Remember these!!!!

My tortoises have been out of hibernation for a couple of weeks but it's not been warm enough to put them outside yet. I'm trying to get them to eat but we still have a problem with one of them who always suffers from mouth infection. So tomorrow she is going to the vet; will probably have vitamin injection and antibiotics. I expect they will keep her a few days and it will be another huge vet bill.... the down side of caring for elderly pets!

Day 10 Winter Quarters!

Yesterday was a dull wet day and the weather forecast suggested there might be a frost overnight so I thought it was time to put these little ones to bed.

I use shredded paper to make a comfy nest and they each have their own container.

Once they are covered over with the paper  the lids go on and hopefully they will go to sleep.

They sit on top of shelving. The vet says that in this country we should not really hibernate them for more than a few weeks. However this only works if you have all the heat lamps to keep them really warm and then they will go on eating. Unfortunately mine have to take pot luck. They stopped eating several weeks ago and they haven't come out of their house for several days. As for the frost ...it got much colder last night but no frost and the sun is out today!!!  Oh well Happy Hibernation Topsy, Tog and Tom see you all in the Spring.

Day 8 Did you know!!!!

Wonder how many people know that tortoises have their own unique fingerprints... actually I should say shell print!
I only learned this last year and whilst I knew their markings were different I didn't realise the significance!

These are not the best shots, but it does illustrate what I mean.

They do not really like being on their backs and I didn't want to cause them too much stress. So for now these are their passport photos!

Day 4 = Fun Monday=A favourite Flower

I am struggling a bit to post about my favourite plant at this time of the year my garden is looking rather bleak. I had to get rid of all my indoor plants last year (long story) and my back garden only has one little bit of colour. We had storms all day yesterday so I couldn't even get into the garden to take any pictures. We have some sun today so I just rushed out and took a photo of the pots of chrysanthemums that I look at from my kitchen window. I do love to see some colour but they will probably only last a few more weeks.

Now if you were to ask my tortoises what their favourite plant was they would not hesitate!!!

Well that's me done for today. Will be visiting you all later!

Who is enjoying the sunshine.....

The recent warm weather has brought my tortoises out of hibernation. Here is Tom enjoying the sunshine, Tog was hiding when I took this picture and Topsy has gone to the vet.
Topsy woke up with her usual problems and needs antibiotics and vitamins to give her a kick start! She is now an elderly lady being around 58 years old-I think I've mentioned in previous posts we got her when my youngest daughter was 9 months old, and the vet estimates she was probably 15-20 yrs old at that time.
It's going to cost a fortune as she'll be there until after Easter. After initial treatment I usually continue with the daily bathing, eye drops and hand feeding; unfortunately I'm off to spend a few days with Beccy next week so there will be no one to act as nursemaid!

Fun Monday

I dropped off the radar as far as Fun Monday and blogging in general was concerned. After I did a random FM post by myself last month and Jill commented that there was to be a summer break, yesterday something drew me to finding out if there was a challenge. Imagine my surprise when I checked out Sayre Smiles to see she had set us this task:=

What is a typical day for you? Follow yourself around for one day and make note of what you do and when. It can be a workday, a weekend day... whatever you want.

Well this got me thinking (yes I still have a little of the grey matter working!)
It suddenly occurred to me that I will have been retired FIVE years at the end of this month-where has the time gone and what do I do with myself as I never seem to have enough hours in the day to get all the simple tasks completed.

So down to one of my days (I warn you it is very very boring so I shan't mind if you leave now)....Lets take yesterday well it's recent so I won't have forgotten anything! Embee was away over night in Great Yarmouth so the house was quite peaceful no sport blaring on the TV or channel hopping...wonderful!

I got up around 8am, you might think that is quite late, but it was Saturday so I treated myself to a little lie in. First thing I did was go to the local Tesco to collect the daily papers, on the way I met a neighbour and had a little chat. One of the papers was giving away a free CD (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis JR) my kind of easy listening--- reminder to self...load it into itunes!

Having loaded the washing machine, I prepared my usual breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and fresh fruit I sat at the computer to catch up on Facebook. Yes I'm hooked on some of the games so had to keep the cafe and farm going, take my turn at scrabble and lexulous (I play with some of my blogging buddies and one of my daughters).

