Tortoise Table Revealed

The majority of the holidays are over (other than New Years) and as expected, I've survived. Actually the holidays went VERY well and were quite enjoyable. In addition to that, my mind and body have calmed since my last post. Whew. After talking to David we brainstormed and compromised on a setup for our "cat room" (I think it's about time we changed the name, eh?) AKA pet room. The tortoise table has been revamped to be higher sided and Elwood's (the frog) enclosure is now located within the tortoise table. I knew it would all work out, but man, this this is quite awesome.

Basically, it was a table that was previously used for displays. Unfortunately (or fortunately for us) it was no longer being used. David spoke with a few people and bada boom, bada bing, it was ours. It has a steel base that's almost desk-like that has adjustable feet....excellent for on uneven hardwood floors. It's solidly built with wooden bottom and sides. Then, within that there's thick, sealed plexiglass. As I stated, David attached additional wood and added fence to the top for a "lid." It's just about done. I'd like to paint it at some point, but not right now....maybe a spring project. So without further ado, here are a few pictures.....

The table as it came to us....
This plexiglass within the table....
Built up sides....
A look inside....
David watching the tortoises....

Sensory Overload

I'm worried I'm in sensory overload and the holiday festivities haven't really even started.

Yesterday was a long day at work. Not busy long, but cleaning long. I was on my hands and knees almost all day dusting, vacuuming, cleaning closets, scrubbing baseboards.....the list goes on. I then went on the clean the 'rents bathrooms out of love. By the time I got home at 7:45pm I was tired. Then I started receiving some texts requesting my presence at a family get together. I figured, "why not?" I did a quick change of clothes and took off. I had a good time and enjoyed the company of my extended family. With that being said, it was a loud atmosphere and I left with a scratchy throat. My senses were heightened, but I was ok.

I then arrived home to big changes at our house. David had been eyeing a table at work that would work as an excellent tortoise table. He saw that it wasn't being used, asked around, and found that it could be ours. He was thrilled. I was thrilled. Until I saw it. It's huge. Ultimately it will be excellent for our tortoises (Yes, we now have two. There's more to that story. Too much to discuss here.) It's well built, probably worth more than we know and we'll save time and money by reusing it in some other way than it was originally meant for. However, it screws with the dynamic of our Bright Cat Room we recently remodeled this summer. I'm not necessarily into feng shui, but if I was, this isn't jiving. My surrounding have to feel "right." After my senses were already heightened, they elevated many more notches.

As time went on I could feel my anxiety rise. I tried to take a step back, get it in check. Unfortunately, I'm not always that good. I can't describe the experience I go through when this happens. My normal emotions usually go something like this.....I want to scream, then cry, then vomit, then clean, and then purge stuff from my surroundings. I've found that if I don't feel I have control over a situation, I gain control through cleaning. I basically feel like a cat with FIC right now. Yes, the disorder our cat has. When they stress out, they manifest their stress in the bladder, feeling like they constantly have to urinate. Obviously, I don't feel like I have to urinate, but I sympathize with the guy when he has an episode of FIC. Let's hope this table doesn't set off an episode for him!

So, David was expecting to share his joy with me and what he got was a buzzkill. Sometimes I suck. We sat and discussed for a good hour or so how we're going to make this new setup work. Or better yet, work the tortoise table into the room, making a new setup, that will work. More than likely we won't be able to use some furniture pieces that we were using before. I do know this, over the past year I've tried to de-clutter the house. And I'm going to try my hardest to keep it that way. It's going to take some innovation to make this room work. Obviously we went to bed with our house in disarray.

I went to bed exhausted but with my mind racing and my anxiety continued to my dreams. Dreaming about Dormitor/Torb combos (don't ask) for work, anesthetizing and performing glucose curves on animals, worrying that we're not going to make it to the family gathering because we're making an impromptu trip to Minnesota...all the while waking up every half hour, sweating my butt off. Needless to say I didn't wake up well rested. Not only that, but I woke up to a house in disarray. Why couldn't it all have been fixed while we slept overnight?

I'm excited about our family gathering today, but I can't help but think about the general stressors that come with times with family over the holidays. You know it's usually a good time, but you'll ultimately have those moments of stress.

Trying to put these feelings into words seemed impossible to me. I could see it in my head, but knew that it would translate different if I wrote it out. But I do know I feel better than you can imagine just sitting down to write it out. I'm thankful for that. Because, although I don't usually drink, at 5:30am and I was tempted to take a few sips to take that edge off. No joke. I think this was a better choice.

Hoping that my this sensory overload continues to ebb and that joy reigns over the next few days....

Super Herb!

Wanted to give you a quick update on Herbie. He's doing wonderful! With the added heat light, misting his habitat more, providing a different water source, and trying different foods, we think he's come around. As with Elwood, his personality is starting to show and boy, can that herbivore eat! We've been so happy with his progress, as we were horribly worried about the guy.

Eat

A russian tortoise eating isn't all that exciting. However, if he's been on a hunger strike it's very exciting. For some reason we've only seen Herbie eat once since we've acquired him. We knew that he may not eat that often, but he needs to eat some! In addition, he seemed in a funk yesterday. We worked on his habitat and I gave him a bath this morning in hopes of stimulating him. When I left for work I left food with him. When David got home his food was gone. David gave him more and he went to town. Whew. He had his vet tech mama quite worried. Not to mention daddy too. =( David even had went to the store to get a new lightbulb and asked the manager for assistance. They offered to trade him in. We'd get a different tortoise and Herbie would go to a special vet to be seen. As with Lily we didn't want to give up on him. At the same time we don't want a dead tortoise either. We've done our research and am trying to supply him with the best habitat we can. Only time will tell, but hopefully he continues on adjusting to his new environment.

Our New Weedeater

David has been wanting a Russian Tortoise for over a year now.....so to celebrate his passing the boards and an early anniversary gift we went out and added a new member to our family. His name is Herbie. David named him for herbivore....I see it more as he looks like a VW bug. Either way, he's cool. He won't get big and should live for a long while. He likes to keep busy but he's still working on coming out of his shall. Ha! Ha! I never wanted to be considered an "animal house" but I think it's safe to say we are. Ah well. They bring joy to our lives and I hope we bring joy to them.

Welcome Herbie!