Grace Haven: Day 5

I slept for just a couple of hours Thursday morning, then got up and planted the various items I was now able to plant as a Level 5 gardener--lime, potato, watermelon, and onion. And they were all Nice quality.

I fertilized them all with Nice bell pepper, except that I had one Red Herring that I'd caught, so I used that to fertilize my new lime tree.

Then I went back to bed.

I awoke again just before 7:00 a.m.,

and found to my delight that I had my own plants to harvest!

After I weeded my garden, I swapped out the Very Nice apple tree and the Very Nice tomato plant for Great varieties of those plants, which the day's harvest had yielded.

I looked through my inventory for something more to plant, but found only an Unknown Uncommon Seed--

which Gardenia had warned me would just be a duplicate of one of the lime, potato, watermelon, or onion plants I had planted the night before, and one Unknown Rare Seed,

which I was unable to plant because I wasn't yet skilled enough. "There'll be time for that later," I told myself. I resolved to hang on to that seed, but to sell the Uncommon seed to the grocery the next time I was there.

I got dressed for the day and went to the gym.

After I showered and used the toilet, a quick look upstairs revealed that the only guy there was probably there with his wife (since the two shared the same last name).

"What kind of name is 'Kurt Shallow', anyway?" I asked myself. "If that's not truth-in-labeling, I don't know what is!"

So, I went fishing, to a spot southeast of the warehouse

(which warehouse was rumored to be a hotbed of criminal activity) that promised a couple of types of fish that I hadn't yet caught.

I really threw myself into my casting, which surprised me, because I had never had any upper-body strength. Maybe I have more going for myself than I thought?

It was a productive outing. I tried several types of bait, and managed to catch both an Alley Catfish,

and a Rainbow Trout.

After I'd caught a few fish, the spot went cold (which Gardenia had advised me was a normal occurrence). I spun a wish to catch a new type of fish,

so thought I'd try my luck with the salt-water fish at the hatchery, which was not that far away from the warehouse.

"This sure is a convenient place to fish!" I thought, taking in the 16 ponds situated close together.

I tried every kind of bait I had in my inventory that I was able to use (I couldn't yet use fish as bait, because my skill level was too low).

In short order, I had both caught a new type of fish--an anchovy--

and reached Fishing Level 3.

I also caught a tuna.

Shortly thereafter, I spun a wish to catch 5 new types of fish.

So, I moved around the hatchery, trying various different ponds. I lugged my radio around with me, tuning it to my favorite classical music.

I caught a jellyfish,

though a look at my Fishing skill journal showed that I hadn't yet discovered the bait for it.

I stocked up on Red Herring to use as fertilizer, and reached Fishing Level 4.

As day turned to dusk, I packed up my fishing gear and my portable stereo and headed to the library to read the one recipe that was in my inventory.

I decided to walk, and on the way, found a few Unknown Rare seeds, and picked them up.

At the library, I sat down to learn the recipe for Ratatouille,

and mastered it in no time. Just as I was trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my evening (I knew my garden as yet needed no tending, since I was able to check on it remotely), another hunky guy walked past my chair.

I bravely followed him into the computer room and introduced myself.

Unfortunately, I quickly found out that Hunter Cottoneye was Neurotic, Mean-Spirited, and a Loner.

I'm well shod of him!

I left the library and stopped by the community garden on my way home to bed.

While harvesting there, I reached Gardening Level 6.

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NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Join us next week, when a cute guy jogs by Grace's lot, and she chases him down, and spends a lot of time chatting him up....