Next task was to make the soda bread so Embee would have something for his Sunday morning breakfast. After this a few chores I won't go into details, you don't want to hear about cleaning bathrooms, making up beds, vacuuming etc but it all has to be done. Laundry put out to dry hoping the rain would stay off long which luckily it did.

My coffee break taken at the computer however did we manage before the age of computers!!!!

Some of you will know that my mother lives with us and recently she has become very frail, after a few falls. This has resulted in me having to cook her lunch every day and she likes it on the dot of 12MD. Yesterday was a simple meal- fish, mashed potatoes and broccoli-followed by apple pie and a cup of tea.

Quick salad wholemeal pitta bread for my lunch and a browse of the paper.

Spent a little time in the garden feeding tortoises, picking beans and enjoying a little sunshine which wasn't out for very long.

Then tried to tune in a new radio for my mother (she will insist on fiddling the knobs so as you can imagine this is problematic) I thought the solution would be a radio that had push buttons for the few stations that she listens to. I found one that gave an option for only 4 channels and a favourite button. It was a bit of a slow process going through all the channels so decided to leave it for Embee to do when he got home and would you believe she still manged to mess it up even with so few buttons and a heart on her fave :(

In the evening I watched TV I'm a huge tennis fan and we had a Brit playing in the semi-finals (disappointing Andy Murray lost but he played well and fulfilled his ranking status). We did rather better in the boys singles a Brit did become champion, knocking out the world number one. So well done to Oliver Golding.

Oh and as Embee didn't need a meal when he got home I was able to have a jacket potato (he's not too keen on these now me I love them) with fresh beans and fish.

What a humdrum life I'm leading. When I read of all the exciting things other people manage to achieve I know why I've lost the motivation to blog. However on the plus side I'm off to San Fransisco next month so hopefully I'll have some pictures to share and some stories to tell when I get back!!

Wonder how Embee and my mother will get on by themselves might be some more blogging material there.

Just to finish off a picture of my tortoises actually taken when they cam out of hibernation and now they are winding down getting ready for another long winter. I sometimes wish I could hibernate and wake up in the spring.

Are we fit for hibernation!!

Yesterday the tortoises were enjoying some September sunshine, as you can see from the photo below. This is a pose you've seen before and one of their favourite spots at this time of the year as they can catch the sun.....

Today they were being examined to make sure they are healthy....

They allowed their mouths to be inspected. All three were said to be in good health...

Then it was time to get them weighed........

Just to make sure they have gained enough to see them through their winter hibernation....

Finally they get measured....

All was well but they do get quite stressed being taken out of their home environment...how do I know...lets just say I had a lot of poopy newspaper to clear up...LOL

Archives:
2008: Booze'n'Book
2007: Witty Wednesday-20

Fun Monday # 132 Pets

This week Sayre wants to take a peep at our pets, she says:

I want to see your furbabies. Or scalebabies. Or finbabies. Whatever form your pet takes, I want to see a picture of it/them and hear the story of how it/they came to be a part of your family.

UPDATE: Don't have pets? Share your skin-babies!!!

Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know that the only pets I have are these:



I'm not going to bore again with the story of how we got them. However if you are really interested you will find their story here. I first introduced them not long after I started blogging back in 2006. They have featured in at least 24 of my posts since then.


I also write endlessly about my family which I love to bits so I have to include a repeat picture of my grandchildren.

I lost my 'furbaby' sixteen years ago she was a beautiful dog (collie/labrador cross), a faithful friend and I have never tried to replace her. She was called Tamsie, she loved the beach and any kind of water, as you can see from the old photos, below.

That's me finished for this week.

POSTSCRIPT:
If no one has any objections I'll host next week.  Yesterday as I wrote my post I had a 'eureka moment' and though this could be a topic we haven't covered before!
Our good friend Willowtree says he might even join in so that's another good reason for me to  host. AND the topic will be 'Shopping bags'.


Here in the UK we are being encouraged to stop using plastic bags so for the last couple of years I have been developing my shopping bag collection.
So 'what type of shopping bag do you favour'-plastic or material? How many do you use.  You could even show us what's in your  bag!

If you fancy this topic please let me know by leaving a link in the comments. I haven't ever tried setting up a linking system so it will be the old way for me.

