Thursday, August 19, 2010

Foster Mother!

I am now the foster mother of a desert tortise. I saw him cruising down the sidewalk when I was coming home from the office today. A man stopped behind me and I asked if it was his - nope. We took turns keeping him out of the street and knocking on neighbor's doors. No one knew where he belonged and none would take him in. So... I put the rug I keep in the car for Lucy on the floor of the front seat and he chilled out until I got him home. One of the neighbors gave him three large romaine leaves, which he powered through. I gave him some squash, which he seemed to like.
Funny thing is, we had two tortises when I was a kid. Noah (turned out to be female), we had for many years. He built his home in a mound of dirt and hibernated there every winter. Parnelli Jonah came along later. So named, because he was so fast. Both of our tortises escaped about 35 years ago or so when my folks had the pool put in. The builders took down part of the fence and put up some wire. Our beloved pets escaped during that project and we figured that someone picked them up and took them home.
Now years later, I know this isn't Noah, but it COULD be Parnelli. I wonder if this is our tortise? The neighbors around where I found him have my cell number and I'll look for the owner, but I think my family wants to keep him. If we can't find his family, he may become an addition to ours.
Lucy doesn't like him much, but Laura is trying to get her to be used to him.

2 comments:

Kristen said...

Hahah I bet Lucy is a total weirdo around him. I should stop by and say hi tomorrow. :-D

MJ said...

Please do, Kristen. He's very cool, but we can't keep him on the deck forever!