with my daughter and son-in-law and grandkid – Anna, Neal, and Elliot. And it was on my favourite street. And it was spitting distance to the Welland Canal.
I had always joked with my kids that if this house ever came up for sale, I’d want to buy it. And come up for sale it did in 2021 – at three times the price we would have considered paying in “normal times.” These were not normal times. (They have since somewhat normalized. Ah well.)
So we put a bid in, it was accepted, and just like that we were homeowners again. Or rather, the Bank of Montreal was. And to be honest, things came together mostly nicely. There is a falling tree story that I’ll save for another time. But our kids and friends helped move us. Friends and thrift stores furnished the place… And here we are.
We now have a place called “Granny’s House.” (Also Grumpa’s.) And that mattered to me. As long as my mother was living ( and she lived to be 98) and was in her own home (which she was), I knew there would always be a safe and welcoming place for our us and our kids if things went topsy turvy. And there were a few times we made good on that offer.
The Misdirect.
OK, so our house is not bountiful on the inside. We could fit out entire home into the living room at 465 Loach’s Rd. – or close to it. We have less first floor and storage space than we did at our Senior’s apartment.
So I thought to myself, why not make the outside full to overfilled? Almost every inch of garden plot is filled with perennial plants or plans for perennial plants. AND IF YOU HAVE EXTRAS, I STILL HAVE PLACES. Consider me a foster-to-adopt home for excess plants!
And that works for perennials. But it turns out it’s not so good for tomatoes… Read on…
So, because our family is a member of Friends of Walker Creek, we get a 25% discount on plants ONE DAY in May at Rice Road Greenhouses. You have to understand. I am both mathematically and financial-sense challenged.
I took into account the spaces we have in our two 4’ by 4’ garden boxes, and bought eight times the amount these boxes could reasonably hold. And why not? I saved 25% every time I bought a tomato plant!
You know how this goes. I overplanted in the boxes. So I had to replant into gigantic pots. Which meant I had to scrounge, steal, and buy pots. And then buy bags of extra soil to fill them. Even then, our tomato plants are awash in shade due to overcrowding and large trees.
Thankfully my math skills aren’t good enough to calculate what this really cost us. We could buy a bushel of tomatoes at any farmer’s market for $20. We’ll likely harvest about 40 for $400. And our tomato gardens look like thickets. I’m worried that when we send our grandsons – Jasper and Walter – to try to find tomatoes, they’ll get lost.
The Gaff.
Our daughter Anna asked what we’d like for a housewarming gift at 63 Beamer. I said, “A mailbox that says Bountiful.” What I didn’t know at the time is that Bountiful is also the name of a settlement of two polygamous religious sects in British Columbia. Oops!
Thankfully, we haven’t have any “offers.” The fact that the front steps of our house are completely overrun by tomatoes plants might be a contributing factor. To say nothing of the pots of cacti that are taller and wider than our grandkids, and almost as prickly as me. 😊
This is both a joke and a misdirect and a gaff.
The Joke.
Our home is likely the smallest house on the street with the smallest backyard. And it’s pretty “plain Jane.” A 1950’s stucco.
If my mother had been living, she would have said what she said to me when we bought our home at 465 Loach’s Rd. “Are you sure you want to do this?” (We did and I’m glad we did.)
But in fact, it was the proceeds from Laur’s and my share of the family home at 138 Dundas St. W in Belleville that provided for the downpayment.
Hubs and I hadn’t planned to be homeowners again. We thought we’d left this all behind us when we moved into a super wonderful life lease apartment on Vine St. It was an end unit and we were on the ground floor so had a patio and our own private entrance. Plus a garden box in the park-like back area.
But two things conspired against us. The first was covid. Living in a Seniors complex, we were not allowed to have folks over – including our grandkids. And I thought covid would go on forever.
The second was that a specific house became available. This house shared part of a backyard with my daughter and son-in-law and grandkid – Anna, Neal, and Elliot. And it was on my favourite street. And it was spitting distance to the Welland Canal.
I had always joked with my kids that if this house ever came up for sale, I’d want to buy it. And come up for sale it did in 2021 – at three times the price we would have considered paying in “normal times.” These were not normal times. (They have since somewhat normalized. Ah well.)
So we put a bid in, it was accepted, and just like that we were homeowners again. Or rather, the Bank of Montreal was. And to be honest, things came together mostly nicely. There is a falling tree story that I’ll save for another time. But our kids and friends helped move us. Friends and thrift stores furnished the place… And here we are.
We now have a place called “Granny’s House.” (Also Grumpa’s.) And that mattered to me. As long as my mother was living ( and she lived to be 98) and was in her own home (which she was), I knew there would always be a safe and welcoming place for our us and our kids if things went topsy turvy. And there were a few times we made good on that offer.
The Misdirect.
OK, so our house is not bountiful on the inside. We could fit out entire home into the living room at 465 Loach’s Rd. – or close to it. We have less first floor and storage space than we did at our Senior’s apartment.
So I thought to myself, why not make the outside full to overfilled? Almost every inch of garden plot is filled with perennial plants or plans for perennial plants. AND IF YOU HAVE EXTRAS, I STILL HAVE PLACES. Consider me a foster-to-adopt home for excess plants!
And that works for perennials. But it turns out it’s not so good for tomatoes… Read on…
So, because our family is a member of Friends of Walker Creek, we get a 25% discount on plants ONE DAY in May at Rice Road Greenhouses. You have to understand. I am both mathematically and financial-sense challenged.
I took into account the spaces we have in our two 4’ by 4’ garden boxes, and bought eight times the amount these boxes could reasonably hold. And why not? I saved 25% every time I bought a tomato plant!
You know how this goes. I overplanted in the boxes. So I had to replant into gigantic pots. Which meant I had to scrounge, steal, and buy pots. And then buy bags of extra soil to fill them. Even then, our tomato plants are awash in shade due to overcrowding and large trees.
Thankfully my math skills aren’t good enough to calculate what this really cost us. We could buy a bushel of tomatoes at any farmer’s market for $20. We’ll likely harvest about 40 for $400. And our tomato gardens look like thickets. I’m worried that when we send our grandsons – Jasper and Walter – to try to find tomatoes, they’ll get lost.
The Gaff.
Our daughter Anna asked what we’d like for a housewarming gift at 63 Beamer. I said, “A mailbox that says Bountiful.” What I didn’t know at the time is that Bountiful is also the name of a settlement of two polygamous religious sects in British Columbia. Oops!
Thankfully, we haven’t have any “offers.” The fact that the front steps of our house are completely overrun by tomatoes plants might be a contributing factor. To say nothing of the pots of cacti that are taller and wider than our grandkids, and almost as prickly as me. 😊