Five Old Walls

Yesterday, I received a letter from Monty in the mail. No, it wasn’t a goodbye letter, he was just thanking me for the medicine I gave him last week. He also sent me a gift: a trash bin. Wow, thanks. 🗑ïļ

Saharah was out in the rain, looking for old wallpaper, so I started asking around for some. Antonio was the first one to sniff out a good one for me.

Antonio: that old wallpaper...is super dusty. Don't unroll it, up my nose!

Rosie also had some old wallpaper for me, and she called Saharah “a kick in the pants.” 😆

Rosie: Oh yeah! I totally heard that Saharah was in town! She's seriously a kick in the pants, la-di-da!

Felicity asked me for a new greeting, and I rarely bother with those (unlike catchphrases). But I decided to give it a try this time, and I told her to say “Ow! You bit me!” 😆

Felicity: Ow! You bit me!! Like, look at me! I'm happy!

As I continued asking for more old wallpaper, I was surprised by all the help I was getting. Mint, Marina, and Fang all helped me out too! That’s a total of five out of my nine villagers! I believe that ties a record; I’ve also received five walls/carpets on two previous occasions since starting this blog, most recently in 2016.

I took three of the old wallpapers over to Saharah, and she gave me a tropical vista. I put the other two in storage for next time.

Today, Mint met me outside my house and immediately wanted to play a game of hide-and-seek. She gave me 15 minutes to find her, Rosie, and Marina. I took my time, and I first found Marina hiding behind a tree near Antonio’s house. A couple minutes later, I found Rosie behind a tree near the fountain.

Rosie: Come on! This is hide-and-seek, not...um... hide-and-do-nothing!
I am seeking, and I found you, so what’s the issue?

Mint took me the longest to find, but it was only due to her being the farthest away. It definitely wasn’t the quality of her hiding spot… 😆

Mint tries to hide behind a sign post.

Mint was impressed with my win, and she gave me a mega plinkoid as my prize.

Mint: Amazing! Wow, I might have to rethink my notions of you, it's minty!

Antonio asked me to deliver a gift to Fang, and I was happy to help out. Antonio rewarded me with a library wall, although I’m not sure I want to use it after hearing this…

Antonio: This library wall is for you. Don't worry, I gave it a good wipe down, up my nose.

I noticed a new hybrid today (a purple tulip) in the same area where those purple roses disappeared from last week. The rain I got yesterday must’ve helped it out. 🙂

Nana’s replacement has not moved in yet, but I expect that to happen the next time I play.

5 Roses, 1 Monkey Gone

On Tuesday, I was surprised to find Nana packed up in boxes. She’s leaving, without any advance warning.

Nana: I think you can tell by looking, but I've decided to move out of Forest for good, banana man.

I’ll miss her. It’s too bad it wasn’t my other monkey (Monty) moving out instead.

I went over a whole week without playing, after generally playing 3+ days a week during most of the summer. So when I got around to this part of town, I was a bit surprised to find that my five purple roses were all gone. Here are the before-and-after photos:

A comparison of my flowers on September 1st vs. September 9th. Five purple roses were all gone.

Hybrids seem more likely to not survive if you go more than a week without playing. If you want to keep any hybrids during a break from the game, you’ll need to put them in your house (or in storage).

Antonio told me that his memory is getting bad, so he keeps his essential items in his gym bag. That includes his sunglasses, his lifting gloves, and…a ribbon on a stick?

Antonio: You never know when someone's gonna jump out and challenge you to a rhythmic-gymnastics duel!

Yesterday, I received Nana’s goodbye letter in the mail. She just peeled out of town and split.

Dearest Jeff, I'm leaving Forest today... I know it's the right step, but I'm still sad, because I'll be leaving you. I hope I see you again someday. Signed, -Nana

I found Rosie holding her watering can, standing up against the wall of Nook ‘n’ Go. She said she’s really focused on her watering routine, and she may even have a watering addiction.

Rosie: I think I have a watering addiction, la-di-da.

I don’t know why she’s telling me all this. I guess she’s just pouring her heart out.

Monty has come down with a cold, so I gave him some medicine yesterday and again today. Get well soon, Monty! (So you can leave next.) 😛

I listened in a conversation between Biskit and Felicity, and it was the one where Felicity wanted to charge a rental fee to Biskit for borrowing a DVD. But Felicity’s catchphrase (“528 bells”) just added to the confusion when Biskit wanted to know the cost. 😆

Felicity: Let's see, at the low, low price of 500 bells a day, that would be...like...3500 bells, 528 bells!

