NATIONAL REPTILE BREEDERS EXPO -- 2011

The old saying is: "Time flies when you are having fun".  Well, I don't know about the "fun" part, but I do know the older I get, it does seem that life is somehow speeding up.

It was a week ago today that I returned from my four-day trip to Florida.  It's an annual trip; to attend the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona Beach  & pay a visit to my Mother in Wildwood, Florida.

I have to admit the "visit" is also a chance to ... check up on her.  Living so distant from each other, I often have to "assume" she is doing okay & "taking care of herself".  She's going to be 84 in a few weeks & she lives alone.  The visit with Hilda -- no matter how quick -- provides me some self assurance that she is in good health & not digressing into some old person, who's abnormalities will soon be appearing on some sort of low rated cable TV show.

 Not to worry.  All is okay in Wildwood.  Actually, despite the 20 year differences in our ages, I sometimes think Mom has more energy than me.  She informed me during our visit, she had booked airline tickets to go to England in a few weeks to visit her sister.  Also, she wants to come to Arkansas -- again -- for Christmas this year. What can I say ??  One member of the Burnett family sure likes to travel.

After my "inspection", it was off to Daytona Beach & the focus returning to reptiles by the thousands.

 The "host" hotel each year is the Hilton.  It's very nice, with all sorts of "resort" amenities.  I always enjoy staying there & it is the one time a year in which I do ... "bad things".  That would be eating all sorts of non-normal food -- think, scrambled eggs, sausage links & fried potatoes -- for breakfast each day, food not on my menu during the other 51 weeks, nor in my kitchen. [I do work out in the hotel fitness center each morning.]

 The beach & ocean were in fine form this year.  I spent Saturday morning at the beach, enjoying "Floridays -- blue sky's & ultra violet rays". [For those not hip to the fact ... "Floridays" is a Jimmy Buffett song.]

The Expo is held in the Ocean Center, which is the auditorium & convention complex directly across A1A from the Hilton.  In the photo above, the Expo is located in the back, center (huge) building.

 This year, there were over 500 vendors.  Some are major companies & many others, just hobbyists who raise reptiles & hope to make a few bucks by selling the offspring of the reptiles they breed. [No "wild caught" animals can be sold at the Expo.]

 With the large venue, there is plenty of room to look, browse & buy.

 For me, the Expo becomes a day & a half of walking ... looking ... walking ... & looking some more.  So much to see.  So many people to visit & talk with.

 Petsmart had a display, with a 'spin the wheel game' for a prize. They also gave out coupons for free live crickets at any of their stores.  I'll use the coupon -- for my geckos -- but I would have liked some off-price coupon for cat food. [That would be a different show.]

The Turtle Source is a high-end turtle breeder, which has a lot of quality animals, at those high-end prices.  Of all the animals I looked at for my time at this years Expo, this was the only seller who had a turtle I was interested in buying. However, the price -- $595.00 -- was a bit more than I wanted to pay.

 Exo-Terra -- a manufacturer of cages & reptile supplies -- had a very nice display & some interesting & informative people staffing it.

The baby turtles at this display are covered by a screen.  This helps prevent any "five-fingered discounts".

 I talk each year with the fella who sells the baby African tortoises shown above. I like his display because it keeps the tortoises active & "cute".  And if you buy a couple & raise them to adults -- so you can breed them & come to the Expo & sell the results -- consider the adult tortoises would be almost three foot long & weigh close to 100 pounds.  One reason I never buy any of these "cuties".

 Of course, the Expo has snakes.  Literally thousands are on display & for sale.  Most snake breeders are raising "color morphs" never found in the wild.  The more unique the color/pattern, the higher the price to buy one.  I just like to "look".

 More snakes.  Lots of albinos.

 The above are African Fat-Tailed Geckos.  They are a favorite of mine & at one time, I had a large breeding colony.  They are another reptile being raised with unique color variations & thus, unique price ranges to buy them.

As every year, for the past 20 years straight, I enjoyed my time at the National Reptile Breeders Expo. It's fun to see what is "new" & to visit with old friends & make new friends.

