This and that ...

We went to the Turtle and Tortoise Society Meeting a few nights ago in the Prado Building at Balboa Park. The three big torts went, after a thorough search of the yard found them all! Two were under the little boat, and the youngster, Lucky, had dug his way back under the lime tree, through all sorts of heavy armament installed to keep the little butt head out of there. He will face a wall of cement next!

So, Churchy, Poko Ono and Lucky are healthy, and pretty p*ssed off about being yanked out of the burrows they thought would carry them through the frosts and rainy weather of winter. Only Poko was declared to be overweight (actually the "F" word was used. You know the one, that word that curls our lips)!!!

When the male vet observed that there were many womenfolk staring at him, he did a nice bit of fancy foot work by declaring that it was probably her "body type" since she didn't seem to be a Mojave tortoise like the two others. I said that, no she wasn't a Mojave tort but a Coastal one, and he said that was probably why she was so different. She has green eyes, for one thing. So, all was well with the crowd. The rumbling undertones of the slightly seething seas died down, and there was a very nice discussion after wards. (of course I am exaggerating)

That evening we met people who had Russian tortoises, very cute and small, and an awful lot of people who had Sulcatas. Quite a few of these folks did NOT know when they got them that Sulcatas would grow to be HUGE!  They get up to 150 pounds, and if they should bite your toes - as our desert torts do sometimes - you are going to feel it!    Churchy sometimes goes for my toes in summer because of my nail polish which makes them look very good to eat. Tortoises have eyes like eagles but their eyesight is lots better than their sense of smell.

DH and I know we will go back when the Spring Out of Hibernation event is given. When that happens, we will have a trolley and some stacking boxes with lids for all three of them. The babies were far too small for this event though some children did bring in their lovely little ones for everyone to coo over and enjoy. I had to carry in only one of the big cardboard boxes, the one with Poko in it, but the box and my purse almost buckled my knees. What saved me was a long rail down the ramp-and later " Up"- that provided a slide for me to cheat with. Next time we will have WHEELS!

Balboa Park is beautiful at night. It's lovely. We used to go to a meeting every month, for the Gemological Society, in Spanish Village, and before that, once a month for the Audubon meetings. I didn't realize how much I miss seeing the park at night.