Daisy has a new sister!!!

The other day I was browsing Pasadena Humane Society's website and I saw that they had a tortoise up for adoption. I knew we would have the perfect home for the little guy because we have so much space and Daisy would have a friend. After double checking with my sister who knows everything about animals like tortoises, I convinced my husband that we had to bring this creature home. I took the afternoon off work, we went down to the shelter, and after waiting about a hour to see a counselor, I found out someone was already on the waiting list to take him home. I put my name on the list, but they were pretty sure the other person would be the one to get him.

Now Rommel can tell you that when I really get my heart set on something and it doesn't come to fruition, I pout and pout and pout, which is exactly what happened. But it turns out that Petco had a tortoise sale. I normally wouldn't buy an animal at Petco, but they had four tortoises in this tiny tank (I realize this is a sales tactic and it works!).

Needless to say, we have another member of the family named Squirt. Typical of Daisy, she ran away from me and Squirt, but by the end of the day, they were nestled together in an overturned pot.

Picture Pages!!!!

I finally figured out what was wrong with my camera and am so happy that I am able to use it again. There were so many sights that I wanted to share with everyone lately and I am finally able to.

Here's Sunny and Simba after their summer haircuts. Simba looks pretty ridiculous without his lion-like mane, but he is so much cooler and happier without it. Sunny could care less, she just wants her regular belly rub and she's happy.

This is a wind chime that I recently bought at the Montrose Arts and Crafts Festival. I absolutely love it! It's so different, yet not too cheesy or crafty looking. Plus it sounds just as good as my regular wind chime.



Another recent purchase is my new mode of transportation, a Raleigh Retroglide 2008 in turquoise and pearl. I pretty much walk everywhere, but now I can ride to some of the places that I would normally have to drive to. And it is so cute! All I need is a basket for the front and I am set.



My first tomatoes are starting to show up. The plants have been growing like crazy, but I had only seen one tiny tomato until now. Problem is that only one out of six plants has tomatoes on it. Hopefully with a little more time they will start to show up. People keep telling me that I will have more tomatoes than I will know what to do with.



The bell peppers I planted are almost ready for picking (I might even try one at dinner tonight). They have lived through a lot already, including a heat wave and a couple of transplants due to problems with sun and water. There are at least two peppers on each plant and more to come since I saw a few extra flowers. When they say it is cheaper to grow bell peppers than to buy them at the grocery store, they were totally right!



Here's Daisy's new enclosure. I can't get over the fact that it looks like a coffin, but if I want to keep my tortoise safe, she needs a secure home. I originally had her in a 4' x 4' pen covered with hardware cloth (wire mesh used to keep animals from getting under your house) because I thought the only threat was raccoons or stray cats. It turns out that my dogs are more interested in Daisy than anyone. Simba has tried pulling at the hardware cloth and Sunny has been chewing at the wooden frame. I knew it was just a matter of time, even with a small fence around it, so I constructed this one out of two old doors I found in the garage. It still looks a little rough. Ideally I would paint it, but it took me all day to do this much, so maybe another time. But it is definitely secure and I think Daisy is happy. She gets to bury herself and lie in the sun as much as she wants!



And finally one of the few flowers that managed to grow in my backyard. I bought several different varieties of flowers, ensuring the labels said full sun because our yard receives direct sunlight from dawn to dusk. Apparently "full sun" does not necessarily mean that they can take full sun all day long. I moved what I could to the back of the house where they could get a little shade and this particular plant is doing really well.