I Broke a Longstanding Rule

I brought a living thing into the house.
Tucked in and ready for travel
Tucked in and ready for travel
This is my new tiny Giant Saguaro.
This is my new tiny Giant Saguaro.

My wife and I have a longstanding agreement:

Apart from our children and the dog, we will not bring any living things into the house.

But after visiting Arizona recently, I couldn’t resist grabbing this cute little guy.[1]

It is a Saguaro, also known as a Saguaro cactus or Giant Saguaro. Although Saguaros grow to be 30 feet high or more, it generally takes over 100 years to do so. If I can keep it alive for ten years, this one might reach nearly a foot tall!

In theory, it should not require a lot of attention. The instructions say it needs only a tablespoon of water once a month. I can do that, right?

But I’m going to need to learn something about taking care of cactuses[2] first.

  1. My wife says I should name the cactus. What name should I give him? ↩︎

  2. Some people prefer the Latin plural “cacti” but I like “cactuses.” ↩︎