Hi, everyone.
It's nice to see that people are discovering this new thread and participating: warms my old heart.
It's a rather nice day here in Delray-les-Bains, 76 degrees F, 79% relative humidity, partly sunny and windy. I tied the wind chimes together because they were making noise, rather than soothing sounds in the chord of G (major). Yes, my wind chimes are tuned in G. The weather outlook for this afternoon is bleak, with a violent storm in the forecast and a tornado watch that should be declared any time soon. Hurricane Alex has already formed off the Western coast of Africa, something that hasn't happened this early in the year since the late 1930s. The weather people here in Florida are always watching the Western coast of Africa because that's where our most damaging weather systems originate. A hurricane in January? The times, they are a-changing, as the song says.
Ah, a snake question. I love those. How did I get Lucy to eat thawed rodents? We were new to snake keeping 6 years ago. We were dog people before that. We knew nothing about reptiles. What a departure from dogs this was. Lucy was abandoned here by an irresponsible owner who picked up his clothes and returned to Indiana. When he left, we decreed that the snake would have only the best of care possible, even if it meant raising a snake. At feeding time, we would throw in a live mouse and the snake would eat it. Then, I found out that if the snake doesn't eat right away, the rodent might hurt the snake. I had to say Nay, Nay. Thawed mice started being fed to Lucy. At first, she didn't eat, but we were taking no risks and eventually, she ate them. There was no particular trick to it. Some people swing the rodent in front of their snake's nose, others hold it with tongs by the scruff of the neck and make it dance, puppet style, in front of the snake. I have no time or patience for that kind of nonsense. Plus, it reinforces the snake's attack instinct. Lucy is a well behaved ball python, with not a single mean scale on her body. She has learned to trust us and has never even tried to attack. She's a true baby. Don't get me started on Lucy's qualities.
I feel bad about leaving DG behind after 11+ years there. However, they done me wrong and Hades hath no fury like a polar bear scorned. I was there a few minutes ago. The whole site was as dead in the water as the Carnival Splendor after its engine room fire off the coast of Baja California. One of my bosses once told me: "I don't care how hard your team works on a problem. The only thing I care about is the end result.". Those two sentences were my motto for my whole career. I don't doubt that there are people working hard at DG to fix the problem. I don't care how hard they work, all I care is that the site is dead. It's callous, but I can live with myself.
I made homemade bagels yesterday. The dough rested in the refrigerator all night and I baked them for breakfast this morning. It's a bit more work than picking up a sleeve bagels at the grocery store, but the results: scrumptious. That recipe is a keeper.
Take care, everyone.
Sylvain.
