This yarn, the rose, the knitting, the little insight...

This yarn did not please me.  It's just too harsh and having to knit these gloves on size 2 needles to make the gauge ended up creating a stiff and uncomfortable glove.  Even though pattern says that light DK is ok.  Maybe.. your mileage may be different. 

So, I'm not going to use this DK yarn and will also modify that pattern somewhat because it doesn't fit correctly.  I'll  be using Sport weight, which I will have to buy.  Oh Boo Hoo. 😕

Lol 🤣

See where that ribbing is hitting me? 

Over all, it's a very good pattern, but the hand above the ribbing is too short.  The thumb needs to be started a little more above the ribbing than just a couple of rows of stockinette place it.  It pulls the SF Glove slightly out of shape.  As is evident, from the preceding photo of it.  It was the first thing that the unfussy Mr. Z. pointed out.  My purl and knit rows don't differ at all, so it's not a loose and tight knit problem.

Also, I didn't like the way the gloves were so short and not at all like the first ones, which didn't rise up off the wrist the way this did.  So, I'll incorporate that pattern's thumb gusset into this one.

I did like VERY much the way the fingers were knit, i.e., picking up three stitches at the base of the previously knit finger, as well as casting on three at the other side, in a manner that completely eliminated any holes between fingers.  I may have this last a little backwards, but you get the idea.  It was completely clever in that regard.  I am happy that this is knitting to size but would never use DK on it again.  Fabric became too stiff. 

I'm working on the last Thursday 13 list items and it's going to get me where I want to be in the rest of the year.  I've been pretty flat out disappointed in the Deity for awhile.  It is worthless to argue and rant about it in a blog, but let's just say, I've had a crisis in Faith mostly because I was recovering myself, and then this 600 pound Ape man landed in the Oval Office.  I plan to out live the damage or at least be around long enough to help others do so.

There, I've said my bit.  The first hundred years are the hardest, I am told. 

You will all be happy to know that the Torts are all up and enjoying the weather and the sun..

This is little Dusty,
who is not allowed to roam around on his own.  

Now for something pretty.....

Sun Flare rose.
  This tiny florabunda has at least 50 rosebuds on it.

Speaking of Pretty.....I'd also like to say that I've come to like our new First Lady.  She's an Intelligent and kind person whom I can truly admire.

See you when I have something else to report on the knitting.  Take care and stay safe.

Thankful Thursday: Stop BLM's Plan to Double Off-road Traffic in West Mojave; Also Obama's attack on the Endangered Species Act.

I am thankful for the small army of activists and the Organizations that keep their eyes on issues and don't let anyone build smoke screens about important Environmental problems...


Stop BLM's Plan to Double Off-road Traffic in West Mojave

Want more?  Obama, for whatever reason, has been busily weakening the Endangered Species Act.

Read more about this from a PDF from the Center for Biological Diversity:

PDF called Cutting the Safety Net

To all the people willing to fight off road vehicles to save habitat for the endangered California Desert Tortoise, you have my heartfelt thanks.

Never think someone out here doesn't care that you give so much of your time and talents to this good fight.

Shame on you Mr. Obama.

Tuesday tails... Mother Dove on nest under the shade patio; the tort report; Sweet Wolfie; Knitting Report UPDATED; Seahorse that imitates seaweed.

Mother Dove, this morning...

The big torts are soaked* and have been let loose in the garden.  These pictures are from summer before last summer... Last summer the snaps are from in front of the garage and not nearly as interesting, artistically.  You know, all cement and cement colored shells.  Very DULL!  Their noted weights are from right after hibernation last week.

* this means that they get put into trays of warmish water, and let drink as much as they like.  They absorb water through their skins at the same time that they drink.  This operation in Tortoise care takes the place of coming out of burrows in the desert in Spring and all piling into big puddles that form when a cloud bursts.

