aisforamy | Entries tagged with turtles

I took this pic of my turtle's belly, because my sister always jokes that he has an image of Jesus in his markings. I don't deny it resembles a face, but I don't know about Jesus...who does it look like to you?
( large images under here... )

I know I haven't updated with anything truly newsworthy in a while, but life has been going on.

My birthday was nice, even if I did get stricken with a virus of some sort halfway through the day that sent me to bed with a mega sick headache. Thank you to all of you lovely people who wished me a happy day. I am still fighting a cold, but nothing as bad as it was.

My good friend in Tennesee sent me the funniest birthday present EVER! She sent me the world's largest gummi bear! I swear it weighs something like five pounds. When my son saw it, he asked if he could have a slice of it! (I said no.) My family pooled money together and renewed my Zoo membership for another year, so I might start taking the boys to the zoo every Wednesdays, since they get out early from school on those days. I got some spending money from my mother in law, and my husband gave me some money to buy myself something as well. I got some nice new clothes, and got my nails done and a pedicure!

I got a letter in the mail the other day informing me that a proposal has been put before the school board to close down my kids' elementary school, and to send the kids to other schools. The distirct is facing the task of addressing a twenty million dollar deficit, and they think that consolidating schools is the best way. Obviously, we think this is a Bad Idea, and want to fight this. I am heading a PTO meeting tonight to try an organize our group and make us less like an angry mob, and more like a force to be reckoned with. We have several people who have formed little Save Our School things going on, and information being gathered, but no one is sharing it with anyone else, and it's just a mess. I hope we get a good turn out tonight, so that we can be coherent and on the same page when the time comes to address the board in the scheduled hearings. The final decision will be made in mid-March.

I started planning the school carnival, which will be held at the end of March, and that is also a lot of extra work on my plate at the moment. I am hoping to get some more volunteers to help, soon. I keep having people asking me if we are still having carnival if they decide the school will be closed next year, and I keep telling them, "YES!" I don't get why they think the world is going to just come to an end if this happens.

In other news, I had to take my dog to vet today. She has been limping lately, and not moving around very well, but she is a young dog. Her hips may be displaced, and one of her knees seems to have torn cartilage. I have to take her back tomorrow morning for sedation and X-rays, then will likely have to take her to an orthopedic specialist vet for a cat scan and maybe surgery. This could get to be majorly expensive!

I also had her nails cut and her booster shots given. You would think that they had come at her with a chainsaw and and a branding iron for all of the noise she made while having that done.On a positive note, she met a cat that didn't attack her, and she was completely fine with it. Now, if I can find a cat that is indifferent to dogs, I might be able to get one, some day.

Speaking of pets...one of my turtle tank filters died yesterday, so that was another expense I had to take up...I just got an inexpensive one, but one day, I am going to have to bite the bullet and get that pond built in the back yard with the really good equipment.

Other than that, life is just...life. Busy and full of mom-stuff. I have really been wanting to RP more than I have--especially my remaining Milliways pups, but simply haven't had the time. I think I am just going to have to put them in one day with warnings for all taggers that replies will be slow.

Tomorrow after I take Sadie to the vet, I am going to go and see the Spiderwick Chronicles movie while the kids are in school. I have been waiting a long time for it to come out, and while I don't expect it to be anything like the books (at least the trailers lead me to believe the story is quite different), I still expect to enjoy it.

That's about it for now. The boys get out extra early today, and I need to take them to get their teachers some little Valentine's gifts, and get ready for the big meeting tonight. Wish me luck!!

Link of the day: Make your own girl scout cookies!!
http://bakingbites.com/2008/01/homemade-girl-scout-cookies-samoas

So, Trixie went to the vet yesterday. Skip this if you have no interest in the lives of my turtles, because it's all about turtle stuff.

That was an adventure! I lost the lid to the box thingie I usually transport my little guys in, and so I just took her in a tall plastic box. One that I discovered she could climb out of, while I was driving. I got to hold a pissed off turtle with very sharp claws all the way to the vet.

She was an unhappy girl, but behaved pretty well. She had a lot of flake-age on her shell, but Dr. Driggers did not seem overly concerned about it, other then that there was algae under some of the layers. He used a dental pick to gently flake loose layers away, and I must say that a LOT came off, in my opinion, but she looks much better, now.

He agreed that she was swimming crookedly (listing to the right), and gave her a shot of anti-biotic. *sigh* She did NOT enjoy that, and the sound of her snapping was really loud. I am dreading giving her the remaining shots on my own. She is very strong, and I have a feeling I am going to get bitten. The first one I have to give her is tomorrow, and then every other day for twelve more days after that.

He examined her further and made sure there was no eggs inside of her. He showed me how to check, and I was surprised that Trixie let him do it, but he stuck his index fingers up under her shell just in front of her hind legs and felt around in there. He said I would feel small round lumps in there if she had eggs. I don't know that I would check that on my own, unless I thought she was sick or bound our something.

We have been over feeding her, but she was not overly fat or anything, so he said no harm done...the last owners probably did not keep her under proper lighting, and so that was why her shell was so flaky and now that she has the UVB light, she should be a lot better. That and she is growing quickly from the over feeding. I think the boys have been feeding her extra because she begs shamelessly for food, and eats like she has been starving for days. He told me what portion size to give her (about the size or her heads' worth of pellets), and said that it was all right to give her greens every day. I put some in this morning, be she seems unimpressed with them; she shredded a bit, and is now using it to hide under.

