This afternoon we dug a new hole in the tortoise yard to replace a Yucca that died. When I was through, being tuckered on a hot afternoon, I sat on the patio, under the awning and in the shade. I thought I that I deserved a rest and would finish the planting in the AM. Well, no rest for the wicked. As my wife and I sat enjying a cool drink, two of our CDTs came over to explore. Our big male started walking around and around the permeter of the hole, stopping to look in, craining his neck as if to say, "OK. . . this wasn't here this morning. What the dickens is it doing in MY territory?" It was hilarious. He simply couldn't figure it out. He then began shoving the dirt back into the hole. Then, as all this was occuring, one of our adolesent females came over exploring as well. She couldn't figure it out either. After my wife and I got over our laughter, I began to fear that one of our darlings might fall into the hole, perhaps flipping. Well, we couldn't have that. My dear wife "encouraged" me to finish the planting before an accident ocurred. I did. All is now well, and back to normal. Tomorrow, the torts can figure out what this stout cactus is doing in their territory. I await to see if one of our little Ninjas will try plowing though it instead of going around. I did say that it is a stout cactus. Nobody can ever convince me that tortoises aren't well aware of what's happening within their realm. I only wish that I'd have thought to take a picture, but I didn't.
