two mysteries... and one non mystery

Mystery number 1:
What are these? Here are two wooden tray sort of things. They were acquired on heavy trash day by my two neighbors. They thought they were interesting and grabbed four or the ten that were sitting out. Here are two stacked on each other. They are nicely constructed, lightly varnished, have little legs for stacking, have a wire mesh style bottom and then have wooden rods separating them into 18 compartments.

My first thought was that they are grow boxes... there is some calcium water marks on the wire. However, they are just really clean for having had dirt in them. Also, you could stack them for only so long and then you'd need light to get to the bottom boxes. I would think they would need to be single layer. They have handles, so they were carried around and moved periodically. I thought about something that needed heat, like eggs... but the rods don't make sense. Each compartment is larger than a canning jar, another thought..... hmmm. Possible remake?

Any ideas?

Mystery #2:
This grew in my garden where I thought I had a cucumber growing. The plant is viney like a cucumber, has yellow blooms, etc. I think you can tell in proportion to the green bean about the size. About a tennis ball, I'd say.


When we opened it up, it seemed more like a zucchini and tasted like a pumpkin. Sort of. We are going to grill it tomorrow. Any ideas here? My friend Amanda told me one year they planted what they thought were gourds (or pumpkins... something) and these funny misshaped things grew that did not represent what they thought they were going to get. Something about being a hybird.... I thought I planted cucumber seeds from a packet though, but I did mix in my own compost when I started the garden. I suppose a seed could have been brought in. hmmm.

This one is not a mystery. How did my newly three year old get the idea to draw dead people buried in the ground at a cemetery? Only confirms my dear hubby's thoughts on us playing in the cemetery last week.