One thing different this year.  I didn't buy any animals to bring home with me.  Nothing stood out as a "must have".  So this year, my total expenses at the Expo itself totaled just $24.00. That's $20.00 for two books & $4.00 for a Cherry Coke in the food court. [It didn't taste that good.]

And for all those folks reading this, who hate snakes, find them scary & threatening & will run screaming at the sight of one: ENJOY !!

THAT WAS QUICK

We're back already !! That extended weekend in Florida -- to visit with my Mother & attend the National Reptile Breeders Expo -- is already done & gone. That was quick.

I left here last Thursday morning -- the 18th -- & flew to Daytona Beach via Atlanta.  Then I rented a car & drove to Wildwood, Florida to see my Mother.  Back to Daytona on Friday for a weekend of all the fun & excitement of thousands of reptiles; snakes, turtles, lizards, along with all the crazy people -- including me -- who enjoy such animals.

Returning home to Arkansas this morning meant everyone returning home, as I stopped at the Vets to get my three little darlings -- Precious, Nibblets & THE WOBBLER -- who like me, where anxious to get back to "normal".  [Whatever that is in this household.]

The above photo was intended to be a two-part sequence: the girls in their carriers & then a photo of them stepping out all together for a nice homecoming photo. Didn't work.  They were too fast for me & the camera.

We are all back home now.  After all the planning & preparations, the long weekend was over quick.

REPTILE BREEDERS EXPO TIME ... AGAIN

My home is all mine right now.  No sharing of the bed or couch. No being concerned with tripping over anything laying on the floor ... like a cat.  My house is empty.  All three girls are ... gone. The silence is deafening.

It's the time of the year when all three cats -- Precious, Nibblets & THE WOBBLER -- have their annual visit to Foster Animal Hospital.  They get their physicals, which include all their booster shots, checked for worms & ear mites, have their flea & tick treatments applied, along with mammograms & pelvic exams.  [Well, maybe not those last two.]

All three will also be having a few "vacation days", as they are being boarded through the weekend.  It is convenient -- and planned -- that their annual check-ups coincide with my annual August trip to Florida for the National Reptile Breeders Expo.

Every year I attend this event, first held in Orlando, but now located in Daytona Beach.  This will be -- I am pretty sure -- my 20th straight year to attend.  [I somehow missed the first two years of the Expo.] With a record like that, you know I enjoy going each year.

This is also one of the times when I go visit my Mother in Wildwood, Florida.  It's kind of a "two-fer" trip; seeing my Mom & then cavorting with hundreds of people selling thousands of snakes, turtles, lizards & all sorts of stuff having to do with reptile keeping & breeding.

I am looking forward to Daytona once again & another Reptile Breeders Expo.

I'll also look to coming back home -- with "purchases" ?? -- & again sharing my home with Precious, Nibblets & THE WOBBLER.  I miss them already.

MEOWATHON - 2011

Today I am filling out & mailing my registration form for this year's MEOWATHON 5K race in Memphis, Tennessee.  This annual race -- it's the 8th this year -- will be held on Saturday, November 19th in Overton Park. [Good location.  Run in the race & then visit the Panda's at the Memphis Zoo, also in Overton Park.]

It will be my fifth straight year to participate in this event, which is a fund raiser/sponsorship for The House of Mews -- a non-profit, no kill, cat sanctuary/shelter & adoption agency located in the Copper-Young section of Memphis.  Details on the HOM & the MEOWATHON can be found by clicking here.

This is one event I mark on my calendar each year, & as my friends know, one of the very few reasons for me to get my butt out of Arkansas & make the two hour drive over to Memphis. Knowing the hard work & effort Elain Harvey & her volunteers put into the daily operation of providing for (at least) 100-plus cats/kittens at the HOM, attending & contributing to the MEOWATHON is the least I can do.

Come join me -- & several hundred others -- Saturday morning, November 19th, at 9 A.M. in Memphis.  You can run, walk or just cheer everyone trying to help out some sweet, helpless kitties.

