Gimpel TV

For 5 years some Close friends have been sneaking zucchini on my porch every August 8th. You can read more about it here.
Well this year would be their 6th attempt and it’s the first year I actually remembered the date and was prepared for REVENGE. It wasn’t enough to simply CATCH them. No.. no… I had to catch them…. GET them.. photograph them, and then, only then… would I have gotten them.

The plan:
Setup a motion sensor to my front lawn to ring a chime in my living room to notify me when they are coming.

Setup a night vision camera to video record their approach and delivery.

Fill a super soaker up with water, and watch the monitor in anticipation.

On the night in question, I would sit in my livingroom, door closed, watching what looks to be a movie, but in reality my laptop screen is showing me the view from my night camera. When I hear the chime, it means they’re 20 feet away, I prepare with the squirt gun and…. When they place the zucchini, I open the door and soak em!

IF they’re wearing electronics that short out, that’s their own problem!

Monday night. I installed all the devices, and was ready for Tuesday night when it hit me. The victims had invited me to his house for “games” that night, then suspiciously cancelled. What if, since technically Aug 8 starts at midnight, they’re plans were to hit my house tonight at midnight, and the invitation was simply a ploy of some sort? I wasn’t ready! The camera wasn’t up, the motion sensor not up, the zucchini not finishd.. AAAH!! But alas, 30 minutes of dedicated work got us up to speed.
Being paranoid I stayed up until 2am and then gave up the ghost.

Now, if you’ve ever been on a stake out, or hidden at hide and go seek for a long time, you realize your mind starts to play tricks on you.

Finally Tuesday night came.
Me and a friend sat in a dark living room, water gun loaded, ready to soak our zucchini planting guests. Time… 9pm.
We tried hiding in the back of my car, with a video camera, we tried many many things, and then finally decided to trust the trap.

Around midnight I said “I feel like they should have already been here” (yes they were, at 10:30 but we did not know, and my tired friend never complained)
Around 1am I said “the only way they could get around this trap is if they took the back way.. but there’s a new fence and I don’t think it has a gate. I haven’t checked yet.” We chuckled at the thought of them going through all that trouble, besides those neighbors back there are crazy, they might get shot… they wouldn’t do that. Or would they?

So I log onto my laptop, go into IM and see that they are online. He leaves me a tiny clue, and sure enough , I check the back porch and there it was… a zucchini!
AAAH!!! ALL that and we didn’t catch them!

so the rundown:
I picked up the following ingredients:

-1 super soaker – $12.99
-1 night vision camera - $49.99 (with 30 day return policy)
-1 motion sensor chime - $24.99
over ten hours of late night stake out time wasted - priceless.

I would have taken a pic of the zucchini they left, but in a fit of rage I tossed it to the ground and the poor guy couldn’t survive.

But WAIT… that’s not all.

So fine, I didn’t catch them. The original intention was to catch them, soak them, and have a laugh and then give them this craft me and my family made them.
After all I appreciate a good joke, and since this is the last year they’ll be able to do it, me and my kids came up with the idea of making them a huge zucchini. We started with ideas for chicken wire and making one 6 feet tall and wound up with a 2′ paper mache’.

The kids thought it would be fun to make a big zucchini, and I thought it would be fun to be a good sport, and make a trophy for my friends for many years of good pranking! So we made the zucchini and we all signed it and left a fun little note.

THANKS GUYS! IT HAS BEEN VERY FUN.

Tonight, at 1:30am I approached their house to sneak it, since, well the plan was to catch them and hand it to them, and that failed, so I had to go deliver. Perhaps they would receive the fun of the surprise and discovery in the morning.
I drove the 20 minutes to their house, and then staked it out. Their front walkway was long, and well lit. I took a few steps to avoid casting shadows, saw them in the kitchen window and ducked down. Then I took another step and heard an alarm go off! I set off THEIR motion alarm.

I couldn’t let them add insult to injury so I jetted. Lucky for me, their back fence was open and not lit, although very nervously I placed the zucchini (most people wouldn’t be able to reach up and over the latch) because
1 - I was praying they didn’t have a new dog I didn’t know about and
2 - Their back porch is in front of a big clear, uncurtained window.

So far as I know they were watching me the whole time in the dark and I couldn’t see them. I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow.

I hope they enjoy the trophy and keep it for many years to come, or at least as long as it takes for me to return and get them again. (-;

MAKING THE TROPHY:
Inflate party balloon, and tear newspaper into strips, fill tub with gluey water:

Cover balloon with gluey strips (5 layers is good)

(I did 2 because I was paranoid one might not work and we didn’t have time for a DO over, we had 4 days)

Paint the zucchini green: (we decided to stuff it with cloth rags for weight and stability, after it was dry. We were afraid the trophy wouldn’t last long if it were heavier, and besides, it feels more like a zucchini)

Send them a greeting: (happy sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor’s porch night)

The kids thought we should all sign it:

Finally put a note on it, letting them know how much we appreciate the fun game over the years… even if it has caused me many sleepless nights and one or two turned ankles (-;

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p.s. side story, humorously I ended up accidentally soaking myself while trying to figure out how my new squirt gun FLOOD feature worked. Made quite the mess in the kitchen, you should ask me about it.

(if any of this seems incoherent, remember, I’ve slept about 4 hours for a 40 hour period.. What a rush. There is a reason I’m blogging at 2:30am… I’m still wired!)