Frank-a-saurus

Frankie had lots of fun today.  We took him to the Shelby Humane Society's First Annual Pet Costume Contest at the Galleria Mall.   We were not able to get clear guidelines to know if a big sulcata could go so we just took the chance. 

His costume?  Frank-a-saurus!

The biggest challenge?  Getting Frankie through the mall to the area where the costume contest was.  We put him on his new cart.  The cart really worked great.  We strapped him down and pushed him on cart through the mall.  We kept a very brisk step as people wanted us to stop to see him. 

We LOVE his new cart.  Folds up to a nice flat square.  He can't touch the ground with his feet (not yet) so we had control over the cart.

Link to see new folding cart

The pet costume contest had three categories:  best costume, best pair, and congeniality.  We entered Frankie in the best costume contest.

So, what pets did Frankie go up against?  All dogs from a tiny Chihuahua to a Great Dane.  Two dogs were dressed in turtle costumes.  There was a mermaid, a fish, a bee, diva, chicken, hot dog, just lots of costumes.  Some costumes were very detailed and elaborate, some simple.  I think Frankie had the only costume that was held together with hot glue.

What would we do without a hot glue gun?  His costume is two years old and he is larger.  I had to let the seams out and add material so it would fit him.  The hot glue gun helped since my sewing skills are rather bare.  But the costume held up.  It will be the last year he uses the costume.  Next year there WILL be a new costume.

Back to the costume contest.  No matter how ingenious his costume or unusual he is as a pet, judges can hardly overlook a cute lap dog with those big black eyes.  So the dogs won out in the Best Costume Contest.  Frankie isn't necessarily UN-friendly but he is in his own world.  He doesn't bother with dogs, or people, or baby strollers, or a man in a wheel chair....get the picture.  So he didn't get most congenial pet.  Nor were we a matched pair.

So after all the prizes were awarded they announced they had one more special award.  Frankie was given a prize for the most unusual pet.   Frankie got a big round of applause from an audience of about 100 people.  Afterwards there was lots of photographs.

Frankie remains the most photographed tortoise in the state of Alabama. 

The Good Life

Frankie woke up this morning to the first fall season, under 45 degrees F temps in his luxury outdoor enclosure.  His shelter passed the Frankie comfort challenge.

When I went to the kitchen this morning at 7:00 am, first thing I did was check the temperature gauge that is hooked inside his enclosure.  It read a balmy 78 degrees and it hadn't dropped lower than that all night.  

That Frankie is spoiled rotten.

Soon as I could get dressed, I hiked it outside.  Why did I think I could wear shorts and a t-shirt?  It's 47 degrees outside!  Too late.

I pull up the water proof fabric draped over his top.  That was added when I found that rain water would seep into his enclosure making it a wet poop zone.  Looking in the door, the cover worked.  Inside the shelter is nice and dry.

Unlatching the "inter-sanctum" I see Frankie sleeping snug inside atop a layer of hay. I touch his shell to see if he is warm.  Mmmmm, snuggy warm.  He is one lucky tortoise.

My visit doesn't even stir him a bit.  Frankie will sleep well past 9:00 this morning.  He will move around from the inter-sanctum to the door area.  Once he senses the cool, damp, overcast weather he will sit tight and do nothing all day.  

Well grazed and exercised from an all day romp yesterday, now tucked warm and cozy in his custom luxury enclosure, he is nothing but happy.  

I've got dishes, laundry, bills, pantry inventory and dinner planning ahead of me.  

Ah, shells and turtle toes!  Move over, Frankie!  I'm moving in!

Up to Something

Frankie is up to something.

I was spending one of my rare hours doing yard work....weather being just perfect for me:  not hot and not cold.  Very little yard work gets done in the summer when it's screaming hot.  I hibernate.  No yard work gets done in the winter cause there is no yard work. 

Spring and fall is all the time I willingly do things like clean out a flower bed, plant, trim, clear branches, cut vines...yard work.  Today I got to do yard work.  The chosen spot is the fence by the driveway next to Frankie's yard.  Bucket of tools in hand, I start cleaning up the area. 

Somewhere between chopping vines and pulling weeds, Frankie shows up at the fence to check out what's going on.  Even though he is shorter than the visual barrier on the chain link fence, I can't miss the pacing suclata walking back and forth, back and forth:  "What's ya doing?  Can I help?  Is there food over there?" 

I ignore Frankie mostly but occasionally toss the edible weed over the fence for him to eat. 

Then I hear, "Crunch, snap, rip!"  I look over in time to see Frankie at the gate tearing down the "visual barrier" that keeps him from seeing on the other side of the chain link fence. 

"Frankie! Stop that!"  Protest all you want, Frankie understands English.

"This must be taken down." He's obviously made up his mind about that. 

Fine.  I'll open the gate so he can graze on the "greener grass" area that I am working by. 

Zip!  Frankie makes a bee-line for the driveway.  His intentions are clear:  he wants a walk. 

"No way!" I say as I race to grab the fleeing boulder.  I stop him at the end of the grass and turn him back toward the gate.  To my surprise, he heads right back to his yard.

He is up to something.

I've done enough outside so I clean up and head inside.  I wash up then pour myself a cool glass of water and sit with the cat to read some e-mails.

Clunk.         Clunk.             Clunk. 

Cat is staring at a mysterious metal pole that is swinging to and fro in front of the second story window where we are sitting.  I sit up to see more of the pole.

Frankie has learned to use tools.  He has the pole slightly stuck under the chain link fence and ramming it whereby it is leveraging the bottom of the fence up to make an escape hole. 

Ah ha!  That is what he was up to earlier!  He is slowly pushing the only part of chain link that is not cemented into the ground.  The rest of the chain link is cemented one foot into the ground so Frankie can't push through it (sulcata are famous for pushing through chain link fences). 

"Frankie!"

I rush to save the fence. 

New "visual barriers" are arranged along this vulnerable area.  Frankie is on to me.  He starts putting down The Frankie Yard Rules to the new black barriers by ramming them into submission.  They hold up.  

The pole is not so lucky:  it's all twisty from Frankie work.

Back inside I go to write about Frankie's latest yard de-construction project.  I have the back windows open.  No way is Frankie finished.  He has four hours before it's his bedtime. 

It's really quiet out there.

Frankie is up to something.