Sunday, June 7, 2009

Being watched

This morning I was out in the backyard trying to find Michael so I could serve him his breakfast. Cathy was easy to find, she had crawled into one of her favorite sleeping areas under the deck. But Michael???? I couldn't find him anywhere so I started lifting up groundcovers and such to see if he had buried himself somewhere. And yes, yes he had. And had a great view of me bending over and looking under practically everything in the backyard...twice... while he just sat there.

Once I found him, I went indoors to get his salad (I had just served Cathy) but when I came back outside, he was gone. Errrrgh. This time my search for him did not take too long. I found him in the area where I've been potting up all my plants, just sitting there, sort of pretending he couldn't see me and I know he was thinking I couldn't see him.

But I knew he was taking it all in.

Violet has seen this a million times and knows that she's going to have to witness this routine a million more times for months and months to come. For her, this is setting up to be one long summer.

9 comments:

Mental P Mama said...

That cat makes me laugh out loud. Really.

Anonymous said...

Are you resting in a box, Violet? We just love to sleep in boxes!

ChicagoGrrrl said...

what kind of turtles are those? i walk my dogs in a county forest preserve with some ponds that have turtles. maybe i will bring them some tomatoes. also, what is the story with the raccoon in your side photos? thanks!

Maria said...

Mental-I know. That cat has the most pained expression for anything that happens around here.

T&C-Violet loves her boxes. And bags too. One of her favorite things is to jump in a handlebag and then i pick it up and carry it around the house while she's in it pretending that I don't know she's in it. I have NO idea how that game started.

Amy-Michael Ray and Cathy Jean are African leopard tortoises that were captive bred in Chicago (they were not collected from the wild). I've had them for.....about 17 years (Gawd).

Turtles can see the color red so if they see tomatoes, or strawberries....or watermelon, they'll definitely be interested. My turtles are desert tortoises. I know box turtles like tomatoes and red things too. When you get into the water turtles, they're more carnivorous so I don't know if a tomato would work on them but heck, you could try. I'd stay clear of the snappers though.

The raccoon in the sidebar is Freddie, a raccoon that would come by infrequently when he was hungry or just wanted to take a nap on the glider. I haven't seen him in a while but he was so much fun to watch. If you click on "raccoons" in the labels in the sidebar you can read more about the little guy.

Susan said...

I just found your wonderful blog. I love turtles and added you to my blog list so I can read more stories!

abb said...

That cat is so OVER the whole Michael thing! Love that expression.

olivia said...

LOL, the cat's expression is wonderful.

Love the photo of the potting area ... I couldn't find Michael 'til I looked at your closeup ... :)

ChicagoGrrrl said...

i read all your posts! what a fun blog. you are a super talented artist and writer.

Maria said...

Hey Susan-Welcome to my blog! :-)

TSAnnie-Violet is pretty good about putting up with the turtles...to a point. Once those turtles start going in a direction, they prefer to do it in a straight line and sometimes poor Violet is in the way. She'll watch them as they walk toward her but she just cannot believe that they won't stop at some point and walk around her. Nope. They keep heading for her and once they make contact in an effort to climb right over her, she has to get up and get out of their way. Nobody wins when there is a battle of wills with a turtle.

Olivia-I've gotten that comment a lot about that picture of Michael. I guess I know when I'm being watched and can usually find whoever belongs to the spying eyes pretty fast.

Aw Amy, and oh my, so many compliments! I thank you for all of them!!!! :-)