The turtles are absolutely terrified.
I had read that they probably will be for even up to several days worth.
I did not expect them to be THAT mortified, however.
But, thinking about it:
I just took 2 reptiles that were living in a glass aquarium for 4-1/2 years.
Living in an artificial envirnonment in a teenager's bedroom, they knew nothing more
than a log and water. That was ALL that was in that aquarium. There were no plants,
no fish, nothing but water, gravel on the bottom and a log in the middle. I mean - really.
Umm, well I intend on at least trying to put plants in there. They say turtles may - or may not -
eat them.
Well, anyway, I took them out of their box, put them on the dry area I made for them, they just sat there,
looking at me. One of them jumped into the water and went to the bottom. The other did the same.
They wanted nothing to do with me, lol.
I stood there and they were clawing at the side of the pond, apparently trying to get away from me.
I decided to make some hiding places for them so they might settle down a bit - of which they went directly for.
So that's that. I just left them - other things I wanted to do and I figure I will spend more time tomorrow out there and see if they are "coming out of their shells" a little bit.
No, I am sitting here waiting on primary results. Supposedly the first rounds of results will be given out at 8:00pm which is in less than 5 minutes.
ben
9 comments:
behind my new apartment a neighbor has turtles which I can sometimes watch from my 3rd floor. There's a huge pile of dirt with an opening for the turtles to go in.... I see them walking (crawling?) in and out of their "home" often. I can't see if there's a pond for them since a tree blocks my view.
That's pretty cool - there must be a pond cause' they like water and pretty much need a water environment. I haven't quite got the particulars of these creatures down yet, but I'm sure time will help out.
ben
Wednesday
It was virtually guaranteed that McCain was going to beat Hayworth yesterday - even though Hayworth predicted yesterday that he was going to beat McCain in a "landslide victory that will go down in the history books".
I never used to give much credence to polls, but I "came around the corner" and figured they are usually pretty close - in this case, the polls were showing McCain FAR ahead of Hayworth, the polls in this case didn't lie. I'll take McCain over Hayworth ANY day - let Hayworth go sit back at the radio desk and do his little daily talk show.
As for Governor Brewer, I didn't even look at the polls, no brainer: she's going to take it and she did. The Immigration bill that she signed into law made her WILDLY popular in Arizona despite what the loudmouths are saying all over the place. It brought the border, border security and immigration problems back into the limelight and has made it a significant sticking point for the upcoming November elections.
Terry Goddard is Brewer's opponent. I can say one thing with certainty: If Goddard wins in November, I will be wanting to leave the state of Arizona. That may not be feasible or happen, but I won't want to live here under his "leadership". The mas is a FUBAR, and clusterfreak, a walking jumble of nothingness and hot air.
Okay, enough of that. I'll donate $20 to Brewer's campaign fund just to know that I did something to back up my feelings about it. I also voted yesterday - even IF I figured the election was going to turn out as it did with the candidates I am interested in. People who mouth off about how our government is being run but who don't bother to vote? SHUT UP.
Tenants. Always issues with tenants. Well, I came out this morning and found an envelope with my name on it in front of my computer. I knew who that was from and figured what was inside. Money, yes. For being unemployed I'll give her some kudos for coming up with money. She is getting unemployment but child support is deducted from it, leaving not that much left over (and certainly not enough to even cover the weekly rent).
She must like my place or she wouldn't be trying so hard to get the money to stay there. I'm not like a lot of landlords renting rooms who don't want you to have ANYONE over. No boy/girlfriends, no family, no friends, nothing. They give a hard time to their tenants and I imagine that people like to get out of those situations.
I don't care - for the most part - what people do in their bedrooms as long as noise levels are kept down. When noise levels go up, then I start knocking on doors: Please turn down the volume on your activities, the rest of the house does not want to hear about it, thank you.