Archives:

2008: Corfu-Kerkyra New Fortress
2007: Brotherly Love

Caught in the act

Yesterday as I arrived home from a trip to the dentist with my mother (she now has teeth that actually fit so she has no excuse for not wearing them!) I got out of the car and immediately noticed Tog nibbling away at the overhanging sprouting plants.

Naturally as a dedicated blogger I whipped out my camera, thinking the perfect shot for a short Saturday post.Oh and in case you think she's very clever, the holey pattern in the leaf is the artwork of the Cabbage White caterpillars!
Have a great weekend. Embee is out for the day and I've agreed to take my friend to the cash and carry I must be mad on a Saturday when it will be busy.

Archives:
2008: Slives Portugal-3
2007: Witty Wednesday-12

Tog had a long labour

Yesterday when I returned from grocery shopping Tog was busy digging a hole so I knew she wanted to lay eggs. Over the past week or so, she had tried several places around the lawn but then given up, mainly because the ground was so hard. The rain of the last couple of days had softened the soil enough for her to dig a fairly deep hole.

I kept running in and out to see how she was doing and then a friend called in for a cup of tea. After my friend left I went back out to the garden to see the tail end of the egg laying so I only got a few seconds of video and it's nothing like as clear as the video I took a couple of years back.


Unfortunately it was a very cold, windy afternoon so the eggs were cooling as soon as they were laid. Tog took several hours to pack them into the ground and then cover them, so no chance of them surviving. What was Tom (father of the eggs) doing while poor Tog was labouring away. He was tucked in a corner paying no attention to the proceedings, as you will see from the picture below.

Archives:
2008: Fun Monday-70 Childhood Memories
2007: Who's your inner European and others for fun

Tom on the prowl + Worm Update

One of my plurk pals wanted to see the tortoises and my worms after I mentioned them in a post. So I decided a short video might be the answer. Tom was charging around, I suspect looking for the ladies, but they were safely surveying him from the comfort of their house.

The worms are look healthy and I have have just added another tray, so I hope they will migrate upwards. It has taken a long time but the earth in the bottom tray is looking back and rich (although does not appear that way in this picture). This suggests they are doing their job. I don't think we are ever going to produce enough compost for the whole garden but even a little helps!I might even get to sit in the garden today as it's lovely and sunny.

Archives:
2008: Super Hero
2007: Quick and Tasty

Tom's in Trouble

I have been defending Tom when EmBee accused him of eating the plants. I have never seen him trying to climb into the raised bed until today and he managed it. He made no attempt to eat the broad bean plants but he did his best to trample them under foot-why because I needed to run and get the camera for a photo shoot!
Personally I still think he was trying to find the shortest route to where I was with the food. I wonder what Turtle Soup tastes like!

Archives:
2008: Friday 40 photo challenge-Sweet Memories
2007: Witty Wednesday-7 Skinny Dipping

My Saturday....

Present:
I had to show you a picture of the lovely handmade chocolates that my grandson's girlfriend gave us (as you may know EmBee is diabetic so he could only try one)-oh dear what a pity I will have to eat the rest!
You might need to enlarge the second photo to see some of the unusual combination of flavours.

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Package:
Yesterday I also had a package arrive from the tour operator, Wendy Wu, who is organising our China trip, I was most surprised to find it contained a leather wallet. Well maybe not leather but it looked like it!
Inside it contained our itinerary, tickets, labels, ID tag and a phrase book, space for cards, pen and a zipper purse. I thought this was a very neat idea and I was very impressed with the company. Maybe this is normal service but it's not something I've experienced before.
Having this arrive makes me realise it's only a week away before I head off to China and I've so much organising still to do.

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Tortoises:
The other thing we did yesterday was take the tortoises for their post hibernation weighing and measuring. Topsy and Tom had both lost just over 4oz over the winter and Tog a little less. Topsy weighs 5.3lbs; Tom 4lbs 15 oz and Tog 3lbs 13oz. They were all deemed healthy so that was good news.
Now look at the little tortoise below it fits in the palm of its owner's hand and is 3 years old.
I bet it doesn't weigh much and it looked so tiny when you compare it to my three or to Eric (below) he is enormous and weighs a whopping 7stone (98lbs). His owner says he eats masses-so is an expensive pet.
The last photo was a small group that were brought in for show.

There were lots of children at the garden centre, where we go, and they were fascinated with all the tortoises. Some had never seen a real one and wanted to touch them. We got talking to a chap who must have been in his 40's and he said they had always scared him as a child. He wanted to get over his fear and he did touch them and said we had done him a service. So I think we did our good deed for the day.