Lucky weighs 9 and a half Pounds
but this little boy, a 23 year old from October 1991, is growing very fast.  He will easily be bigger than his Dad or Mother.  Yes, I finally did the math.

Sweet, Old Brown-eyed Churchy
weighing in at 9 and 7/8th Pounds
approximately 65 years old, give or take

Poko Ono - weight: 10 and 7/8ths Pounds
approximately 56 years old.  She was approx. 23 years old
when we got her from Project Wildlife.  

Baby Torts!

This February.  No weight yet.  I'll weigh them and plug it in.
They are too small to hibernate so we feed them all winter.  They are now out in their little cage in the garden, if they haven't dug out.  We may find other babies out there because a neighbor now has one that came through to HIS garden from ours.

Last but not least, the Wolfie report:

Wolfie has re-learned to whine when he wants anything, and if ignored long enough, he does a tiny growl.  Jazzie did this little growl, too.  I'm not sure how dogs learn this but they certainly do!
HERE IS A PAGE from the Daily Pup that explains what it all means.

I think this sweet, little dog was very suppressed when we got him.  He absolutely did not bark or growl for two weeks - until Halloween - two weeks after he came to our home.  At the pound, the only sound we heard from him at all, was a tiny whine when he looked at the door to the rear of his cage, as if to say, "Please rescue me from these people."  We were offering him treats of dog food and trying to coax him to the wire fence.

At the time, we were alone in the room full of cages, just outside the enclosure where he was being kept, and he obviously wanted someone to come through that door and save him.  This made me think that whomever had previously had possession of his little Self had him de-barked, or taught him not to bark.

Adorable Wolfie, Santa Cruz, 2012

Updated Knitting Report:  Though I thought the left front was finished, it isn't.  I have to decrease for the arm syce.  When it's fully done (!!!!) I'll do a snap.  I'll be casting on for the Right Front tonight tomorrow morning; then there will be a test run of a sleeve, in the round, on hat needles.  Everything depends on what my hands can stand.

A Seahorse at Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Little Tricksters

Have a great Evening!

Tuesday Tails. Tort Report, and Rabbit Dressage.. almost

The big torts have been put to bed, as we expect, drum roll, a biggish rainstorm tonight after which it will be officially, The Wet.

One year, sometime before 1980 when it wasn't so dry, we left Pappa Churchie out too long because we couldn't find him. He had dug himself a tunnel.  We figured that wherever he was, it was ok.  That mindset lasted until we got about 4 inches of rain in a couple of back to back storms. A few days later, I found him after a thorough search over and under everything in the side yard and back 40.

There he was, bind the little deck, over an arm's length deep, and buried in water and mud.  I dug in after him for a ways and then just jammed my arm all the way in to get a hold on one of his back feet.  I pulled him the rest of the way out of his Subway to Heaven, sodden but still alive.

Since then, we put all three of them in their little heat regulated garage well before there is any danger of either frost- don't laugh, it happens even here in sunny SoCal- or rain.  Churchie weighed in at 10 pounds, exactly the weight he was after hibernation-actually it's torpor- this year.  Poko Ono lost a little bit and weighed 11, and Lucky, their fair eyed son, at 10.75 and gained about two pounds.

He's a growing boy!   He now weighs more than his Daddy but not quite as much as his Mamma.  I think he is going to be a lot bigger when he's done growing.

The two babies, though they are three or mqaybe four years old - i forget - will stay out and running around on good days, and be sheltered on the days that would freeze a brass monkey.

The Kids, chowing down on watermelon this early summer.  The brick end is a size indicator, being 3 inches wide.

Milagro, the whopper, on the left, Dusty on the right.

You're going to like this!  Look at the red and white caution crossing signs on the uprights there....

Wordless Wednesday: Fall: 2014 Tortoise Egg- infertile

Tuesday Tails, some wings actually- and a sort of tort report

Taken Yesterday evening

A Fritillary Butterfly has found it's way back into the now nearly dead patch of white Geranium.  I wish it luck!