Pascal was in town today, but I couldn’t find a scallop to give him (even after saving/quitting and restarting a few times). So I just had a chat with him anyway, and he told me that the final shape of an object is what decides its known form? I’ve seen this line before, but I still have no idea what it means. 😆

Pascal: The final shape of an object is what decides its known form, maaaan.

I’ll be back next week with another entry, so I hope you’ll return to see who replaces Nana. Who do you think I’ll get? I hope it’s someone good!

Goal Smashed!

Last night, I ended August with a 90-minute bug hunt during the fireworks. It may sound like a long time, but it went by so quickly! I was even a bit surprised when the clock struck midnight, and everything abruptly ended.

That's it for the Fireworks Show!

The fireworks stopped, the festive music switched back to the normal sleepy tunes, and the bugs turned into pumpkins. Well, not pumpkins, but they basically turned into worthless crickets. 😆 That wrapped up my favorite time of year in Animal Crossing, and it’s kinda sad when it all ends in the blink of an eye.

Outside of town hall, Tortimer was still standing there, but now without a purpose. He said he’s too excited to sleep after fireworks shows.

Tortimer: I'm always too excited to sleep after the Fireworks Show...

I made about 310k in my final bug hunt of the year, and that brings me to the main topic of the day…

My Summer Goal

Just to recap, I made a summer bell goal at the end of June. At the time, I had 67,650,000 bells in the bank. My goal was to earn 2.35 million more bells over the summer, so that my total balance would reach 70 million bells by September 1st.

Throughout July, I averaged about three bug hunts a week, generally playing at least an hour and often more. I reached my goal of 70 million bells saved…

Your current balance is 70,000,000 bells.

…on July 27th. I still had over a month to go though, so I set a new goal for myself (even though I didn’t post it publicly): 72 million bells. That’s roughly double my original goal. By August 13th, I had met that goal as well. ðŸŽŊ

I didn’t make any additional goals, and my bug hunt time slowed down (slightly) for the 2nd half of August. But I still kept playing at least twice a week. When I started up the game today, my balance sat at 73,630,000 bells.

Your current balance is 73,630,000 bells.

So I made nearly six million bells in that two month span, which I’m pretty sure is my personal best. That’s more than 2.5 times my original target. My long-term goal of 100 million bells (to earn the green feather) is actually starting to look achievable in the next few years if I keep this up.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to do this every summer. If we get a new Animal Crossing game soon, I probably won’t be playing City Folk as much, for example. But that green feather no longer seems decades away. ðŸŠķ

Labor Day

In other news, today is Labor Day in the U.S., so Tortimer was standing outside of town hall once again.

Tortimer: Today is Labor Day, sprout.

He gave me a picnic basket for the occasion. When I spoke to him several more times, he eventually gave me a surprisingly encouraging pep talk.

Tortimer: Sometimes your hard work may go unnoticed, but never forget this, sprout: I'm rooting for you, 100%!

Up by Nookington’s, Felicity was talking about Tom Nook’s popularity. She said even the people in the city have heard of him, and she wondered if it was true that he had a shop in the city a long time ago.

Felicity: I wonder if it's really true that he had a shop in the city a long time ago? Hmmmm...

Some of this stuff goes back to Wild World, but it’s nice to see it referenced in City Folk as well.

I’ve had two recent bug requests: Nana has been looking for a darner dragonfly, and Biskit has been seeking a longhorn beetle. Unfortunately, both of them are only out in the daytime, and I’ve been mostly playing at night lately. I did play in the day today, but it was raining, which kept away the dragonflies. And the longhorn beetle seems to be pretty rare, and only appears on stumps. I didn’t find either bug, so Nana and Biskit are both going to be disappointed in me.

I ran into Felicity again by the museum, and she was grossed out by the rain. She even compared herself to a swamp with legs. 😆

Felicity: OHMIGOSH, dumbbell! I just feel all wet and sticky and GROSS! I'm like a swamp with legs.

Did you all have a good summer? Did you do lots of bug hunting and make lots of bells? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll see you next time. Never Stop Crossing!