Blog All Title

So as you heard on Michele's blog, we have a new turtle in the house. A yellow belly slider, which we still do not have a name for yet. If you have any ideas, post them....SCHNELL!

(please note that I am zoomed in more on the new guy so these are not to scale)

Ping Pong at about 8 months old

No Name or T2 at about 3 weeks old

And so you can see the sizes of the two of them together...

Ping Pong looks like a beast next to the baby. The two did not have an uneventful start. Ping Pong has been pretty used to the idea that he is the only thin in the tank that gets all the fish, pellets and time under the sun lamp that he wants. Enter the baby. Ping Pong has, on several occasions, walked over to the baby while sitting under the lamp, put his nose under the edge of the baby's shell and flipped him into the water. He has also shoved him off as well. He has nipped at him in the water and even uses him as a stepping stool to get out the drying box.

It used to be that Ping Pong could not get out of this box and it was convenient to leave him in it for a while so he could dry off. You never know if he actually does this on his own as he will shoot off of his little rock whenever you walk by the tank. He's either frightened or he thinks your going to feed him and rushes to the front of the tank to see what you have for him.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, he made his first successful escape from the box while it was up on a chair. We heard a thud, then a clang and then another thud. We looked over and here he was trucking across the floor away from the chair. On his way out he hit the cushion (first thud) then the rung of the chair (that would ebbe the clang) and then the carpet (the final thud) and then home free.

Normally his attempts are less successful as can be seen in the following photos of various landings and flips. Yes, he does right himself when he lands upside down. I think that this ability will fade as he gets larger though. If you wan to see him flip, go here. I posted it on YouTube.

Ha! Made it!

And he has apparently taught these skills to the new guy as well. He tries to escape just as much and even attempts it in the aquarium.

As time goes they seem to be getting along better together. I have seen the baby try to get on Ping Pong's back at least once but Ping Ping ran off the dock before he'd let him get on him. They sit next to each other now or at opposite ends of the dock while sunning.

All in all, not bad. They're getting used to each other. Or, more importantly, Ping Pong is getting used to the baby in the tank. The baby has started eating fish flakes, beta pellets and baby turtle pellets. I'll introduce him to fish next week. Muuuahahahhaa!!!

It has finally happened! Our offer was accepted on a house that was for sale near by. Michele and I have been looking at houses since we got here. Most of the time it was for fun and it was an easy way to go shopping that didn't involve spending any money. We were mainly looking at new construction. We've seen houses as small as 1200 square feet and as large as 7800 sqft. And here they don't include the garage in the square footage. Back in PA they do. We found that out when we were looking at houses initially to rent when we came here house hunting in 06.

The house were made an offer on was only on the market for eight days. It was supposed to be a fast sale. The house is bank-owned. All offers had to be in by the end of business two Fridays ago and they had to be the best offer possible as this was a one-shot deal. We made a high bid, as we really wanted it. While we were back East we got a call that there were nine other offers on the house and the bank was countering all of them saying "Ok, now what is your best highest offer?" What happened to one-shot? We told our agent to resubmit the offer with no change, that that was our best.

Well, today we got the call from the agent saying that our offer was the best and was accepted! Of course this means that the bank was just trying to squeeze some more out of the sale. Feh!

In any case, we're getting a house and making a home here. We will officially be Las Vegas residents with this move of just a couple of blocks.

We'll have pictures up as soon as possible but right now, time to think about home improvements.