Hi, Guys.
Thanks again for the nice comments. You've reminded me to step back once im a while and just LOOK at the beauty of the pond, rather than look at the "oh darn - I need to get in there and change that filter" or "oh nuts, they've uprooted the bottom plants again, need to re-pot" etc.
Yes, Shirley, they are a lot of work, but since I love the rewards and the chance to be out by myself, with nature, with no phones ringing and no one asking me for things, it's not really work at all. But it is time-consuming, and that's something none of us have enough of. I live close enough to work to come home for my hour lunch, and spend 30 minutes of that out by the ponds, feeding, adjusting, checking, etc. Right after work I'm usually out there for a couple of hours, and mostly all day on the weekends. We haven't gone away anywhere overnight since I dug the ponds..... I just couldn't! Heck, I even have a webcam set up on the turtle pond so I can keep an eye on things from work! And since I get 3 weeks vacation and we don't ever leave the state overnight, I take most of those three weeks one day at a time, and that's when I do my projects and major work out by the ponds.
Sally - what's the best way for me to send you the pix? E-mail, or maybe give you access to my PhotoBucket account?
Regarding turtle hibernation, I've only been hibernating turtles and frogs for four years now, but thank goodness, each year has been successful!
The box turtles (land turtles) hibernate underground, after I dig a big hole for them and give them a few feet of mulch, compost, leaves, etc.
The aquatic turtles hibernate under water, after I dump some shovelfuls of dirt into the bottom of the pond. I've actually seen them swimming under the ice on some winter days - it's amazing. I'm not sure where the frogs go.... but I know some hibernate under water because I've "woken" them accidentally early spring.
March of the Penguins: my husband says he's going to buy that as soon as it's available because he's sure it's something I'll want to watch over and over. I told him he was wrong - I'll probably cry too much seeing it ONCE to want to do that to myself several times. Sometimes I just start to cry from the mere beauty of them, but heaven forbid if I see one suffering in any way, going hungry, or getting attacked, I lose it. I'm actually afraid to see the movie - I may be very depressed for days.
Yes, I do feel like home is heaven. And when you're trying to relax yourself and someone tells you to picture a calm, tranquil place, or picture what heaven would be like, I'm always in a rainforest surrounded by birds and monkeys. THAT would be heaven to me.
Soon I'll have to upload some of my monkey pictures for your
viewing, but I'll have to have the hankies ready.
Sue
