Listening for Scooter...

I did two great things this week...one, paid the rent (Hooray!) and two, gave 500 badly needed dollars to my parents. I also have the satisfaction of a completely full pantry (and a secret stash of girl scout cookies that my brother hasn't found yet). Tomorrow I am taking off from work and I am going to -finally- get my perm re-done. The straight hair grow out is only 8 inches long. I think that I have waited long enough.

I have given the turtles a bath and they are now running around the house. Or rather, Scooter is running around the house and Zippy...moved. It is a little easier to keep track of them now that we are in a house with hard wood floors because you can hear them clomping around. Although I am sure that they would rather be able to run around on carpet. I am also reminded of just how old and feeble Zippy is getting. Zippy has definitely hit his prime. The oldest that most box turtles get is to be 25 years old...and Zippy is pushing the 25 and beating all of the odds. When they were given to us over ten years ago....the previous owner did not keep them in the best of conditions (too wet) and most of Zippy's undershell is gone, it is bare bone on the carapace. The vet didn't think that he would live a couple of years with the shell like that...well 10 years later...he is still kicking...sort of.

After their bath I placed both of them in the living room on the rug. Scooter took off to explore and Zippy kinda hung out in the towel. After about an hour he poked his head out of the towel and it looked like he was watching television. (I know that the computer has fascinated Scooter when I have had it on and on the floor before---and of course if you are taking them in the car anywhere they like to look out the window.) Then Zippy kinda hoisted himself up, took the equivalent of feeble-old-man-steps for about three feet and then deposited himself in a corner to go back to sleep.

I wonder what a walker made for a turtle would look like?

An update: Zippy has woken up again and is watching my brother intently as he is drawing on the floor. And Scooter I think has himself stuck, wedged behind a bookcase (he isn't too good in reverse)....he is giving me that "Can you get up and help me?" look. One day he will realize that he just can't make himself flat to fit into places.

Or maybe he won't. Probably not.