No Wonder Women Used To Be Miserable...

...household chores suck. So far three out of 5 or 6 are done and I only did two of them. Lucky for me my wife bathed the dogs yesterday. So far today, I brought my daughter's car to the shop. That meant about a mile long walk back home which was pretty refreshing even though a tad warm out today. Then, I did the lawn and garden work. I still have vacuuming and straightening up the basement to go along with maybe going shopping and also setting up the new enclosure for my Russian Tortoises. Since I also have to clean out the other critter enclosures, I probably ought to wait until done with them before I do the vacuuming - I usually make quite the mess when cleaning the tanks and such.

Nothing like taking a break for a tall cool drink of something or other though on a warm one like today. It's about 86 right now and had gotten up to around 89 degrees when I was walking home from the repair shop. Fairly humid too but nothing terrible. It would be a nice day to sit around outside sipping mint juleps but since I am not that sort of a guy (not usually anyway), I figure to have a couple of cold ones later on while outside on the patio. I may precede the cool beverages with a cleaning of a couple of pistols though. So far in my summertime gun maintenance ritual, that I commenced weeks ago it seems, I have only finished the long arms. And note, I did say the gun cleaning would precede the imbuement of my bodily fluids with cold beverages so no need to worry about a tipsy neighbor with guns around my house (at least no need to worry about me or my son ever being that guy). For now, I guess I'll start on the critters and clean up their enclosures - maybe let the bigger tortoises run around the backyard while I do so.

Oh, before I go, let me get back to the title of this piece a moment. I can fully understand why women used to be so miserable when all or the great majority of household chores fell on their shoulders; that was back in the pre-womens' lib days. It's different nowadays though so someone please explain to me why all the liberated women are still so miserable NOW. ;>)

Later 4 U,
Glenn  B

Got Rid Of Some Undesirables Yesterday

I attended the NY Metro Reptile Expo in White Plains, NY yesterday. I was lucky enough to be invited to some space at one of the vendor tables so I brought along some dead weight to get rid of. No, no, no - I was not following the advice of Confucius from my post immediately prior to this one. This did no involve grave digging at all, in fact - revenge was not a factor (well except maybe in one case). The dead weight was in the form of three ball pythons, two corn snakes, a bearded dragon and a couple of Hermann's Tortoises that I wanted to offload. I was able to sell the two Hermann's Tortoises which did me a world of good because I wound up buying all of the critter supplies I needed, buying a female Russian Tortoise to keep my male Russian Tortoise occupied (hopefully occupied as in they will breed), filled up the tank with gas and have about three times the money left over in my pocket than I had had with me when I got to the show. That was a pretty good day.

I also got rid of two of my ball pythons, and two corn snakes in trade for a Bearded Dragon. It would have been an excellent deal considering I got the three snakes for a grand total of $10 or $15 at an auction (the pair of baby corn snakes for $5.00, a ball python for $5 or $10) and the other BP for free. I say would have been a good deal had the Bearded Dragon been in excellent condition. I asked the guy (dealer's assistant) at the other dealer's table if there was anything wrong with it and he told me it was in excellent condition. I did not really look it over as well as I should have done, I guess because it was the end of the day and I was in the middle of getting out of there but still wanted to offload those snakes (just do not want to be keeping a bunch of snakes right now and am left with only one now).

Shame on me. The dragon has a pretty bad burn on it right front shoulder. I am sure it will be wind up being okay health-wise but am also sure I can never sell or trade it for even .25% of the value of an uninjured one. Never would have thought the dealer's assistant was a lying lowlife but live and learn; then again, he dealer did not mention it either. The dealer had walked away by the time my buddy saw the injury and showed me. Of course, I had to put on my reading glasses to see it well enough. I had seen it with my distance glasses on but thought it was just crap from another dragon (stupid me not to have looked better first). Oh well, I will see them at a future show and let my grievance be known.

Recently, I also recently traded a BP for a brick of 22LR ammo. I paid more for that BP than what a brick of 22 would have cost but I was okay with that trade yesterday because back when I bought it, during a charity auction, I was donating more so than buying an animal. Not quite the same as letting myself get ripped off because I was too stupid to check on the dragon I picked up yesterday. I have kicked myself and kicked again, aiming at my arse since yesterday afternoon. Regardless, once it has matured, I can use it as a breeder - I doubt the burn will effect its growth or breeding capability at all (I sure hope not).

I guess I should get myself busy, sooner or later today, in setting up a separate enclosure for the Russian Tortoises. Right after right now though, I will be off to the local garage to drop off my daughter's car for an oil change. She is in St. Martin, or someplace like that in the Caribbean, enjoying herself along with her husband. Then I guess I ought to tend to the garden and lawn, then maybe I should do some vacuuming, then the laundry, then maybe get in some shopping (I am hoping that can wait until Wednesday) and maybe then attend to the critters which means giving the dogs baths before anything else. Retired life, what a breeze - maybe I should just look for a job and hire a maid.

All the best,
GB