Or ... if if you can't make the event, look at the HOM web site & donate a few $$.  They take cash & "cards".  They even have PayPal.

SUMMER CAT CARE IN ARKANSAS

In the few years I have been involved with my cats -- "involved", because nobody really "owns" a cat -- I have found Summer is a time of year when cats often prove more problematic than they warrant.  What with shedding hair, bringing dirt & insects into the house, not to mention the pieces of cat litter which some how find it's way to all points in the house, the problems cats bring to the relationship with humans, seems too much in favor of the cats.

As I previously wrote on this blog, last Summer I experimented with keeping my cats in old, dry tropical fish aquariums.  It worked out well & certainly eliminated many of the problems I addressed in the paragraph above.  Limiting the cats access to the house & keeping them confined proved to be a real bonus for me, & the cats -- finally -- seemed to adjust.

 I started earlier this year to implement the same technique for keeping my cats ... ah, confined.  Actually, they adapted so well, in many instances, I was able to keep more than one cat per aquarium.  It sure was helpful to limit the space required per cat.

What I did not factor, nor plan for, was the extreme heat we have had in Arkansas this Summer. With no air conditioning & only limited cross breezes through screened windows, the aquariums on the enclosed porch developed conditions which proved to be a bit ... "extreme".

Returning home one afternoon, I found one of my cats comatose & apparently not breathing due to the high heat on the porch, no doubt acerbated by the glass top on the aquarium, further limiting air circulation in the cats tank. [Learned a lesson there; slide the glass top back an inch or so to let in some fresh air.]

At first I wasn't all that concerned, as the cat -- Nibblets -- has always been the least social of the three cats, & really, I could get by with just two cats.

Still, I remembered a news story where firemen had used a form of CPR on some kittens to revive them from smoke inhalation at a fire.  I tried it on the limp cat & -- SURPRISE -- it worked.  Nibs came back to life & to this day has no ill effects of her ordeal, other than she can only drag her left, back leg.  [Works for me, since now she can't jump up on the furniture any more.]

I have decided on a better way this year to keep my cats, a method which combines the best of several features.  I'm keeping them in the outdoor tortoise compound.

 Above is Wobs shown living in the outdoor, chain linked area where previously only the tortoises lived.  By adding the cats to the enclosure, the cats have the benefit of being outside, they can adjust to the hot weather by trying to find shade & when it rains, they don't get too wet.  Now, if I could just get the cats to eat the vegetables I feed the tortoises, I'd save money on cat food & additionally, extra trips outside to feed them
.

All the felines & reptiles (seem) to get along quite well. There is no competition for food & the outdoor conditions have prevented any more chances of the cats developing heat stroke.  An added saving financially is, since they are now outdoors 24/7 & don't come inside the house, I no longer have to spend money on their monthly (expensive) flea & tic treatments. 

I recommend this type of cat care to anyone living where the Summer temperatures can be extreme.  Believe me, cats can adjust to just about anything & really do not need to be pampered.  My cats have proved to be resilient & just as tough as the tortoises in the outdoor conditions.  Heck, even Nibblets, dragging her bad leg behind her, manages quite well in this set-up.

Summer cat care in Arkansas.  Proudly ... no longer a problem.

FRIENDS OF FUNGUS

The continuing hot/dry weather has me daily either dragging H2O hoses or carrying  H2O in a large watering can to all parts of my property in an almost constant effort to keep trees & plants alive in this brutal weather.  I try to get an early start to my efforts; to beat the heat & get the job ... over with.

Walking behind the storage shed this A.M., I was aware of my outdoor cooking grill, which sits there basically unused for the past few years.  Lifestyle changes & adjustment to eating habits have made my diet mostly that of a vegetarian.  The days of standing next to a the burning grill, a glass of rum & coke in hand -- probably one of several -- making sure the steaks, burgers -- whatever -- were cooked to perfection, now seem to be a thing of the past.

Cooking on the grill -- strictly a ... "Man's Job" -- was something I inherited from my Father.  I used to cook outside on a regular basis, but still not as often as my Father. Weekend's would find Dad cooking over the charcoal grill, which was usually our families ideal "Sunday Dinner".  Rain or shine ... Dad would be grilling.

