Odds & Ends

Is it possible for a box turtle to have a sweet tooth? Do box turtles have teeth?

Carolyn, as in Slowsky, as in the tv commercials for whatever - I think it's Comcast - was Kevin's birthday gift from Erick & Brittany. Mostly Brittany, since she kept the thing for weeks in an ice chest prior to Kevin's birthday. Anyway, Carolyn seems to prefer fresh fruit to anything else we've fed her. Lettuce, no. Cauliflower, steamed or raw, no. Shredded carrots, no. But, stick a strawberry in front of her icky, wrinkly, reptile face and she's a maniac. Grapes, too. Tomatoes. And she went ape over apricots. I guess this cancels out the "put her in the yard and let her fend for herself" idea I came up with...

The boys being as obsessed with bicycles as they are, I decided to do some internet searching to see if I could show them what we rode back in the old days.

This is not my bike, but you get the idea. Picture this bike in bright, lime green. There are white, 70's style daisies on the fenders and the chain guard, and the seat has a glittery green strip about 4" wide up the middle. No, it did not have streamers coming out of the handle grips (that was my first bike, the Schwinn Pixie I got when I was four). I loved this bike. The only thing better than having it was the fact that I won it. Yes, that's right, I colored the best Easter Bunny in the age 9-11 division! My expert use of mixed medias is what did it for me, I think - markers, crayons and a touch of glitter made my bunny stand out, ears above the rest.

I logged a lot of miles on this bike for several years. That all came to a crashing (literally) halt when I watched my friend, Melinda, do a header over the handlebars while she was riding on a rocky shoulder. The front rim was destroyed and so, since my sons weren't there to rebuild it, was my trophy bike!

I didn't ride again until high school and the Sophomore class bike-a-thon to Sausalito and back. A guy in school built me a ten-speed! Built it with his own two hands! I was impressed. We weren't even dating or anything! Anyway, it was a 40 mile ride. Lots of hills, and I confess, I walked probably 1/3 of the way. Quite a memory, though! To this day, I can remember crossing the Golden Gate Bridge with my transistor radio on my handle bars, listening to Kansas and "Carry On Wayward Son"...