GOODBYE BRUTUS

Woof everypups and everycats. Today is a sad day. We have to say goodbye to our tortoise brother(or sister) Brutus. Mom doesn't want to give him up but she doesn't want baby tortoises either. And since she is beginning to believe that Brutus is actually a girl tortoise and Cato is a boy tortoise, she decided to find one of them a good home. Cato is a special needs tortoise(he has a damaged beak and needs help eating) so Mom found a home for Brutus. We told Mom to take the tortoises to the Doggie Doctor and get them neutered but she just looked at us like we were crazy. Anyway we will miss him because he is just like us. He likes to chew on everything and dig holes, kind of like a tiny dog with a tortoise shell on his back.

OUR NEIGHBOR HENRY

Woof everypups and everycats. Toby here, this is me and Keiko in the backyard. We were talking about our neighbor Henry.

This is Henry. He is an Emu and he lives right across the road so we see get to him a lot. He is very friendly and loves to come to the fence to say hello. Henry was found wandering in the desert a few years ago and was in really bad shape. But his human Mom and Dad took really good care of him and now he is just fine. We think he is part dog because he likes to chase cars.

SNAKES

Woof everypups and everycats, Suka's post about his fearless battle with the monstrous snake in his yard reminded us that we have a couple of snakes in our backyard.

This is a tiny Gopher snake. Mom named him Draco and even though he is very small, this little guy can grow to be nine feet long. Draco just hangs around in the backyard looking for food.

This is what Draco will become. This is a adult Gopher snake(he's about six feet long) and he's recently moved in with the tortoises. Mom hasn't named him yet, probably because he scared the puppy poop out of her the first time she saw him.


Mom says that Gopher snakes are good to have around because they keep the yard free of other snakes and rodents. That's because they have an attitude problem, they didn't get the nickname "Bull Snake" for nothing. For more info on Gopher snakes, please visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum website.

BACKYARD PHOTOS

Norman here, just thought I'd show a couple of photos of our backyard. This is me with our pool. Mom got us a new one this year because someone chewed a hole in the old one. Yeah, that's it, someone(probably a freakin rabbit) sneaked in at night and chewed a big hole in the old pool, that's what happened.

Here is a picture of Mom's favorite rock(she likes rocks, it's weird). The thing behind the rock is called an ocotillo. It's a desert plant with sharp thingys on it but it's not as bad as some plants and it gives us something else to pee on.

This is me, Keiko and Toby next to the tortoise pen. We're pretty good about staying out of the pen. We only jump into the pen in emergency situations, like when there's a rabbit or gopher in the pen. We've got to keep the yard free of those beasts.