Salad, Anyone?

Looks good doesn’t it?  It’s a little different than your normal garden salad though.  It’s got apples, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, bananas and grapes.  It’s very colorful.

But, to be fair, I wouldn’t recommend eating this salad.  Why?  Well, I should probably list the rest of the ingredients.  Dandelions, meal worms, shrimp, crickets, white fish and chicken.  To be clear, Tara and I don’t eat this salad and no, we don’t feed it to Bert.  It’s for Cash, our turtle.  You can take that sigh of relieve now.

If you’ve never met our red-eared slider, here’s a little background.  We bought Cash at a local fair about five years ago.  He cost 15 bucks and was about the size of a quarter.  When we brought him home he was in a tiny tank and ate only store bought turtle food.  We figured he would only make it a week or so but I have a thing about taking care of pets.  I figure, I’ve made a commitment and it’s only fair to the animal. 

As Cash grew, he continued to need larger tanks.  First a five gallon, then a ten, then a twenty.  Now, he’s in a 65 gallon tank and he could just about swallow a quarter whole.  All that growth took more than just store bought food.

About a month after we bought him I started researching about how to best care for a red-eared slider.  I know what you’re thinking but better late than never right?!  I discovered that turtles need more than just the store bought pellets.  They need real food.  So, I decided I would make meals for Cash.  But, I certainly wasn’t going to make meals for him twice a day, that’s crazy talk.  Once or twice a year sounded more like it.  Fast forward to the present.

I spent a recent weekend making food for Cash.  I cooked the fish and chicken and the meal worms, crickets and shrimp were bought at the pet store (canned).  The fruits and veggies came from our local farmers market and got steamed to soften them up.  The dandelions came from our very own yard – a benefit of not spraying our yard with weed killer. 

I mixed all of the ingredients together, sprinkled the not-so-appetizing mixture with a powdered calcium supplement and packed a few freezer containers.  Last year’s mixture, according to the dated label I put on the package, was made on May 8, 2011 – just shy of a year.  I made a bit less this time but I think it should easily last six months.

 

They say red-eared sliders can live 20 years or more in captivity.  Cash is five now.  That’s a lot more food!  Tara’s a great cook so I can’t even make the joke that the turtle eats better than I do, but you have to admit, he does eat well for a turtle.  And, to be honest, the money we spend on making real food for Cash amounts to much less than it would cost if he ate only store bought food.  Real food; better for Cash, better for our cash flow.

I should note that we learned our lesson and did extensive research on caring for children before Bert came along.  Eh, he didn’t eat real food for months anyway. 

Speaking of real food, want to stop over for dinner some night?  I promise we’ll skip the crickets.  I can’t promise anything about the shrimp though.

Mocha R & D

As you probably know by now, we have a very curious cat named Mocha. She gets into everything. And I do mean everything. It's as if she feels she needs to test out anything new that comes into the house, like it is her own research and development lab.

You saw her test our carpet swatches...

and then the carpet once it was installed.

She's also made sure our basket for the farmers' market is in tip-top shape.

She tested out the car seat...

the crib...

and the stroller, though she didn't like being pushed around in it.

She tried on a baby hat.

Ok, that one wasn't her idea and she didn't seem too happy about it either. But maybe that's just her runway pout.

She also likes to read the paper, my guess is to keep up on the latest product reviews and recalls.

Or maybe she's after the crossword puzzles and horoscopes. (She's a Gemini.)

A Sad Farewell to a Faithful Friend

I have been putting off writing this post because there's just no easy way to talk about it. Two Fridays ago, we had to have our dog, Bailey, put down. She had been having trouble getting up and down steps and her back legs seemed to be getting weaker all the time, and she was disinterested in her food. We thought it was her Lyme disease when she first seemed lethargic and wasn't eating much, but after a month long course of the antibiotics that helped her bounce back last time, she didn't seem any better. We took her back to the vet and he did x-rays, which revealed a lump or tumor situated on her spine back near her hips. At nearly thirteen years old, surgery just wasn't an option for Bailey, so the vet suggested some painkillers and other medications that might take the inflammation out of the lump and make her comfortable for awhile yet. He informed us that if we didn't see her regain interest in her food or improvement in her hind legs, that it meant it was the end of the road for her. We were hopeful though that maybe the medications would be enough to make her perk back up. That was Tuesday.

She didn't seem to improve at all through the week, though she didn't worsen either. We were planning on waiting out the weekend to give her time because nobody wants to make this decision for another living creature. But by Friday morning, she was unable to stand, hadn't shown any interest in food for more than a day, and was throwing up her medicine. We knew it was time, and Keith called the vet as soon as they opened and made the appointment. I guess that's about all the details anybody needs. It was among the hardest things either of us ever had to do.

As we talked later that day and over the next couple days, we realized how long it had really been since Bailey was herself. The self that loved walks, wanted to roll around in the grass, ran upstairs to her bed when you said, "Bedtime, Bailey!" and scarfed down any treat, pig's ear, or table scrap she could get her paws on. So, as hard as it was, it felt like the right decision to let her go.

In case you never had the chance to meet our mellow, quiet, and lovable Bailey, this is the dog who

...was not real fond of the holidays...

...loved to be outside...

...lived for her nightly post-walk treat...

...took over the cat's bed on the first day of living in our house...

...was always looking for you to drop something in the kitchen...

...could often be found sleeping on the couch when left home alone...

...had sad puppy eyes that melted your heart...

...and always wanted to be close.

Our house feels a bit empty now, and our daily routines are thrown off with her gone, but we are adjusting. We are just glad to have had her in our lives and hope she felt the same about us. 

Coming Out of Our Shells

With spring closing in on us, we're happy to be shedding our coats and gloves and getting outside. Apparently, Cash feels the same.

For those of you who have not been formally introduced, Cash is our red-eared slider turtle. He occupies a 65-gallon tank in the laundry room and would like more space if we had the room for it. When we bought him at a carnival, his shell was slightly larger than a quarter and he was bright green. Hence the name Cash. Well, that and because $15 seemed expensive for a pet we were pretty sure would have the longevity of a goldfish you win at a fair. But nearly four years and three tanks later, he's still swimming, but now he's about 10 inches nose to tail.

Keith gets all the credit for keeping him alive (especially because I make frequent suggestions about putting him in the creek for an "adventure" so that I can reclaim 20% of the laundry room). Cash consists on a custom blend of chicken, fish, fruit, vegetables, mealworms and crickets that Keith cooks and chops and freezes a couple times of year. He also gets live feeder fish on occasion and usually eats a couple and then we are convinced that he likes the company because he has four little buddies swimming around in his tank that have been there for months. 

Back to the shedding part though. Cash is evidently going through a growth spurt, because tiles of his shell are falling off. Kind of gross. They aren't as hard as you think, and are quite thin and papery as they dry.

No, Killian's is not part of his regular diet. The bottle cap is just there for size reference. Neither of us are sure what to do if he gets any bigger because we frankly don't have any place else for him to go. Keith has suggested an enclosed habitat with a pond in the basement. (I think that sounds like a creepy thing that middle aged bachelors have in their houses.)

Oh, did I mention that red-eared sliders can live up 90 years under ideal conditions? Let me tell you, we had no idea what we were committing to when we bought this little guy. Impulse pet purchases are generally not a good idea. We are going to have to put Cash in our will, and not the kind of cash that anybody is looking for as an inheritance. 

Let me end by saying:

4 yr old turtle. Comes with 65 gal. tank and stand. Free to good home. 

Oops. Did Keith see that? 'Cause he would never get rid of Cash, his claws are in too deep.