Anyway, she is on her road to recovery. The doc encouraged the outdoor pond we were planning for the back yard ASAP for the best environment for all the turtles. I am only worried that she and Godzilla will breed, and I won't find the eggs before I have tons of bebe turtles running around.

( This is Trixie, taken about a month ago. )

Current Mood: calm

I really haven't been updating much, other than silly memes or links. I have been busy now that the school year has started (I think I said this before), and will probably BE busy for the foreseeable future.

Today, I went to the school and sent out two separate flyers to parents about an upcoming PTO meeting and a Pizza Hut fund raising night, when we encourage everyone to clog their arteries in the name of better educational tools. I also went and visited one of the ladies from church I was supposed to, and mailed a shipment of cell phones to the recycling place for a fund raiser from last year. I set up four more fund raising events with restaurants for the next couple of months, as we try to have two per month...one pizza, and one actual go-to-a-place-and-sit-down with a waitress and stuff kind of place. It's served us well in the past.

Tonight was Curriculum Night at the school, where parents came without their children to see the classrooms, and to get a good idea of what their children would be learning. It was nice to get the info and meet the teachers and stuff, even though I already know most of them. I signed up two new families for the PTO, and sold a couple of t-shirts, so that was nice, too!

Tomorrow is another insanely busy day, where I am going to go visit a woman from church, pick up Lai and do some running around, pick up the kids, take the turtle to the vet, hang out at home for a bit with Lai and maybe watch a movie, and at some point, go grocery shopping. Also? My tweezers have gone mysteriously missing, and I need to get another pair.

Robert also has his first cello lesson tomorrow, and he's really excited about it. The cello was delivered yesterday, and he just sat and admired it for a while. I hope he takes to it, because sometimes I worry that the poor boy takes after my father, who was tone deaf.

I also have about a bazillion loads of laundry to catch up on, but that is nothing new.

Not getting enough sleep, but have been having a great time with my RP, both at Milliways and at my new game over on GJ. PSSSST--why haven't you all joined yet? It's awesome!

And tonight me and Lai did the happydance, because I figured out how to put tags in the sidebar at the new game's main page, and Lai figured out how to make them show up in indiviual posts. Now all we have to do is find out why we can't edit entries at all, and we will be GOLDEN.

Other than that, life continues apace...things are good, if a little hectic. Hope everyone out there is doing well!

Link of the day: http://algebraoflife.blogspot.com/2007/02/unlocks-your-car-using-tennis-ball.html

I don't know if this really works, but if it does? Sweeeet.

Caught the last of the wild cats living in our back yard. You may recall that the mother cat chased my dog around the yard one night, and so my husband flushed the cats out with the garden hose? Well, hey came back, and moved under the kids' playhouse. My husband borrowed a small animal trap, and lured a kitten out with some tuna, and took it out to farmer's field and let it go.

The mother was caught a few hours later, perhaps looking for her baby. She was taken (with much howling, hissing and growling) to another field and let go. The three remaining kittens disappeared for a couple of days, before showing up back in the original hole under the shed. I took them out some water, but didn't feed them--they were SO thirsty, the poor things. My husband set the trap again, and caught one within two minutes, and the remaining two in one shot about twenty minutes later. They were released together at a corporate park that has a little pond and lots of little bushes and trees in clusters where they can chase bugs and lizards and mice for food.

The reason (in case you are wondering) we didn't take them to the Humane Society is because they were feral cats, and therefore, unadoptable. We thought it preferable to let them go, than to have them put to sleep. Also, the shelters are so overrun, that most are not accepting new animals right now. Sad, but true.

Anyway, not much new has happened to me in the past few days. I took the kids to the zoo yesterday to play in the water playground there, and did some yardwork this morning. Tonight will be spent cleaning the turtle tank, which gets dirty a lot faster with a third turtle added to the mix. Still haven't taken pics, but will get around to it, soon.

If any of you are interested in reading the newest issue of the Fables comic (which I always recommend, because it's fabulous), drop me a comment here, and I will send you the links to the scans I made of it.

And, because I haven't had one for quite a while, I give you a LINK OF THE DAY! (Gasp!)

http://www.geekarmy.com/political/What-Middle-Class.html

Here are some pictures of the turtles I took with my new camera!

The red eared slider in the water is Godzilla, and the one I am holding is Torkle. They were both the same size when we first got them, but Torkel (a River Cooter) is noticeably larger, now. We may eventually have to separate them, but for now they are happy together.

( Cut to save the f'list )
Aren't they adorable? The pics of them in the water are a little fuzzy because their "tank" is a sheer plastic, not glass. The water isn't really murky at all. They are going to need a larger tank soon, but that also means a better heater, and a more powerful filter and whatnot, and I want to do my homework on that, first.

In other news, my sons are both back at school and we are all getting over the crud we had. I went to the zoo with the first graders today as a chaperon for their field trip, and was in charge of five kids - it was a lot of fun! I had to hurry back to the school to do two Art Masterpiece presentations for the third grade. I showed Flowers and Pears by Paul Cezanne to one class, and Boys in a Pasture by Winslow Homer to the other.

I must say - I don't know how much the kids are learning from these presentations, but I am learning loads! I really love it!

That's all for now!

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: something my kids are watching on TV