Red Eared Sliders

Well, I finally have my computer pretty much straightened out and running smoothly. I probably shouldn’t be writing this as it just an invitation for something to go wrong.

Windows 8 is a pretty slick system. My computer is running faster than I think it ever has before and things that used to take forever to load are on the screen in the blink of an eye. Sure is nice not to have to wait forever for things to load.

I ran into a problem today when the new Canon printer would not print the background lines on the player cards generated by Ateamo running on Firefox. I have had this problem before and normally, I have just gone into the printer program and set it for background printing. This Canon does not appear to have anything like that or if it does, I have not found it yet. I got over it by opening up Ateamo in Explorer and printed the cards from there. It worked just fine. I tried it in both Safari and Chrome but it would not work on either of those browsers.

I happened to be looking out of the kitchen window to my outside driveway and I spotted this rather large turtle, a red-eared slider, walking towards the back gate. Not being one to pass up an opportunity to add to the three turtles already in the ponds who all walked up to the gate, I stepped outside to take a close look at him. He must have been travelling for a bit as his shell was really clean so I picked him up and put him into the middle pond along with another of his kind. This one was pretty big and probably measures a good eight inches or maybe even a little more. We’ll see how long he stays as I often catch them, with help from the dogs who bark their fool heads off, when they venture out of the ponds and go on a walk about.

I recently had a leak in the big pond and I isolated it to the inlet of the skimmer unit. So I let the pond drain down to the leak and then pumped a little more water out to repair it. I let it sit for a few days after adding back in some water just to make sure that I had it fixed.

As the pond water level was down by more than a foot, I took the opportunity to get in the pond and trim the plants and take out the water lilies to let them winter over in a small stock tank. I could have left them in the pond but would have to have taken them out in the spring to divide and fertilize them so today seemed like a good time. While I was in there, I also cleaned the pond out and got rid of a lot of the dead leaves although I was very surprised how few there were especially as the pond is surrounded by Live Oaks.

Satisfied that I could not do much more, I started the refill process and brought the water level up by another couple of inches. If it holds up overnight, I will add a couple more tomorrow. If it doesn’t, its back to the drawing board. I know that fifteen or so years ago, this pond had a leak which I was never able to find and I ended up rebuilding the pond to twice its original  size. Hopefully, that will not happen this time.

The new little dog Ginny, is fitting in very nicely. She has even inveigled her way into Richie’s day-to-day goings on and the two of them spend a lot of time searching for rats and mice. She is a sweet little thing and I can’t help but laugh at some of her antics. She is so skinny and eats like there is no tomorrow. She would eat all of the other dogs food if I let her.

I was looking at the dogs the other day and it occurred to me that both Abigail, BeBe and Richie have all put on weight. I never really noticed it before until Ginny came along and then I saw immediately just how chunky Richie had got. BeBe and Abigail have had weight problems for a long time. BeBe is on special food because of the removal of her gall bladder but I was determined to help the others although I am quite sure they won’t see it that way.

I stopped by PetsMart and picked out some expensive weight reducing food and at the same time, some better stuff for Danny who is a good weight and Ginny who needs building up. Now, there are three bins of food, one for BeBe, one for Abigail and Richie and the last one for Ginny and Danny. We’ll just have to see how this works out.

Talking about food, with my own Weight Watchers program, I have lost 20 pounds and am down to 157 pounds. I am trying to get to 155 which was my weight when I was in my prime, Oh so bloody long ago but those last two pounds are proving to be tough. At least, I am not putting it back on although maintenance will be a problem. Next thing will be to re-condition the muscles as most of them have disappeared leaving bags of droopy skin in their place. Really ugly…

Well today is the day. Will we have a new President or will we be keeping the one now in office for another four more years. I know what I want to happen and I have already cast my vote but from here on out, its out of my control and all I can do is hope. I will be glued to the TV this evening to see how it pans out, that is in between watching Manchester United play in the Champions League. Go Man U.

Remember, America is a Democracy and every one of you is entitled to vote. It is not only your right as a citizen but it is also your duty. If you have not already voted, I urge you get to the polls sometime Tuesday…

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