King Louis

So, as a wedding present I got Jacelyn a baby turtle. Well, actually I got her a tank with a heater and a filter and some turtle food with the promise of a baby turtle. Then we went on our honeymoon and so it was good that we didn't have to abandon a baby turtle.

It took us a while to find one once we returned home. Not many pet stores carry them anymore. There was a craze in the 80's (corresponding to a certain animated television program where turtles featured prominently) and a bunch of people got them, and the let them loose when they got too big, or got salmonella from not washing their hands after playing with them. Anyway, we finally found a place that had two, and when we got there our Louis was the last one left.

He is still pretty small, but is growing slowly. They can live up to 50 years, and grow up to 13 inches long, so we don't feed him too often. They can survive up to 30 days without food, so the compromise of every three days or so seems to work. At first King Louis wouldn't eat his pellets. Then we discovered his love of the hunt, and feasting on living things. So in the fall and into the dead of winter I was forced to go outside and scrounge up a couple grubblies every few days. Now he eats his pellets, but it is still fun to watch him 'hunt'. So without further ado here he is in all his predatory glory hunting a snail:

 

If that wasn't excitement enough I have another video of him wrangling with a far more deadly foe. The dreaded earthworm!!! This is not as gross as it can get, I have a video of him consuming a worm at least as long as he is, if not longer. I won't post it. It took him a long time to get it down, and eventually it stopped trying to escape. The tame version:

 

Back in the swing of things

Yup, for some reason today is the day that I feel it. I feel like my life has reached a pleasant state of balance, one in which even if I do not have time for all my little hobbies, I can be content doing what I chose to do. Right now that is posting on my old blog.

There has been too much to post since I last was on here. I am married now, happily, enthusiastically, wonderfully married. I am in love more than I have ever been before. We are settled into our place and enjoy one anothers company every day. We had the best honeymoon ever: Twelve days in Paris, where we were upgraded from our hotel room to a top floor apartment right beside the Sacre Coeur. We could see the Eiffel Tower sparkling at night from the comfort of our bed. We ate so much cheese and Nutella, and took many long walks. We saw what we wanted, but never felt rushed, and by the end we felt well and truly married.

We have a new addition to our small family. My wedding gift to Jacelyn was a baby red-eared slider turtle that she named King Louis the sunning king. Yes, a french history pun. We have a lot of fun with him especially me at feeding time (he doesn't eat turtle food, just wiggly, jiggly, creepy crawlies that I have to catch). He is very playful, especially for a turtle.

We also have a new niece, little Jonnie Lee Emerson Pankratz, a doll to be sure. I got to hold her at only a couple hours old, she likes me best, just gonna say that right now.

We are going down to Cali in the summer to visit my sister and her awesome family. Hopefully we will get to hit up six flags on the way down. And Legoland is a certainty, I will have a blast there with Tristan. I'm looking forward to hanging out with Samuel and Ava too, I don't think Sam was too interactive when I was there last. Probably due to the fact that he wasn't yet born.

I am running another Warhammer campaign, which will probably get a couple dedicated posts in the future. And I got all my groomsmen different boardgames as gifts, and that has totally helped us stay connected a lot more. I love games nights!

I've also tried my hand (briefly) at some stop motion animation using Lego. I have some plans, but that's all I'll say about it just yet.

Hey, thanks for reading. I'll add some pictures to make it tolerable.