Tom and Hybiscus

Tom loves Hybiscus flowers. He will eat the whole flower and lick the ground. We decided a few months ago that these turtles were eating us out of house and home with all the lettuce we had
to buy them so we bought a couple of large Hibiscus plants. At their old home they had lots of grass, a plum and apple tree that dropped a lot of yummy fruit for them. We also had a fruiting mulberry that dropped tons of little purple fruit. Good stuff, made the turtles purple from head to toe.

Now fall is here and the weather is cooling off nicely in the evenings. Turtles are slowing down, getting ready to hybernate. They are not eating very much right now so naturally the Hibiscus is flowering. Beautiful large red flowers. I picked one, the only one, and set it before the master.

Not interested.

What! It's delicious! You love Hibiscus! Try it!

He wouldn't budge.

So I decided to play with my camera. I've never used the macros on it and I thought I'd try it. This was a little tricky because I didn't have my contact in but I managed.

Ooops! Get a little closer Priscilla.
Closer still. . . . Wadya think?
And the flower is abandoned for a tiny strip of sunshine.

Tom and candy

Tom! Again!

See what this is? There are two turtles in this tub. There should only be one. The tub used to be Toms but he manages to climb out from time to time so he got switched to the box. I came home today to find both turtles in the tub. I asked BH why he had put both turtles in the same tub. He didn't. So, how did this happen?















This is how the boxes are in the family room. We know he has tipped the box over before so we gather that he tipped the box toward the tub and climbed in.

The box was in this righted position so we had no idea such activity was going on whilest we were away.

See the magazines to the right and the black bag in front. These were to keep the Tomster from tipping the box.

The tub WAS up against the box to keep him from tipping in that direction.





I had planned on posting my final BPOH today but Blogger in its infiniate wisdom has decided that I shall not upload any pictures at this time. So these were previously uploaded pics for no good reason.


MEXICAN CANDY.

It is getting that time Ladies and Germs when everything I should not be eating becomes an obsession. Some women crave chocolate, which I have and do, but these last few years it's also been chips and wierd things.

One of them is Mexican candy. I love the stuff.

Today I highlight Tamarind Spoons. This gooey sweet and spicy glob is put on cheepie plastic spoons. What is Tamarind you ask? When Blogger gets it's act together I'll post pics. I have no idea how nation wide Mexican candy is, in our global community maybe you can get the stuff all over the world now. Here in lovely Lake Elsinore, a mere 2 hours from the border, I can indulge myself every dang day. Just in the commercial center where I work there are 2 stores where I can feed my habit.

Miscellaneous Friday***Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival

We have this discarded thin decorative mattress/pillow thing. It's too big for the trash so we have sort of left it out. Tom loves it. This is where he tucks himself in for the night. Yes the wet spot is from him. He doesn't seem to mind.

He was a sleepy boy this morning.

Over the weekend we went to the Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival. It is really a lot of fun. At the end they do this thing called a balloon glow. A few years ago they had about 30 balloons all in one place and it was awsome. This time they had 2 groups of 4 at either end of the festival. Not as impressive but still very cool.
The balloon is folded out much like a parachute. See the guy in the blue? He is letting the balloon out slowly holding onto a rope. The tail end of that rope caught his foot sending him accross the grass on one foot. He never got airborne thankfully.
From time to time as they are blowing up the balloon they 'light it up'. This is a giant strawberry. Once it is blown up you can't see that cute green cap.

going up

up

up

They play music games with the balloons lighting up to the music. They also have everyone scream 5-4-3-2-1 and they all light up. It really is a beautiful sight.

Peter Frampton played at the main stage. Music was good. A mix of old and new stuff.

And I got these very cool earrings. Don't you love them? Cheep too! Ten bucks!
Oh I forgot to tell you. BH and I saw the Omen on 6-6-06. Had to. I saw the first one and it scared me so bad. This remake is very much like the original. Nothing flashy. Same story, same ending. No huge special effects. I liked it though. Enough to buy? Mmmm, no, but if you liked the original go see it. It would be fine as a rental as well.

Tom the 'Amazing Escape Turtle'

This is Tom the Amazing

I know he doesn't look all that amazing, but he is. I have had Tom for almost 40 years and in that time he has 'ran away' many times. When we found him he had a little hole drilled in his shell by his leg. We soon discovered why. The darn turtle got out all the time. My dad would tie him up with rope and he would break the rope. Then dad got this super rope, with a little wire in it and tied him up with that. It did not take Tom long to pull free of that. While he couldn't break the rope he did manage to pull the little piece of shell with the hole in it completly off. I've kept that little piece because I thought that was so amazing and didn't think anyone would believe me.



Well this weekend was packed with a whole bunch of family troubles and to top it off Tom managed to escape the fenced yard. Now I knew he would so I had some rocks and bricks stacked in the problem areas but he still managed to find a spot under the fence and got out. This is a big problem. Big Hunk lives on 5 acres. With the recent rains we had the weeds are now about 2' high. There are tons of bushy things and rocks and I couldn't imagine how we would find him. Most of the property isn't fenced and even if it was he'd still manage to get out.

So last night we went outside to bring him in. We keep him in a box. He has managed to spoil the copy machine paper box so now we keep him in a plastic tub with a lid. Mostly off, the lid that is. Yes he climbs up like that all by himself and looks at us pitifully. Anyway we go to look for him and he is nowhere to be found. Nowhere! The fenced yard is not all that big even if it was dark. I looked over the entire fencing and found a bent spot where I am sure he escaped from. Off we go, in the dark to look for this dang turtle that looks very much like every rock on the property. We carefuuly looked around the house and in surrounding bushes. Then I took a little hike down the little road to the mail box. No Tom. I decide to try again at day light. Turtles don't move at night and are a little slow in the cool mornings so I think I have a chance to catch him as he is waking up and moving around.

In the morning I do the same walk around the property. Five acres, we're talking 5 acres of trees, bushes, a ton or more of rocks (did I mention that Tom looks like a rock?) and knee high weeds, probably a rattler or 2, a herd of bunnies, oh and I did catch a coyote this morning in the unfenced yard. I decide not to tralala through the weeds and risk disturbing some dangerous creature. I have my phone number painted on the back of his shell. Eventually someone will find him and give me a call. He's done this before so I was not terribly worried. My sweetie was much more upset. They will be disking the fields pretty soon and he was thinking Tom might get chewed up by the equipment. Yikes! I hadn't thought of that! So off he goes once again to make his rounds. I was getting ready for work when Sweetie knocks at the door with a special delivery. Tom! I was so surprised I could barely talk.

So now Tom is in his plastic tub a lot more often than he cares for. I keep telling him that if he wasn't so naughty he could go out and play. I did let him out a little this morning. I need to really shore up the fence so I can let him out more.