Sliders

My son has two of these red eared slider turtles as pets. They live in a tank in my sunroom (much to my dislike because they stink, plain and simple). Said son convinced mom and dad that he had to have these critters for his 9th birthday and he is now 15, so he has had them for quite some time. Peanut and Nugget are their names. When we first got them they were no bigger than a quarter. Now they are as big as this photo shows. For a while we had 5 or 6 of these fellas, but some of them escaped. I thought it would be fun to put them in the goldfish pond in the backyard to let them have some freedom and some frolicking. Well, I made the mistake of turning my back on them for a few moments only to return to find them missing. I found two of the four that I place in the pond, the other two were never seen again! Turtles are not as slow as we are lead to believe! I think they made their way down to the river so that they could have eternal freedom. Eventually, two more escaped by climbing out of the tank. We now just have these two. One time Gus left them out in the sun too long and he thought that Peanut had dried up. So he put the turtle up to his face to see if he could feel it breathing or some such thing, and the turtle bit him on his bottom lip and wouldn't let go! How I wish I was home to see that one. He had a blood blister on his lip for about a week. I am hoping to convince the guys that these reptilian companions of theirs are in desperate need of a pond as they have seriously outgrown their tank. Hopefully we can make a pond that they cannot escape out of!
For a few days this week I went out of town with Gus for a conference. We went over to Mount Shasta. I am posting this photo of turtles, because this is what I felt like the whole time. It seems that my schedule is wearing me out quit a bit which I didn't really realize until I escaped it for awhile with some recreation. I think I slept most of the time I was there! I did get out to take a few short hikes along some beautiful trails, but most of the time I sat around the Resort reading and relaxing. I had a great time while Gus had to attend those boring, but necessary conference sessions. Good times. I will post some photos of Mount Shasta soon.