College Road Trip

Gib and I left town Thursday after school and returned home Monday night from our College Road Trip. We went to Indie's first. Mercer's Homecoming was that weekend and we got an invite from the admissions counselor to attend. Gib liked it, and he even got to sit in on one of Indie's Great Books classes, and have a chat at Jittery Joe's with the professor who does Mercer Service Scholars.  It was an informal interview for MSS and we are pretty sure Gib is in - should he decide to go to Mercer. 

And who doesn't love a puppy?! We got acquainted with Sophie and all her baby teeth. Jeff adopted her from the pound. She is adorable. I think Indie is right in guessing her doggie parents are Australian Shepherd and some kind of Terrier. She looks totally Australian, but her coat and her mannerisms especially when digging or hanging onto something, like say your hand or shirt, are reminiscent of a Terrier breed.

Even the cat loves the puppy.  It was very entertaining to watch them play together. Poor Aussie though, that tiny puppy is doubling in size before his eyes. Sophie has a puppy butt move that is hysterical. She runs up to Aussie, at the last second she turns, and smacks him in the face with her rear end. There is a roll on the floor die laughing video that I hope to get my hands on someday.

We went to a reception downtown Macon (free food) and made our impressions: well spoken, fun people, incredibly hungry. Gib took care of a platter of cheese and ham. We also scored tickets for breakfast, tailgate lunch and the men's basketball game. Jeff was especially glad he and Indie didn't have to go to the women's basketball game in order to get tickets to the men's. All the other students had to go that route. It's who you know Jeff - who you know.  We are not sure what Jeff is thinking here - probably something along the lines of the food at the reception did not a dinner make. But I laugh every time I see my kids with the same expression, head tilts, etc. and you can definitely tell they are related! We liked how even the guy in the back smiled for Take 2.

The bonfire was lit after some painfully loud music and athletic team introductions. Gib and I slipped away to score some ibuprofen from the Hilton across the street.  The guys both commented at the exact same time that they would have gone with a Log Cabin bonfire formation. Jeff went on to explain something in engineer-speak about how they make the same mistake every year. I will paraphrase my own way: "the pit is too small, the wood too long, the orange fencing too close - it  has taken out the fence a couple of times". Since Indie was close to the fence when the bonfire collapsed we were glad that didn't happen this year, but I was kind of looking forward to the screaming and mayhem. Little bit of a bummer there. The falling embers landing on people was only mildly entertaining.

The evening I cat and puppy sat was exhausting. I was up until 1 am with the little monsters. Give me 25 preschoolers any day of the week - ANY DAY - and it would be easier.  I was running around like a nut trying to keep up with puppy chewing on cords, me, kleenex, me, the cat, me.... it never ended I tell ya! I finally corraled her against the sofa and my legs and gave her my water bottle to chew. This pic was taken about 3.5 seconds before she got the paper label off and he had a big tug of war and I had to insert my fingers in the jaws of death to extract it. 

On Sunday, we all enjoyed brunch at IHOP, and then we departed for Alabama, to attend Birmingham-Southern College's preview for high school seniors on Monday.

One thing we gotta say for Alabama, the visitors center is one of the nicest rest areas we've been too. Gib even tagged it in my google map favorites. Not sure we'll ever go across GA to AL again, but now we'll know where to go. Haha - get it?

Sadly, I have NO pictures from BSC. It was an awful day - tons of rain, gray skies, and cold!

But, Gib got to meet people, attended a business class, and a session about BSC's unique January Explorations term. We liked that college too, and The General, the college president who retired as a Marine Commandant, worked under Reagan and Bush Sr., and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Clinton, grabbed Gib by the hoodie pocket and said "Gib! You ARE coming here aren't ya?! Where else would you want to go?!!!!"  Sir, yes Sir! - would have been the appropriate response Gib.  Gib said Maybe. May Day! May Day! Damage Control! Who Has English Problem?!  Gib went on to explain he has visited 5 colleges (much to his dismay I think) and BSC, Mercer, and Samford were at the top of his list.  Points for courage and honesty Dude. 

The Real Deal

You have to read Nation Building first - this is a follow up blog post with REAL pics from our own yard!

The winter patio pots with pansies and swiss chard

 Some kind of mustard plant and pansies

 Another kale and pansies

 Toad spa is closed for winter but the toad sign looked cute up here

The Pit - 

Mom hacked through the salvia and eunonymous like parting the Red Sea

 There's a turtle hut under here!

 The big reveal! He stayed in all night - he likes it! He really likes it!