The tortoises produced babies this year but we can't find any of them.  I guess they won't survive very well through what can be brutal winters but one did make it's way to a neighbor's house and now, to the delight of his two little kids, they have a pet about the size of a walnut.  I wish the other babies as much good luck.

In 1991 I found seven baby torts by going out early in the morning and looking for them as they emerged from the rockwall into the sun.  Mostly, the nests hatch around the end of September.  We didn't even know one had been laid!  I'm not looking for anymore babies because they may be in the tall grass and I don't want to step on one.

Tomorrow one of the eggs that didn't hatch but which a predator left under a rosebush is the Wordless Wednesday photo.  The eggs are beautiful things, almost round.  Though the shell is rough it looks a lot like a glowing moon in the low rays of late afternoon light.

Enjoy your week.  

Tuesday Tails, Baby tort report, bits of knitting blah blah, Accidental Art, Drawing blah blah

Next week I want to share a story about three animals friends that Pina sent me, but I can't figure out, in my slightly addled and timid (meaning not bold) state, how to capture and present the story in a blog format.  It's a gorgeous story of what happens when babies grow up together.

Tort Report:  Milagro and Dusty discovered the "Hand of Human" had thrown something Yummy into their path.  This is the first time they've ever had watermelon rind and they tucked right in!  The older torts got more but it was given them farther away so that they wouldn't come and horn in to the little ones' feast.


Some very teensy "fish" provided this Fisheye view of South America, or maybe it's Africa.  That must be it.  Anyway, I think of this process, too, as feeding the wildlife but they better stay out of my books!:

This has been Lomished, Cross Processed
and to think the artists were actually fish.
Silver Fish. hehe

Optometrists, avert your eyes.. the pupil is oblate!

I'm working on the pink Stardust sweater today.   I'm determined to have it finished by November. It's for Elle, and she's waiting not quite as long as Gee but long enough.  The Manly/Beastly sweater is awaiting sleeves so maybe I'll just chicken out and knit them before finishing the body front and back on straights.  I know there are instructions somewhere for this maneuver but where????

And I'm reading the last of Gail Tsukiyama's book, The Samurai's Garden.  This beautifully paced book about everyday life while recovering from tuberculosis in a small village in Japan is just what I need right now.  I'm recovering, too.  There's just enough intrigue going on to make it interesting.  There is some sort of surprise coming and I hope it's not a bad thing.

Enjoy the Week!

Something Beautiful on Monday, Tort, Knitting,and Organizing Reports.

Talk about gorgeous stuff!   The last time I saw this sort of carving was at Cabrillo College at the Saturday Farmer's Market.

From  HERE which I just found!
This carved melon is just one of the many Objet d'Art that are at this gorgeous site!

I found color pens yesterday, a whole box of them.  Some are actually still good- So Shocking to find that they are!  Usually they die within weeks of being purchased!

Elle, I will start making some sort of art with them. There is so little I can sketch quickly that's just laying around; perhaps I'll sketch clothes pins or something -Bottles of Bleach, Dish Detergent?  Maybe your Dad?  Anyway,  I've been so indoctrinated into realism that it's terribly hard for me to do the beautiful things that come out of your imagination, though I have in the past done semi-abstract oils.  In another life, that is.

*Sighs and looks into the distance.*  I regret nothing; I just see the income stream flowing away from me. hehehe

Organizing report:  Today I mean to get down some storage bins, each stuffed with snippets of sorted-by-color fabrics for quilt making.  I cannot fit more things into that room but still want to put away and organize the waxworks - a costco flat box of the stuff I make wax hearts and fire starters with. Getting that little eyesore stowed away - but plainly labeled - will give my self esteem a big boost! 