Archives:
2007: Project looking through-2
2007: Why is it that

Escapologist

My cable connection went down this afternoon just as I started to prepare this post. I couldn't get any sense out of the help line (out sourced to India). I spoke to a very nice lady but she couldn't tell me the source of the problem, not could she tell me how long it would take to fix. She did say if it was off for a long time they would give me some compensation for the number of days. That was not very encouraging but as you can see normal service has been resumed and it was only off for about 4 hours.

This made me realise how dependent I have become on my internet and TV cable company which happens to be Virgin. I rely on it to play the radio through the TV and I have this on all day. I keep plurk on all day, delving in and out and I use the internet quite a lot for my blogging. I felt quite lost without it; but I also realise that it is really pathetic to be so reliant on the internet.
Of course I know I could soon get used to being without it and although I would miss all my friends, I might get around to having a cleaner house, I'd soon get through the pile of books waiting to be read. I might even get around to trying my hand at painting (one of the things I planned for my retirement. I haven't even opened the paint box yet!). However, for now I'm just pleased to be back online....but it has made me wonder if anyone else feels the same as me.

Now the post that I intended to write was about Tom, our tortoises who will often spend hours trying to break free.
I think I'll have to rename Tom and call him 'Houdini' he tried climbing over the other two to look over the top of the pen. It's still too cold for them to be outside all the time, which is what he really wants.

Archives:
2008: Livestrong-A Taste of Yellow
2007: He doesn't know he's being watched

Topsy is home from the vets.

Some of you may remember this post when I showed you pictures of the tortoises just after they had come out of hibernation. At that time I was worried about Topsy's mouth infection. I tried to get her mouth clean and get her eating but it became evident that although she wanted to eat her mouth hurt so Embee took her into the vet on Tuesday last and she had a dose of antibiotics, some heat treatment and they allowed her home yesterday. Although her mouth is not completely healed we could not afford to run up a huge vet bill this year, just those few days set us back over £80, so I'm going to continue with twice daily warm baths, cleaning out her mouth and force feeding by hand.

Imagine my delight just now when I got her to eat about 7 peas (may not seem much but it is enough to keep her going). I put her back in the pen with the other two, and gave them some fresh lettuce, dandelions and apple and Topsy immediately started eating some of the lettuce so that is really good.
The trouble is the other two wouldn't leave her alone to feed in peace.
Fingers crossed she will keep improving from now on.

Archives:
2008: Rhubarb
2007: My Dilemma

My tortoises are awake!

It's that time of the year when my tortoises wake up after sleeping for several months. I brought their boxes into the house on Sunday as it's still too cold for them outside. I think Topsy was most wide awake and she is the one who nearly always wakes up with mouth rot. This year was no exception however I decided to see if I could clean up her mouth myself and get her eating before resorting to the vet. She was very good and let me open her mouth and give it a good clean to get all the gunge out and her tongue looked very pink and healthy so I need to monitor daily (we will be taking them for a check up in 10 days but if I feel concerned before then it will be straight to the vet-I'd hate anyone to think I was neglecting their health, but at the same time I don't want to waste money unnecessarily).

I gave them all a bath in warm water and oiled their shells and put them into the large pen that Embee made last year and placed it in the bay window which gets a lot of sunlight in the mornings. You may recall from previous posts about the Trio that they need warmth to make them eat. They are never really interested for a few days, but I did notice a couple of nibbles out of a piece of apple, but didn't see who it was I suspect Tog the smallest one because she had passed fluid which is another good sign. I tried tempting them with dandelions their favourite fodder with no luck.
This morning when I gave Topsy her bath I managed to force feed her about 6 peas, and I know if I can get her to take a few each day this will help keep her going. I am less concerned about the other two and I'm sure they will start eating soon.
Lets hope the weather warms up soon so that they can go outside, but in the mean time this will be their home.

Archives:
2008: Fun Monday-57

Tortoises are still enjoy some sun

I spent a couple of hours outside this morning doing this. I noticed that two of the tortoises were enjoying a little sunshine and I thought I would capture the moment!
Above is Tom and Tog and below is Topsy who for some reason stayed in the house!


Archives:
2007: Just about the worst drawing