Georgey the Tortoise: Summer of 2012 Highlights

Well its been a long, slow, lazy summer here at the Georgey Paradise Ranch :) Lots of good eats and good weather - well better than last summer anyway!

At the beginning of the summer when it seemed like it rained for weeks, and weeks, the Ranch went underwater. Yup, that there.... was soil erosion at its finest. I actually had to be rescued from the rising waters in my Ranch to the Big House for a day or two, until more dirt and lots of river rocks where put in to build up my turf.

Many modifications have been made to my Ranch over the summer months, including a mister for those overwhelming- hot - hot - to hot for even tortoises - days. It turns on all by itself everyday for one hour during the hottest part of the day. Pretty cool! Literally! But that wasn't all that was installed to help with the heat. A new window was installed facing the south side of the Ranch so now not only do I get a new view, but a south breeze as well! Yippie!

And as you can see from that picture new plants were planted. That is a rose bush under my new window. Mmmmm I love to eat rose petals! And behind that is 'prolly one of my favorites... A Hibiscus bush that has **the** most delicious flowers on this planet!

And this is my Aloe Vera Patch....simply scrumptious!

And here's the real kicker......

These are "Super Dwarf" Banana Plants... They should only grow to about 4 or 5 feet tall and make really really sweet banana's....Mmmmm can't wait til next summer to eat them!....Yes that's me over there on the rocks in the corner :)

Then came the real scary part of the summer. This happened about two weeks ago.....
a family of possums decided to pay the Ranch a visit. Oh My God! They were HUGE. Luckly...they were not able to gain access into the Ranch. However, it scare me so much that we decided to reinforce the entire area with more chicken wire and barbed wire on the outside.

But it didn't end there...The family of possums decided to take up residence in the near by palm tree. The only option left was to find something that preyed upon possums. Well the possums worst fear is a red fox! Yep... we sprayed red fox urine all over the palm tree and near by landscaping, and low and behold the possums belived that there was a red fox in residence....so they packed their bags AND LEFT! lol Yayyyyyyyy!!!

Now all that excitment along with the colder weather movin in has made this Tortoise very very very ......Yawwwwwwnnnnn....sleepy. I've got the Ranch house packed in hay and I'm ready to go and get my beauty rest!