Knitting Report:  I got out the sweaters and shook out the moths.  Just kidding!  There are none.  Happily this is true - so far.  The Manly Sweater is through up to the shoulder shaping on two needles, which I fear.  I don't know what to do if the twists for the multitudinous blasted CABLES fall the the wrong side.  I'm suffering agonies over trying to insure that THAT can of worms does not pop open on me.  The little pink silk sweater for Elle should give me no problems.  I know, I'm asking for trouble just saying this!

Tort report:  Speaking of Watermelon:  The babies, Milagro and Dusty,  were introduced to watermelon, and do they love it.  Their parents, Poko Ono and Churchy, and their big brother, Lucky, all chase us down in hopes of having more, more, more! 

The big torts have had some rinds nearly every summer since we've had them around.   We got another melon the other day, and they will, indeed, get more before summer is through.  This time I'll get pictures of chowtime with the Torts.  Otherwise all of them subsist on grasses, dried grasses, and elm leaves from "The Tree That Will Not Die", a root of an Elm we once enjoyed the shade of.  We've kept said root around just for the torts, a healthy big sprout near the fence that bursts forth every spring with long, willowy stems filled with leaf buds. 

Elm leaves are better than lettuce to the torts.  We do, however, keep all tortoises out of range of the tomato plants which have a habit of languidly reaching down over the giant tub and tempting passing herbivores.  Well, our herbivores cannot eat them without going toe up.  So, tomato plants are a no no, tomatoes they CAN eat.  In fact, sometimes the adults mistake my painted nails for tomatoes.

All you readers out there who have read this far, thank you!  I hope that you have a calm, reflective, and restorative week of evenings, days,  and "walking with beauty all around you"  moments.  May your happiest memories flood into your mind and give you Peace.    Blessings!

Monday shell sketch for Elle; Mystery Rock; Tort report: bits of knitting blah blah

This little bitty sea snail shell proved harder to sketch than I thought.

 But here it is, E.

I'm starting to get back some drawing mojo but not the skills it takes to do something that takes days.  I guess that comes with time.  Time also heals broken hearts and for that I'm grateful.  Art was always something I could go away with a sketchbook, a few pencils and my Collie, Shadow, and spend a day in the mountains around Forest Home and Oak Glen.  There were cattle up there and they do a lot of standing around, so easy subjects. hehe  There's a little bit of memory lane for ya.

Here's the mystery rock:

I think it's a 500 million year old piece of coral that I picked up somewhere along the way from "there" to "here".   It's probably off a roadway in the desert, since a lot of fossils from the layers in cuts for freeways end up as gravel and go to pave gravel roads in the desert.  Now that will give some unlucky Paleontologists something to ponder in the future!

Tort Report:  The little guys have been spending summer days, when it doesn't go over 90° outside, in their enclosure.  They now are protected by a completely enclosed pen.  They seem to like it out there and eat a lot of roses and leaves with their grass and dried grasses.  They need the dry grass for roughage, sort of the way we need our bran flakes. hehe

Knitting report: Ah.....Knitting -  the sock toe is straightened out but there are a few too many stitches on a couple of needles.  I've decided not to care a lot.   I don't care, I don't care, I don't care!  One of my feet is bigger than the other anyway.

Tuesday Tails... or how to torture yourself daily...

Picture source

I want one of these- one to go with Wolfie.  I'll take really good care of her, I promise!

I've found a sudden interest in Area 51.  Got the Documentaries, web pages, the book by Annie Jacobson, got a blog...  I'm set!  Mr. Z and I have seen an UFO while we stood in our front yard in 1970, so I want to know more!

Tuesday is also ceramic day but there is nothing to report.  

Tort report:  The "twins" are spending lots of time during the last few days outside but they have a special enclosure to protect them from anything that might want to make a little meal of them.  A Crow can still pick them up and fly away with them.  Well, a crow could get Dusty who is whimpy sized compared to Milagro, who is more like a Big Mac.  I will take a picture of their Zoo enclosure tomorrow and try to post it soon.  It's nothing fancy but it does give them a chance to live in the tall grass for a little excitement.

