A Tale of Two Turtles on World Turtle Day
Today is World Turtle Day, so I think it’s fitting that we were able to save a box turtle yesterday.
Dale called me yesterday morning and said, “I have a box turtle in a box.”
Ok, I’ll bite. “Why would you have a box turtle in a box?”
“He was in our bathroom, and I’m going to bring him home and let him go.”
“In your bathroom at work? That’s weird,” I said.
“Better than the skunk they found in there a few years ago,” he replied.
It was a fine idea to bring the turtle here, considering that there are busy roads all around his job and not only that, he works with some really immature and evidently cruel people.
Some of the other men at his work tossed a huge snapping turtle around a couple of years ago until it died.
When I told a friend about this, she said, “Grown men?” Yes. Sadly.
Sweet Sade Sue's Advice for Living Large
If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you’ll recognize the dog in the above picture as our Sweet Sade Sue.
Living Large in our Little House has gotten a fair amount of press over the years in publications such as Mother Earth News, US News, MSN Real Estate and Kiplinger.
Anytime a photographer has visited for one of these stories, Sweet Sade Sue has always been right there, ready to get in the picture, just like she knows what is happening.
She is pretty photogenic and, unlike our Emma was, she is not afraid of the camera.
I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago and she suggested that one of our 6-pack should be our official mascot. Since Sweet Sade Sue is already semi-famous, I thought that to be a great idea.
Sade is also a pit bull, but we like to call her a pittie or a pibble, because like many dogs of this breed that are mis-characterized and demonized, she would have no idea what to do in a pit and would want no part of it anyway.
She’s a lover and just really is a 50 pound lap dog. Anyone who has visited Our Little House with no impressions of pitties or the impressions they've gotten from the media leaves here with a whole new view of these love bugs and typically, they want to take her home.
Now that her past in another home is way behind her and she’s forgotten that she was dumped on the side of the road, she is a very fun loving girl and has some very definite ideas about what Living Large is all about.
So, today, on our Facebook page, we’ve posted a meme with Sweet Sade Sue’s picture and her first idea about Living Large. She tells me she would like to post a couple of times a week.
We hope you’ll join us there, enjoy Sade’s posts and share them with your friends.
Do you have preconceived ideas about pit bulls, if so, do positive stories help change your perception?
Pet Treat Recalls Have Us Making Our Own
I know many of our Living Large community are pet lovers.
Since 2007, when ingredients traced back to China began making pets in the U.S. sick and killing some, I’ve been doing the same thing for our pets as I have for our own food: Reading labels.
If we didn’t have a 6-pack of rescued dogs, I would definitely make our own pet food, but that is nearly impossible both financially and logistically with so many animals in the household.
I do read labels on our commercial dog food, trying to keep it grain free and organic, with companies I know source their ingredients in the U.S.
As for treats, I haven’t bought commercial dog treats for at least two years, when stories started surfacing about those making animals sick.
Stories such as this one from NBC that reports as many as 500 pets have died from jerky treats made in China, scare the daylights out of me.
Our Wild Entertainment
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OK, the secret is out. It really doesn’t take much to entertain us.
We haven’t bought each other “big” Christmas gifts for a long time. There was a time in our lives when we would spend hundreds of dollars on each other on gifts.
One Christmas during my corporate years, Dale gave me $500 worth of gift cards. I did have a really good time with them shopping the sales after Christmas, but we just don’t need “stuff” anymore.
Since moving to Our Little House, during the holidays we could afford it, we decided to spend only moderately and get something we both could enjoy.
We do love watching television series and movies on DVD, so last year, it was a small (because who needs a big screen in a little house?) flat screen.
The only two things I really wanted is a 4-wheeler to go up and get the mail and a wild life cam.
Since we didn’t win the lottery, the wildlife cam won.





