Getting Stuff Done...

Since Rommel was promoted two weeks ago, he has spent an average of twelve hours a day at work, not including the lunches, dinners, and drinks with clients. He reminded me that I married an advertising man and part of his job is to mingle, etc., and it requires long hours. I completely understand, but I will admit that I was getting used to him being home by six everyday and having more time together.

But anyway, all this extra time has given me a push to get things done. First on the list was the tortoise enclosure. People who know me know that I constantly rearrange things and that even includes the backyard. I moved both enclosures to the other side of the yard and put a shorter fence around them. The only problem was the potato vine growing along the fence that prevented me from putting them side by side. So I was on a mission to build a "bridge" between the two that the tortoises would actually use and would keep them safe. I began the project last week, but about twenty minutes in, the lid to the enclosure fell and hit me in the back of the head. Not good. It's made of four two by fours and very heavy. Rommel would not let me out of his sight the rest of the evening and his mother gave me a lecture about doing those kinds of jobs myself. Who else would do them then?

So I threw myself back into the project a couple of days ago. After breaking several jigsaw blades and breaking part of the fence when I fell over it, I finally finished.



I will admit that it is hard to tell what the enclosure is really like in the pictures. But you can clearly see where I fell over the fence and broke it. One side is completely open to the elements so they can lie in the sun all they want. The other side has a lot more covering to get away and bury themselves at night. A small bridge connects the two and there are also plenty of places to crawl into for hiding.

It is a good thing that I finished it when I did because it is getting warmer out and the tortoises are getting more and more active. I actually thought they were beginning to fight due to lack of space because Squirt kept biting at Daisy's feet. Well surprise! It turns out that Squirt is actually not a girl; Squirt is a boy and he was trying to mate with Daisy. We mistook Squirt's concave stomach for a sign of him being female, but apparently you can not usually tell which sex a tortoise is until they are at least five inches across. He is still smaller than five inches, but he has developed a spur at the end of his tail which allows the male to keep hold of the female during mating. But Daisy is not interested and my sister, the animal expert, says it is extremely difficult to get tortoises to successfully mate. Thank God! No little tortoises running around. Two is more than enough.

I have also done quite a bit of work in the garden over the last two weeks. We were a little worried that our peach tree had died over the winter because you do not get many trees losing their leaves in California. But one little leaf showed up the other day and now the tree is covered in blossoms. It is absolutely gorgeous!


I planted green bean sprouts and cucumber sprouts. I think it might have been a little early for them to go out because the cucumber sprouts have already perished. Some of the green beans are hanging in there though. I still have a few sprouts inside under the heat lamp I can plant if they do not make it, but hopefully I will not have to.


I planted some sweet bell pepper sprouts in pots because last year it took me a few tries to find just the right spot for them to thrive.


My sugar snap peas are doing great. They even survived a small rain storm the other day. As long as things keep going the way they are, I think we are going to be eating sugar snap peas all summer.


I still have tomato sprouts that need to go out, but they are still to small and fragile. That's all the gardening I plan to do besides are existing flowers, but it is still more than last year.