Music Monday, Brian McKnight and Josh Groban; "Bridge Over Troubled Waters"

Crank up the sound!  This one will fill your heart and make you feel better.



The Tort Report:

Last summer, this was taken of the two green eyed torts, enjoying a treat of summer corn.  On the left is Lucky, the son, and on the right, his Mama, Poko Ono.

And a few days ago, the little babies, who will never be let hibernate until they are about six years old, where trying to get back out of their indoor quarters and out to the lovely green grasses they had enjoyed eating just a few days ago when we were having days with temperatures in the high 70's.

Sadly, then came cold days and nights so they are once again, trapped in the strange and barren land of a cardboard box, with only twice daily deliveries of Dandelions by "The Blue Eyed Guy with Big Front Legs" to break the monotony of it all.

Dusty the Small is on top of Milagro The Large, and I think the deal they've cut is that if he can get out, he will pull her over the edge to freedom.  Dusty likes me to pet his little head, which is about all the affection that a tortoise can stand.  They do NOT like tummy rubs, unlike Wolfie who absolutely measures his self worth by how many he gets per day and how long they last.

Have a great week.  And, I will be reading all of Sunday Stealing respondents tomorrow after beating myself into a stupor at the local gym.

Saturday Funday... Mochimochi cuties, Tort report, Skywatcher post

After Yesterday's "Five Minutes", I just wanted (needed) to be lighthearted.   I don't think I'm letting my hair that far down again, nor will I be making any more trips down Nightmare Lane anytime soon. 

This is a long strip of photos featuring MochiMochi's adorable tiny creations, knit and, I think, crochet from time to time.  Enjoy the tour...

Snowman Friends

This is the Mutts Cartoon from yesterday.  I'm making a link because it's too cute to pass up.  My sister's cat is a notable table sitter!  In fact, if a table were to be made that was only six inches square, that cat would be sitting on it.  He also tried to sit on a set of shelves on year and knocked down a plate that my sister treasured.  The cat was lucky to live, let me tell you, and EVERYTHING in the house is now glued down with museum hold.  This is smart for people with radical cats, and also for people who live in the "Quake Zone".

THE LINK

Skywatcher Post:  Summer 2013, by the Bay.

On a strange stormy day last summer, this cloud curled back on itself into a ring.

Tort Report:

We promised the DDs that we would let the baby torts out into the warm sun every day.  This picture was taken last summer.  But when the kids were here, they took Milagro and Dusty out every day.   Today we went to my sister's house so the torts didn't get to go outside to romp in the grass, which is considerably greener than in this snap last summer.  They are eating rose petals.

But, a tortoise of every size needs to eat dry grass, and will eat quite a bit of it if left to their own choices.  I love that they keep the "lawn", which is just Devil grass, mowed around the stones in the raised bed.  It saves having to clip it with a tool.

One other thing the torts  love to "mow" is Day Lilies, and I don't find that so amusing.  We will have to move the tiny pinks in order to keep them from being "trimmed" again this year.  They are just too beautiful to lose.  The other, bigger, day lilies are history.  They never had a chance once Poko Ono decided that they made the perfect hiding place for her eggs one year.  And then another year the other ones received her bountiful gifts for digging deep holes into root balls.

The Pinks, before they were mowed down -again- by the Torts

Good night!  It's just past midnight, and I'm rambling!  Again!  Enjoy the weekend! 

Tuesday Tails. USGS Video of a desert tort hatching..... And our back yard Dove Machine does it again!

Milagro, tucked up closely to her big brother, Lucky,  went walk about a couple of days ago, and she is smart enough to not let us ever see her even though we've looked high and low for her.  There is more than enough out there for her to eat.  But I hope we can catch her before the cold nights start. 