In remembering my Father's expertise in grilling outdoors, it's interesting to note that after my parents moved to Florida -- about 25 years  ago -- my Dad didn't grill dinner very often like he once did.  I guess a lot of things changed in their lives -- not just the climate -- when they relocated. 

I do still remember a very fine meal we had as a family -- one of the last of this scenario -- when they still lived in Honeoye, New York & I was up from Tennessee on vacation.  It was a steak dinner, with all the right fixings: baked potato, garlic bread, green beans -- fresh from my Mother's garden -- & mushrooms. Yum !!

As I was remarking about the quality & flavor of both the green beans & the mushrooms, my Father tossed out this little tid-bit; the mushrooms he had picked himself, off the side of the hill, down by the creek !! My response was something to do with the potential that the fungus we were eating might be poisonous.  Dad's only assurance that these were indeed mushrooms -- & not "toadstools" -- was that "...they looked okay".

Well, none of us got sick & for his next birthday, I gave my Father a book on North American Mushrooms.

Since that time -- as well, really, even prior to that -- I have always been careful of the mushrooms I eat.  None of the "fancy fungus" many of the grocery stores now stock on their shelves these days.  For me, it's strictly "friendly fungus" ... meaning the large, white mushrooms you will find in most food stores. 

I currently buy my mushrooms in large packages at Sam's Club. I have to admit I eat very little of them; a few on a salad now & then.  The majority of the package is meant for the tortoises, who more often than not, quickly eat the initial offering of mushrooms, causing me to have to provide "seconds".

It's interesting to note that tortoises suffer no ill effects of eating  tainted mushrooms or toadstools.  However, many a person has gotten sick -- & died -- from eating a tortoise, after the animal had ingested the "fatal fungus".  The warning: Don't Eat Turtles & Tortoises".

The above photo shows my tortoises going full tilt at a plate of one of their favorite foods, showing they are truly ... "friends of fungus".

"PRINCESS-SUMMER-FALL-WINTER-SPRING"

Many times I have been on the receiving end of e-mails related to events from the past: highlighting & celebrating items, such as products & entertainment which seem to be nostalgia now to many of my "older" friends.

I have noted from the "Nostalgia E-Mails" -- as I refer to them -- they have a lot of old black & white TV shows referenced.  I guess this was before color & high-definition televisions.  At least, that is what I have been told.

I guess older people think things were better ... "back then".  Maybe so.  Since I am only 34 years old, I'll have to give my friends the benefit of the doubt.

One TV show for kids which seems to bring fond memories was called The Howdy Doody Show.  [Where did they come up with that name ??]  All the characters -- except for two humans: Buffalo Bob Smith  & Clarabelle The Clown, (a pre-Captain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan) -- were marionettes: wooden toy-size figures, controlled by strings/wires.  [Get this.  The wires or strings, whatever ... WERE VISIBLE !!]

Now days, there would only be one word for a show like Howdy Doody;  CANCELED.  Talk about lame.  The show was almost as bad as the  Kukla, Fran & Ollie show. Well, at least that's what I've been told. [I'm too lazy to look it up on U-Tube.]

One of the marionettes was called Princess-Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring, or something like that ... so I have been told.  Anyway, I was thinking of that name today, as the combination of seasons seems to be the name quite applicable to the current weather conditions in Arkansas.

Yesterday, they had the highest temperature in ever recorded in Little Rock.  Ever. 114 degrees.

A new name for this time of year might be "Summer-Fall", sort of like the Princess. The calendar has us at the beginning of August (Summer) but the heat & dryness, has it looking like Fall.  It's "Summer-Fall" for sure.

 Many of the trees on my property are shedding their leaves in large quantities, littering the ground.  The Dog Wood Tree -- in the right of the above photo -- has wilting leaves from the lack of rain.

 The creek bed is also littered with falling leaves.  It's been a long time since there was any H2O in the creek.

 Looking back towards the house -- & the Dog Wood Tree now on the left -- it is just leaf litter everywhere. It sure looks like Fall.

