MOAB

Long story.....

I have a big planter on my patio where my favorite Japanese maple "stays". This year we have a hot summer and the maple started shedding all its leaves. I am not sure if that is normal, so I did a quick search online. The information that i gathered all mentioned (1) watering - keep the potting soil moist all the time, (2) salt concentration from watering using tap water could kill the plant, and the most important thing (3) is perfectly fine to grow Japanese maple in a pot or planter. At that time, I have added some soil moist granules (some cellulous fibers that absorb water and swell and slowly releasing the moisture over time). I suspected the culprit may be the granules because the plant was doing fine until I added the granules. So, I bought some new potting mix and repotted the Japanese maple. Then, the plant slowly came back to life. Almost all of the branch tips have died off. I will have to do some pruning when the plant goes to hibernation mode this winter or I might just wait another year to prune the plant just to make sure that it is healthy enough to take the shock.

Lately, I have spotted some potting mix on the patio floor. At first I thought no big deal, just the squirrels hiding their food and I am not going to sweat over that. Monday evening, I watered the plant and I smelled something stinky (I think in Malay is called berbau hancing? Please correct me if I am wrong). Something is not right. Could it be the stray cats have volunteered my planter to become a litter box? Don’t know. I have seen cat hangout on my patio before. Hmm….. A few minutes later, while I was coming out of my kitchen, I saw a cat on the patio drinking the runoff from the planter off the patio floor............

I have been observing the planter on the patio the past two days and my planter was indeed a cat’s litter box. @$#%$sfdxxx#@$xgs##%$....... I said “it was” because I have covered the planter with pine cones and big rocks. You see, pine cones are quite prickly. I figured that will make the pooping experience very unpleasant and hopefully the cat will go some place else to do its business.

By the way, want to know where I got the MOAB idea? My friend had an old cat. I addressed her as the MOC (Mean old Cat) and in return, I am the MOAB (mean old asian boy). MOC had to be put to sleep last month because the tumors in her body had taken over and her quality of life was gone. C'est la vie (that's life).

Late Tabitha Hill