Lucky, on the left, and Poko Ono share a rare treat of corn on the cob

 

This next video is from the USGS which is doing an extensive study in the Mohave Desert, and is raising as many wild babies as they can.  I  know how hard this is, as the same predator that picked up Lucky and dropped him into a flower pot those twenty odd years ago, has decimated the wild Gopher tortoise population in the Mohave.  Anyway,  here's a bunch of eggs they collected and one of the cute little torts hatching out of an egg in the research facility.



And, not to leave their close relatives, the birds, out of this tale of tails, here is a snap of our local mourning dove and her two babies tucked up into a space under the shade patio.  We delayed working on new covering because that darn dove never stops raising babies there!  I guess we'll do it in November.

The light through the shade cloth really makes lovely patterns on the doves and the wood. 
The other chick is just visible under the mother dove, and you can see the head and bill in the shadows behind her, and a tiny tail end sticking out the other side of Mama.

This morning the Towhee's brought their babies to forage and drink water.  They are a sweet family of four.   No pictures though.   I surprised Mother taking a bath so didn't want to cause more problems for the family!

I'm going to be knitting, and also painting ceramics today.  I'm not knitting half that I should be!  I blame crossword puzzle mania!  I'm addicted!

Have a good one.  Sweet Dreams!

Saturday Komeekz, Saturday skies, some baby torts and the big ones, too. August Happiness Challenge

August Happiness Challenge:

Read the story HERE about a Marine who helped this little guy finish a 5K race.   

This made me very happy when DH sent it to me on Friday
but I already had a Friday the First Happiness post!

Blog Maintenance report:

I accidentally published this post out of sequence, a consequence of trying to rush through it all...BUT, you can now use "revert to draft", get it back off the blog, and then finalize your scheduling of it.   This will put the post back into the queue.  Who knew?

At least that is how I did it.  I thought I'd lose the whole long post but took a chance of Revert to Draft option that is along side the Publish button from time to time. 

 Saturday Komeekz:

Poor little Grimmy.  He just wanted to bite the mailman! heehee

Saturday Skies:

Taken two weeks ago at Carlsbad Beach on the way home

Tort Report:
When the girls were here, they took about 700 pictures of the tortoises.  These are a few of them

Big Brother Lucky and Littlest Brother, Dusty share a rose.  

We don't actually know if the smaller two torts are males but the odds are that they are.  Their shells may start fanning out to indicate females but so far that hasn't happened.  They are three years old and you really can't tell, it is said, until they are over 10 years old.  Big Brother Lucky is the only blue eyed baby, so far.  He's probably 25 years old now, being born in 1990 or so

This picture is for the scale of the babies:

The Hose is one of the fatter types

62 year old Churchy rests his chin. 
When I was going through my mothers Polaroids, I found a picture of him when we first found him.
My sister was four years old in the picture, and so was he!

Churchy and Dusty.  Churchy didn't try to bite the babies, just sniff them.
Poko Ono, however, tried to bite them.  She wanted nothing to do with them.

Churchy, left, and Lucky, right.  They are always sparring

Poko Ono and her baby, Milagro. 
Poko Bopped her head at the babies, and chased them away.  Funny Mama!

Last we have Gee with the little dog who thinks he's a human baby.
He kicks is feet and loves to lay back in someone's arms, ALL the time.  He's so spoiled!  hehehe

R and Wolfie.  R would like to have her own baby
so she practices by holding Wolfie
and any other baby like objects that she can get her hands on.

Friday Catchup including August Happiness Challenge

heehee

Since I so miss the Friday fill-in, I thought maybe I'd console myself - blogs are so "meme" anyway - with a  catch-up day. on Friday.   So this is what it will be going on until something else infinitely better comes along.

Ceramics report:
The kiln was fired last week, and this week we found that some interesting things had happened.

I got this: 

One side

Top-absolutely perfect

This delicate little heart box was to be a gift for my sister but, as you see, it didn't turn out quite right.  People in my club (including DH) said to treat it like an "Art Glaze"- and presumably rejoice in/at the serendipitty of it all.

