Thursday, September 23, 2010

Eat. Graze. Poop.

My tortoise mom dragged my tortoise dad to a movie, and then talked about what a tortoise version of it would be: "Eat. Graze. Poop." Yep, that's what we tortoises do. There's no mad search for anything but treats coming through the patio door, and enjoying our own backyard. And then of course, there's the end product. Ahem. We like to do that by the patio door. A lot. I guess it's just what happens while we're waiting for the "drive-up window" to open and our tortoise mom magically appears with our favorite salad for the day.

We've been really tanking up this week. When the temperature drops even a little and it feels a little stormy, we come out of the burrow earlier in the afternoon because we don't have to escape the heat like usual. So we've really been putting away the groceries. In the process, we've been hanging around the patio door a lot. Tortellini is especially good at using her shell to "knock" on it. But she's the acrobatic one. She managed to flip herself over this week from trying to climb the fence. She has always done that so my tortoise mom is always checking on us, especially when we're more active just prior to hibernation. September is a busy month for us. We don't need a calendar to tell us that Fall started yesterday.



You'll notice the my tortoise version of the movie isn't "Eat. Soak. Poop." Sorry, Dr. Johnson, I still hate soaking!!! But I'm first out when it rains, or I drink when the sprinklers fill the tree well. What can I say, I like fresh, running water. So I even sat in the lawn sprinklers to get a big drink the other day. I know I need to get big drinks to flush my bladder so I won't get another bladder stone. And I'll have my annual check-ups so if I do get one, it won't be a boulder and require major surgery and a whole year (and counting) of recovery. So, ok, I'll grit my beak and soak. If I have to. I guess.