Remember a few months ago when I found a baby tortoise just crossing the streets in front of my house?

Well, nobody claimed it (still don't know if it's male or female), so I've decided to keep it and named it "Koopa". I was thinking of "Bowser", but that sounded too masculine, and since I don't know the tortoise's gender yet, I decided to go with the slightly more gender-neutral name. So far, the little fella seems happy and healthy. I've dug a burrow for him in the backyard and everything, and I put up a rubber barrier along the other side of the house to prevent it from going under the gate.

I thought the barrier would be foolproof, but last weekend, I found the tortoise on the other side of the barrier taking a nap...

After a spring and summer plagued by home invasions by crane flies, spiders, and scorpions, it's nice to find an animal at my house that isn't a disgusting creepy-crawly critter.

While I was out getting the mail today, I found this little guy just crossing the street: