Yesterday was quite the day it went like this .........
The annoying anggg angggg anggggg sound of the alarm at 2 a.m. We have a pot bellied pig (Salt) that lives in the house in a large Dog Crate that needed a couple hours after eating to be allowed to go potty before going back in the crate, it's going to be a long day. By 4:15 a.m. family is loaded up and headed out, we had an almost 4 hour drive to our first destination. 8 a.m. arrive at the wife's fathers home, quick visit and we're off again. Taking into account Homers "Mom"/"Mum" was an elderly woman we wanted this to be as easy as possible for her and her family. The 2 families arrived at the meet at almost the exact same time, understandably Mom wasn't there as this was a lot of driving. As the back hatch of the delivery vehicle opened and we got our first look at homer he was huge. Much larger than any other Desert tort we had experienced. Some may guess (after a 100+ mile drive) what was waiting for us, poop ... good healthy moist poop, a great sign. I instinctively just reached in grabbed it and threw it into the field next to us, this was an unexpected thing for the @CASiokos family, but not for the Epps family it's a pretty normal thing. As we started to talk and learn the story of Homer CASiokos pulled out a phone and showed us a picture of the mother saying goodbye to Homer. This was a punch in the middle of the throat to me, I suddenly had a very hard time swallowing, eyes were starting to get watery and my stomach had this terrible empty ache. 60+ years of love I was seeing in that picture, and it wasn't going to end now. To have something in your life you care so much for, for so long not be there right with you anymore ..... Damn this was hard. We continued to talk and share with each other information and take some pics, we gave the family an open invitation to come visit Homer anytime. We did not share this with them but we are currently working on a place guest may stay overnight at our home, this is a perfect example of the need for this. We placed Homers "House" in the trunk and put started to talk of "where he was riding." "He's not going into the trunk," sarcastically one said ... "HELL no he's riding in the car" I replied "I love it" was the immediate response. Our family does everything together and this was no different, this was something money could never buy and we all were getting to enjoy it.
As we headed out on the long journey home it was kinda of an unknown how he would react, would he be stressed would he want to escape in fear of what was happening. None of the above as you see in this pic.
The whole ride home no radio, no silence just one hell of a happy family talking about this special day and what lies ahead. About 140 miles from home we hit the worst rain storm our family had ever had to drive through, so much water falling hydroplaning was not avoidable. We even past an idiot (scratch that no name calling) that flew by us a few miles back with his vehicle latched onto the guard rail and a VERY upset woman crying in the passenger seat ... Ha, should of slowed down like I'm sure she was saying. To reach home from here we have a very dangerous road to travel, the Kern River Canyon, so my goal was to get ahead of the storm and get through that canyon before the rain. We did but there was a car that didn't shortly behind us, 300 feet of the cliff they went. Very sad but nothing unusual for this road, accidents happen here some days several times. SIDE NOTE: Merle Haggard song "I'll never swim Kern River again" this is it. Of course none of this phased the old timer riding like a King in his Carriage. We did make it home with our special guest and still overflowing with excitement and the understanding of how "special" this really was. He seems to be adjusting well (in this short time), we will keep him separate from the other torts (quarantine) for a long while, just to protect them and especially him. Homer will be in the new Desert Tortoise area with the others this summer, still no name yet @Yvonne G is task with picking the name for this hopefully rare type of enclosure for Desert Torts.... All Natural.
We would like to Thank the family for sharing their hard work, compassion, time and most of all loved family member with us, it is not missed by us. This family's dedication to Homer will inspire new peoples passion for Tortoises and all other animals through the educational events, shows we do, I am sure of it.
We will continue Homers story here on this thread for all to enjoy.
Crazy Rain ......it's coming
Almost home ...Mouth of the Canyon
And finally Home
The annoying anggg angggg anggggg sound of the alarm at 2 a.m. We have a pot bellied pig (Salt) that lives in the house in a large Dog Crate that needed a couple hours after eating to be allowed to go potty before going back in the crate, it's going to be a long day. By 4:15 a.m. family is loaded up and headed out, we had an almost 4 hour drive to our first destination. 8 a.m. arrive at the wife's fathers home, quick visit and we're off again. Taking into account Homers "Mom"/"Mum" was an elderly woman we wanted this to be as easy as possible for her and her family. The 2 families arrived at the meet at almost the exact same time, understandably Mom wasn't there as this was a lot of driving. As the back hatch of the delivery vehicle opened and we got our first look at homer he was huge. Much larger than any other Desert tort we had experienced. Some may guess (after a 100+ mile drive) what was waiting for us, poop ... good healthy moist poop, a great sign. I instinctively just reached in grabbed it and threw it into the field next to us, this was an unexpected thing for the @CASiokos family, but not for the Epps family it's a pretty normal thing. As we started to talk and learn the story of Homer CASiokos pulled out a phone and showed us a picture of the mother saying goodbye to Homer. This was a punch in the middle of the throat to me, I suddenly had a very hard time swallowing, eyes were starting to get watery and my stomach had this terrible empty ache. 60+ years of love I was seeing in that picture, and it wasn't going to end now. To have something in your life you care so much for, for so long not be there right with you anymore ..... Damn this was hard. We continued to talk and share with each other information and take some pics, we gave the family an open invitation to come visit Homer anytime. We did not share this with them but we are currently working on a place guest may stay overnight at our home, this is a perfect example of the need for this. We placed Homers "House" in the trunk and put started to talk of "where he was riding." "He's not going into the trunk," sarcastically one said ... "HELL no he's riding in the car" I replied "I love it" was the immediate response. Our family does everything together and this was no different, this was something money could never buy and we all were getting to enjoy it.
As we headed out on the long journey home it was kinda of an unknown how he would react, would he be stressed would he want to escape in fear of what was happening. None of the above as you see in this pic.
The whole ride home no radio, no silence just one hell of a happy family talking about this special day and what lies ahead. About 140 miles from home we hit the worst rain storm our family had ever had to drive through, so much water falling hydroplaning was not avoidable. We even past an idiot (scratch that no name calling) that flew by us a few miles back with his vehicle latched onto the guard rail and a VERY upset woman crying in the passenger seat ... Ha, should of slowed down like I'm sure she was saying. To reach home from here we have a very dangerous road to travel, the Kern River Canyon, so my goal was to get ahead of the storm and get through that canyon before the rain. We did but there was a car that didn't shortly behind us, 300 feet of the cliff they went. Very sad but nothing unusual for this road, accidents happen here some days several times. SIDE NOTE: Merle Haggard song "I'll never swim Kern River again" this is it. Of course none of this phased the old timer riding like a King in his Carriage. We did make it home with our special guest and still overflowing with excitement and the understanding of how "special" this really was. He seems to be adjusting well (in this short time), we will keep him separate from the other torts (quarantine) for a long while, just to protect them and especially him. Homer will be in the new Desert Tortoise area with the others this summer, still no name yet @Yvonne G is task with picking the name for this hopefully rare type of enclosure for Desert Torts.... All Natural.
We would like to Thank the family for sharing their hard work, compassion, time and most of all loved family member with us, it is not missed by us. This family's dedication to Homer will inspire new peoples passion for Tortoises and all other animals through the educational events, shows we do, I am sure of it.
We will continue Homers story here on this thread for all to enjoy.
Crazy Rain ......it's coming
Almost home ...Mouth of the Canyon
And finally Home