I mostly do not have to do that. The other lady that I gave the "friendly notice" to, 2 days ago, has not replied and is hiding. She has been in her bedroom and doesn't come out -until I have gone to bed/work/whatever. She IS working so I don't understand the problem here. However, the next notice, which will be delivered tomorrow if I don't get money from her, will not be so friendly, it will be just a blunt, 5-day pay or quit notice. Pay up or get out, plain and simple. She has a large bedroom, satellite tv, access to the internet, room is nice and cool with AC, I am definitely providing a service and I definitely do not overcharge.
So there.
Okay, I tried to see the turtles this morning, but - the sun is coming up later now and it isn't light out that early. Well, I trust they are okay. They are in for another scare, I am guessing, when I come to the pond today and look down in there and see what they're up to. Probably, they will be on the dry area and probably, when they see me, they are going to plop into the water and hide at the bottom. Yes, well, they are going to HAVE to get used to me is all I can say about that.
The 6 new goldfish in other pond seem to be doing okay. Well, they haven't died and don't show signs of dying, so I will hope they are going to survive in there.
Antonio, the smaller goldfish that the family brought over last weekend, is doing quite well in his new environment. He apparently loves the "open space" that a 7 and a half foot long by almost 5 feet pond gives him as opposed to the 10 gallon aquarium he was in. In fact, that pond is doing so well I am going to hate to "shut it down" when the time comes to get that big pond going.
I will transfer the water from that pond into the big pond - fish and plants as well. Then I will have to decide what I want to do with that one. I am thinking that it isn't all such a bad idea that maybe one of these ponds just stays an above ground setup - and that one seems the perfect one to do it with.
The issue - besides digging out that hard ground - is what to do with all that dirt. That is a larger pond and will also prove to be a difficult task to find a good place to put the dirt and not have the area I am putting it in look - bad. So, I'm thinking of moving it from where it is, yes, but put it somewhere up against the side of the house and start anew with it.
Well, that's enough for one entry. There is, again, nothing in our truck routing system, which really is no fun at all. There is something for tomorrow in there, yes, but that doesn't help with today. It will be a long seven and a half hours is all I can say about that.
G'day.
ben
I moved a snapping turtle off the ramp (Sand Road) in Ocracoke. I put it back in the marsh. Boy, he was happy to get away from me...
that's nice you've given those turtles a better home. I hate seeing animals in little cages.
Bobby: ROFL, I'll be that turtle was "unloading" bricks in fear!
Anon - I had an extra pond, they wanted a good home, I figured to give it a try and see what happens. So far - they are still totally terrified of me and I think the only thing that's going to help change that is frequent visits.
ben
Thursday
Apparently I forgot when I got home yesterday from work to post that morning's post from this comments section to it's own post.
Oh well. The only reason I do it this way now is because I don't always feel like writing in the afternoon and now I can't log into my Blogger account at work, soooo, this is the only remedy.
Anyway, I guess my notices worked because the other tenant - of whom I was prepared to hand a 5-day notice today and already it had it prepared and ready to go - handed me over the rest of the rent.
Apparently, her paying me the rent is on her time, not mine. I have to wait every 2 weeks for her to get paid. So, the rent that is due on the 1st won't get paid until the 8th.
We got to talking. She wants to go to college and went to some community college over in Gilbert. Her parents and her both decided it was too far away. I suggested a community college that is all of 2 miles from my house. She leaves, comes back 2 hours later and informs me she has enrolled in college, lol, that the military is paying for it and when she starts, the military is also going to be giving her over $1,300 per month for living expenses. I'm telling you, it MUST be NICE!!
She then declared that she will be getting her own place after she starts getting her money. I asked her to please give me enough advance notice when she intends on doing that. She replied that she will be staying for a while until she can get some stuff paid off.
That's as much conversation as I've gotten out of that woman as I have had since she moved in. Literally. The only reason I got it was because she locked her keys in her car, couldn't get into her room, etc etc etc. I offered to open the room, she said NO!! Made me curious as to what, if anything, she has going on in there that she would get so defensive about having her room opened for her?