 Stacked logs, soil, leaves, and pine straw creating a couple hidey holes a turtle could dig under

 The slumlord corner. Old plastic pot filled with dirt and weeds that became like concrete, oh 4 yrs ago, and never removed from The Pit.  Turned it over and propped it up. It's next to a possible tunnel under the wood and where I found the turtle after it had moved from the spot mom found it.  It was way too cold for it to be out in the open. 

 My favorite: Turtle Stairs!

Nation Building

Mike jokingly accused me of Nation Building. For a turtle. And I have to give him a huge shout-out because he humored me and totally enabled it. Yay Mike!! You see, it all started yesterday during our Fall transition gardening day. I am using images from the internet - I'm too lazy to go outside right now but I found some very close matches to the real thing - so to continue: 

 Mom and I were ruthlessly pulling out annuals in the yard that wouldn't survive the winter and redoing our summer patio pots to add winter kale, swiss chard, and pansies. It took the better part of the day. Mike was closing the house vents and commented that it was getting too difficult to fight his way into the air conditioner pit. Mom's Black Beauty Salvia is MASSIVE and has merged with eunonymous. Looks alot like this:

So she pruned to recreate the passageway I had made at the beginning of summer. Once she got in the pit, she figured she'd do some clean up, remove the hose, etc.  That's when it happened:  She found a hibernating turtle.  I had been betting it hibernated UNDER the mass of plants,but she found the turtle under the hose to the air conditioner and a thin layer of grass and leaves. 

I figured it was Son of a Gun and I didn't want to disturb his spot for a second time, but I was perplexed as to how he got in there. I looked all over for a tunnel or a way up and over the foot+ high stacked 6X6's. It sure seemed like it would be a problem to me. As the evening grew frigid and a big ol' storm blasted through I got to worrying about Son of a Gun.  So I googled eastern box turtle hibernation. I discovered that turtles are good climbers.  OK, so maybe he can get out if he wanted to, but how did he get IN then - did he fall? What if he falls trying to get out and lands upside down? Does he even want to be in there for the winter?  

Well, I read alot and obviously found some great pics, but it turns out people actually build turtle enclosures the same size as where Son of a Gun is currently snoozing.  And you see where this is going, don't you......

NOT QUITE!!!!

Hahaha - I laughed so hard when I saw this while looking for ideas to best support my hibernating, possibly stuck in the pit turtle. I mentioned some possible solutions to Mike and he graciously, if mockingly, helped. I moved the little guy into his new coconut igloo covered by leaves and pine straw and found out he is NOT Son of a Gun. I discretely looked at his undershell, since my googling had revealed some gender distinction information, and I kinda hoped I had a potential girlfriend. But I think this one is a male. So, note to self: check on the gender of Son of a Gun when I see "him" again. Maybe all hope is not lost. (when I was a kid, we ended up with turtle babies and I would LOVE to see that happen here!) 

So, this is almost exactly what our pit looks like, but ours is a bit higher.

This is one of the hibernation in progress photos - it was then topped off by a few inches of leaves.  I think you get the picture (haha).  Since my pit is pretty much the same only it has 4 sides, I did the same thing and just added more soil, leaves, and pine straw. Oh, and brick stairs to go to and fro. That was Mike's contribution :) It looks like this, but better.

After I was finished I thought I'd see if the Nation Building comment was deserved.  I decided there were enough coincidences that I can't dodge that one. 

Turtle Nation Building - 

1) Solves a difficult social problem - getting in and out of the pit could be a very difficult social (not to mention hazardous) problem especially if a likely female box turtle happens by that might want to canoodle for the winter.

2) Achieve objectives in interaction with other governments (aka humans) - food, shelter, and water. This was my main concern and I'm sure my wild turtles do just fine without my help, but I'm not losing another night's sleep worrying whether or not it can get in or out, and if it is going to be warm enough in that scrabble dirt pit. Now I can let it do its own thing and if a turtle wants to interact by visiting the yard, with objective #1 taken care of, we both benefit.

3) Manage environment and natural resources - As a responsible nation builder I mainly used resources found in the yard - logs, leaves, soil and brick. I added a couple bags of topsoil, a layer of leaves and topped with a couple bales of pine straw. I created four safe spots for the turtle because I know for a fact they are difficult to please. So now we have enough room and safe environment to raise a family - in the event that canoodling happens. 

4) Culturally appropriate systems - I think I get a gold star for this one. More than simply raising living standards - a successful foundation and beautification of a turtle corridor has solved a particular problem (access) and added culturally appropriate materials (housing) while not creating turtle dependence on foreign aid. 

Well, that's it. I think another title for this post could be 

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING!!