From lack of rain -- in areas where I am not hauling H2O or pulling hoses to H2O trees -- the ground is cracking from the dryness.

This "Summer-Fall" reminds me of The Howdy Dooty Show & Princess Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring.

I am sure glad I've receive all those e-mails from my older friends, so I would know about TV shows back then & how they brought so much joy to kids when times were a lot different.

At least, that's what I've been told.

BUT ... IT'S A DRY HEAT. NOT !!!

Many years ago, after having lived in Memphis, Tennessee long enough that my Yankee-born butt had grown tolerant of  the annual Summer heat & humidity, a friend & I  went on a cross-county road trip to Los Angeles.  At the time, he was the Veterinarian for the Memphis Zoo & during our drive (in his convertible MG sports car) we made it a habit to stop at every zoo between Memphis & L.A. It was a trip were I learned too much about zoo's & the treatment & conditions their captives received, causing me today to look at all zoo's with a less than favorable view. [I'll save that story for another time.]

Since our trip was about the same time of year as now, we understandably encountered some very warm weather on our drive on Interstate 40 & Route 66.  The worst/highest temperatures where in the deserts between Tucson & Southern California.  I'll add that we probably didn't bring enough H2O with us & the heat was so intense we drove with top UP on the car, which itself responded by having all the dials & gauges on the dashboard fail at the same time.

We did make a stop -- requested by me -- in Gila Bend, Arizona.  As a life-long reptile lover, I have always envisioned the place to be some sort of town dedicated to the fabulous -- & poisonous -- pink & black, Gila Monster lizard.  You know, a town square with a giant over-sized lizard, celebrating some point in the history of the town. 

Sorry !!  They had zilch.

I did take time to mail a few post cards at the local Post Office ... to get the cancellation with the name "Gila Bend" across the stamps. I remember vividly, watching out the window, a young girl walking across the parking lot ... in her bare feet.  It was 10:30 in the morning & the temperature was already showing on the bank sign to be 110 degrees.

Of course, when talking about the high temperatures associated with the Western states, many times it is stated it is hot ... but ... "It's a dry heat". As if the sun wasn't frying everything on the surface of that Post Office parking lot, including that girl's feet.

I don't know how the little girl wasn't burning the soles of her feet.  Maybe she was used to it & could tolerate the heat.  She certainly didn't seem to be moving all that fast.

Maybe it was a "dry heat", but the steering wheel, or really, any surface, was blistering hot & to be avoided. [Cut to Weatherman & camera crew showing the temperature conditions, by frying an egg on the ground.  It would have worked in that Post Office parking lot.]

I am reminded of that trip & the weather conditions we experienced at times like now.  The thermometer at my place currently reads 100 degrees. The "official temperature" is probably closer to the forecasted high for today of 107. 

The "Heat Index" also has to be factored into the equation: the feeling of the heat & humidity combined.  The humidity can easily add another 10 degrees to the feeling one gets on their skin in the current weather we have.  There is NO "dry heat" in this part of the country.

 Most afternoons, the heat & humidity in the air will combine to produce "scattered thunderstorms".  For the past several days it has clouded up & thunder can be heard in the distance.

And for the past several days that is all we have had locally -- clouds & noise.  No rain.  Some place in Arkansas got the rain, but not here.

 I'm still running hoses & hauling H2O every other day, trying to keep trees & plants alive through the drought & heat.  So far, there are no "restrictions" on H2O usage, like there is with the "Burn Ban" currently in effect.

The photo above is the driveway & entrance to my home.  It seems like so long ago that it had a much different look.

 Above is how the same location looked months ago & about 70-80 degrees cooler.

 While I am NOT a big watermelon fan & only eat it on occasion -- unlike a lot of people in this state --it is a good, cooling treat for the Red Footed Tortoises. They get right into it & enjoy the refreshment it brings in this weather.

And ... Precious wanted everyone to know the weather doesn't bother her much.  She stretches out on the concrete sidewalk, or in the shade under the truck, & doesn't let the heat -- dry or humid -- affect her.