Well, whatever. I don't hear loud banging noises and I don't think she has someone else living in there, so, no big deal.
Meanwhile, the turtles. It's becoming rather comical. They are SO afraid that they just dive into the water whenever I walk up to the pond and then start swimming up against the side of the pond, apparently trying to get out! I decided to wear my straw hat, like I do with the fish, so that I can be more easily identified by these creatures.
Uhhh, well anyway. I have been trying to get something done on my mortgage - lower the interest rate again, refi - whatever. I can't get another modification, they told me yesterday, because I am not behind in my payments. Well and freaking good that is. So, what, let the payments go for 3 months and the call them back? They suggested a refi which I KNEW I wouldn't qualify for because the loan to value is WAY off kilter at this point.
I called the bank anyway, who called me back. We had a nice little discussion, didn't bother to apply, no need to, it wouldn't have been approved and would have been a waste of mine and the bank's time. I'm guessing the house is 30 to 40k upside down now. Yeah, somewhere in that range. It's a very difficult decision to make in deciding whether to walk away or stay.
Well, it isn't that hard. I mean, a short-sale is the best option if the lender will go for it, but I think offers would be low and the lender might not like it. If I walk, then eventually I have to go bankrupt. If I stay, how many years or even decades before the house is worth at least as much as the mortgage that's on it? One thing I hope I never have to do again is go bankrupt. Once through that misery was more than enough.
I'm just going to sit on that one a while, think it through, make a decision eventually. I hate the neighborhood I am living is what the real deal is. A lot of the people are just trailer trash, literally. Dump garbage out their side doors as if their entire property is nothing but a landfill and trust me, some of them LOOK like a landfill.
OFF of that subject that is AGES old, unfortunately and gets me going every time I start thinking about it. Really - WHY can't they just keep their properties CLEAN at the very least, even if they have no landscaping? TRASH.
That's life in my fast lane, what about yours? Oh, the trailer tenants. Well the guy has been working outside and now inside as well. Cleaning out the utility room - looks very nice. I needed some acetone to remove glue sticking on the molding from - yes my - leaving tape on there. I was painting and forgot about it. He has done so much work and it's the end of the month (they are broke) I handed him a $20, told him to go buy the acetone and then keep the change. Acetone doesn't cost that much. So, he's going to get that junk off of there, paint it and it will look wonderful again.
I have seen 4 different weather forecasts for this coming weekend with wildly different predictions. It's CRAZY. How do these people come up with this stuff? One says Saturday will be 98 degrees, another says it will be 107. Whatever. I mean, I could just throw out a guess and that would be as close as anything they are coming up with.
This is crazy, NOW they have TOMORROW'S high at 100 - 2 days ago they said it was going to be 109!! ROFL!!! Gee, I think I want to be a weather forecaster, pick numbers out of a hat and that's what the temp will be!!
I put an ad on Craigslist for pond plants - either free or cheap. One guy wrote back that he would hand me a slew of plants for $20 including water lilies. Hmmm. Well, water lilies aren't cheap and I could use several more of those plants right now. Thing is, people thin out their ponds all the time and some of those people just chuck the stuff in the trash. THAT is who I am trying to get to in my ad - yes, folks, I'll come get them and get them when you're doing the thinning process. Think I'll wait instead of spending money. Plus, there is a pond meeting in 16 days I think it is and people bring plants from their ponds and give them away.
Okay, so, the Taliban is going to attack aid workers in Pakistan. To me, that is just plain cowardice, not to mention stupid. Those people are bring food and medical supplies and such to those people that have lost homes and have no access to food because of the flooding disaster going on over there. I think if those people do attack aid workers that there will be a special place in HELL reserved for them for engaging in killing anyone that is over there that is trying to HELP THEIR PEOPLE.
Work day almost here. This, so far, has been the slowest week yet. Work is so unbelievably difficult to make it through a day when there is literally nothing to do.
Anyway, hope you have a great day!
ben
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