But, since it represents an unfortunate incompatibility of the under-glaze and the clear top glaze, there is a problem.  One side came out perfectly but the top and other side didn't.   This means the whole thing could happen again!  Not good!

 I think I'll make two pieces out of it, drilling holes to hang the top, as a Valentine's Day wall decoration(there is a lip that I can drill that won't show from the front).  The bottom can become  a little box on the wall with a small bird's nest's receptacle in the bottom point, with some crafted birds and tiny eggs inside it.   In this way I can hide the side that came out right- there is so little of it.   It's such a disappointment but then, I don't like the newer under-glazes because they are showing themselves to be unreliable.  Note that the top came out beautifully.

And, these three, below, I am much happier with.  When they came out of the kiln I set them all down on the counter together, and it seemed like the Puff deer just couldn't believe her eyes about what she was seeing!  So, I took their picture - in that pose - when we got them all home.

"Are those Easter Eggs?", she asks.

And, yesterday, on the way to the clinic, I finally got some pictures of the Inukshuk  along the freeway.  We were traveling 65 mph so I think the camera did a fine job of it, yes?

See how many you can see.

And more, further on down the road.

Just a little joy spread for the amusement of the people stuck in freeway traffic, but beware.  You don't want to rear-end anyone, yaknow?

August Happiness Challenge:

It makes me happy just to blog and forget about the world.  That is a very big deal when you are my age, being able to forget about the world for a few minutes each day.  My friend G says to remind myself, when I'm anxious, that what is going on in my head "is just a thought".



Have a great weekend!

Tuesday Tails... Tort Report

Milagro met her mother a couple of days ago, and was introduced to roses as a treat.  She was not intimidated at all by the size difference and bobbed her head at Poko Ono, in challenge.

Poko just ignored Milagro and kept right on eating.

I had earlier given them both drinks of water after filling the bird bath:

The next morning, I was watering the shade patio plants, and the Lucky and his dad, Churchy, who know each other well as sparring partners, came down from the hill for a big drink.

Lucky is in the front, and Churchy is just almost out of the frame to the rear.

Tortoises love to get wet and to drink up the puddles left in summertime when I water.  In the wild, if there is a rain storm, tortoises will come from all around and just PILE into the resulting pools of a desert rain storm in Spring and Summer. 

It's really been hot here, up around a 100 or more degrees.

This next picture really gives a good view of the difference in a male tortoise's shell.   They curve down at the tail end very distinctly.

Dusty and Milagro spend a little time outside in an enclosure but with temperatures up so high, we can't let them stay too long.  The big torts all have dug tunnels into the earth so that they can cool down.  We can't let the two babies do that or we'd never see them again.  I remember catching seven of them one year, after we discovered Lucky overturned in a flowerpot, dropped there by a crow.  That poor little fellow, no bigger than a half a walnut, was walking crookedly for several years after that!

His sisters and brothers I caught by getting up very early and watching for them to reveal themselves as they came out of their hiding places in the rock wall.  So fun, having these pets but also a pain in heart because they are not easy to raise and must spend several years awake and eating just to get them large enough to survive.    A friend has two of them so with Lucky, that is only three that survived to grow up out of the seven. 

Hope you enjoyed this Tuesday Tails.  Wolfie has read this and approves of the content.  hehe

DH is reading something to me:  I am warning you.  Please don't you be eating what has been just announced as the worst fast food in America.   It's called a Big Catch.  It is a big, deep fried fish piece, and comes with deep fried hush puppies and onion rings.  Sounds yummy to me!  hehe..

It weighs in as calories at 1,320, which is no more than a Big Mac, fries and a shake, but this thing is a  60/40 split of fish and greasy batter.  Still sounds yummy to me!  I'd better go eat some carrot sticks!