Storm Results

[katesgoey]

Hi Everyone!

The storm that raced through California yesterday left our biggest, beautiful Elm tree in tatters, wrecked the lattice fencing in the tort pens and blew off the covering over our mini horses's feed stall (that tarp covering has lasted through 5 previous years of windy stormy weather). I have to thank Yvonne for the inspiration to use plywood interiors and foam insulation for the torts' rubbermaid sheds - Tank's and Bump's insulated sheds held up great and they stayed a cozy 60 degrees + even though we lost power several times, but never more than 45 minutes (great job by the utility and emergency crews in our Central Valley area!!). I'll be busy today surveying the rest of the damage, putting things back together and hauling off elm branches (hoping the whole tree doesn't topple over until we can cut it down this weekend
How did everyone else weather the storm?

 

[Yvonne G]

We got a lot of rain, but not much wind. I always open the doors to the tortoise's sheds and they can come out if they want to...or not! None of them ventured out yesterday except the Manouria. They really love the rain. The only thing I have to clean up today is the ton of leaves that fell off the mullberry tree. I always try to save them in a dry place so the Manouria can have something to make their nests out of in the spring. Never works, though, as by the time spring arrives the leaves are so brittle they just crumble into dust!

I guess yesterday's rain storm is my first indication that I need to box up the desert tortoises and put them away. Guess I'd better go check on them.

Yvonne

 

[Weloveourtortoise]

Sorry to hear about the damage. We got hit last December with a bad ice storm that left us with out power for 4 days-- smuggled charlie into a hotel outside the damage zone. Hope the clean up is not too cumbersome.

 

[Crazy1]

In So Ca here and not much rain or wind yet. Hope all in the upper coastline fair well.
Sorry to hear of all the damage you sustained Sandy But glad the emergency crews were on their toes. Yvonne I started drying and grinding my grape leaves, Mulberry leaves and hibiscus flowers to a fine powder and using it on the spring mix during the winter. My shelled kids love it. And its blended with that bullet I got (I think it's called the silver bullet, made for drink making) Not even my blender, coffee grinder or food processor has ever done such a fast and great job.

 

[terracolson]

Well it was a wet day yesterday, it seems that the box turtle that i rescued last week , loves the rain! I was so worried she was going to drown herself, she sat in the deepest puddles and dug in the mud. She had me so worried so i brought her inside to find her doing the same in her water bowl. So out the door she went and I could see that made her happy.
My other babies all would hid in there (dog igloo) turtle house.
My back fence is leaning far over in the neighbors yard. The problem is he only speaks Russian and I am a renter, so he is trying to tell me he wants to fix the fence this am, i am telling him I am the renter and were looking at each other like "what".

Growing up in KY i have seen worse, but losing power off and on is better than the whole time. I didnt lose any limbs or trees. I am glad i was hibernating my Leo yet, i would have been so stressed. I was still testing the incubator. It seems to hold up threw the minimal power outages. I checked it after the power cam back on and it was at 30 Celsius.

Off to finish breakfast....

 

[katesgoey]

I should have clarified Northern California - quite a doozy of a storm for us, especially in October. But compared to storms in other regions, like Bonnie's and Matt's ice storm, it was mild. There were trees downed all over northern CA, "more than a few" fell on cars and houses, so we are very lucky. I'm going to have to wait for the weekend to take care of the Elm tree - the branches fell but are not "off" the tree and way too heavy for me to move.
Robyn: Thanks for the tip! Our Mulberry tree is fine so I'll have to gather the leaves and make "powder" out of them.
Terracolson - Sorry about your fence blowing over toward the neighbors. Sounds frustrating for you. Sorry, I'm a bit confused by your "leo" statement - Do you mean your Leopard tortoise? Do you have a Leopard tortoise egg incubating? I ask because Leopard tortoises don't hibernate.

 

[Yvonne G]

Yvonne I started drying and grinding my grape leaves, Mulberry leaves and hibiscus flowers to a fine powder and using it on the spring mix during the winter. My shelled kids love it. And its blended with that bullet I got (I think it's called the silver bullet, made for drink making) Not even my blender, coffee grinder or food processor has ever done such a fast and great job.

Do you pick green leaves and dry them, or do you just gather up the dead leaves that have already fallen off the trees?

Yvonne

 

[dmmj]

in my part of so cal. I got a little bit of rain, but not much just enough to water the plants. seems like I miss out on all the fun.

 

[terracolson]

Well today EVERY ONE was out and mating!!! geez, i had to move my boy, cause they wanted action!!!

Normally he is calm but it seems that since my girls have been sleepy the last couple weeks he had some built up urges!

He was SO MAD at me for doing that, all he tried to do was break over the barrier until he tired himself out. My girls all grubbed down on snails, worms and romaine today. Of course i have random things hidden, grapes, figs, then the natural environmental stuff.

its was a wild day today!