Dear Members and Friends: Our FALL meeting will be held on Saturday, October 22nd at the Robbie Waters Library (7335 Gloria Drive 95831) from 5 until however long you want to be there. There will be pre-hiberation checkups so feel free to bring your pets but please keep them in boxes and don't allow them to crawl on the floor. It's also our Pot Luck meeting so bring a dish to share!! Thank you all in advance. If your pet is already asleep, please don't wake him up. I dislike this time of the year because our turtles and tortoises begin slowing down, eating less, sleeping more, even if the weather gets warmer, they continue to slow down and then the gloomy cold foggy day comes and that is when most disappear under the ground. This is ok if they are a hardy species like three toed box turtles and the Mediterranean tortoises whose natural climate is very much like our very own in Sacramento and vicinity. It's really best if you know where they are. Truthfully, I never know where the Greeks and Hermann's or Russians have gone to. Some go underground; others simply go into the many doghouses I have around the yard and can be seen peeking out on sunny days. They are not about to miss a single day of living above ground. But they are not eating. Sometimes some of them do want a snack and I do give it to them because this is not Boston and it is not likely to snow and freeze. By 2 in the afternoon, they are snuggled back into their shelters. On gloomy days, you won't see them at all. Of course, there is always the exception!! Very often, if you see one above ground in the middle of winter, it is probably not feeling well. Don't rush it inside immediately, SLOWLY bring it indoors into the garage first and then a cooler room in your home and finally into the warmest part of the house and try to determine what is wrong. Are the eyes swollen? Has he lost a lot of weight? Is he limp? Is the nose running? Eyes sunken in? Put the tortoise in some shallow water to encourage drinking because perhaps he or she is simply dehydrated. Sometimes they will empty their bladder during hibernation and become uncomfortable. This will give you a chance to clean up the hiberation box in case they have made a mess in it. Take a peek and see if there are any worms in the box, maybe on the the newspaper (if you used it) or underneath. It's so hard to tell what is going on. You should not feed the tortoise unless you decide to keep it awake. You could consult a vet with experience with turtles and tortoises or I can put you in touch with some of our club members who have even more experience!! We can talk about how to keep your pets awake and eating indoors during the winter months at our Fall meeting. Bring your ideas and photos!! SEE YOU AT THE MEETING!!!   Thanks to all who exhibited and helped at the Turtlerama. Hoping I don't leave anyone out, My son, Don and grandchildren Penelope and Ian who worked hard all day including loading and unloading my two cars; Robin and the Greeks; Jason, Chuck with his beautiful sliders; Sharon with her box turtles; Terry, Box turtles; Betty and Bill with their desert tortoise, Tillie, Tania brought her desert tortoise, Luigi, to show off, Tracy and Steve brought their huge Sulcata, Ben, and built a corral for him so they wouldn't have to chase him all day plus a lot of hay, Joy brought her box turtles; Craig brought her walking sticks (very cool creatures!) Susan who had two small Sulcatas near Ben so people could see how large they grow and how quickly; Mary, tortoise; Mayda, sale items; Linda, turtles and lots of sale items; Terri Sheffield, Riley the Redfoot and she also ran the Kids Korner Krafts all day long! YOU DID A GREAT JOB!! Shirley bravely manned the sale table all day. Thank you all SO much for exhibiting and helping and bringing all of those plants!! Let me know if I left anyone out! I don't know the name of the people next to me who were selling baby box turtles...... We sure picked a hot day, it was 102. The employees of Incredible Pets: Jennie, Ryann, Marissa, Garrett, Jessica and Marsha were very kind to let us use their facilities and come in and cool off during the day. THANK YOU SO MUCH!   AT THE BUNKER As usual, this place was a madhouse from March until?? (It's still nuts here, people visit almost every day!) On another note, we never did rescue any of the turtles from the McKinley Park pond or the Land Park ponds. The plans kept changing and it seems if someone went to the shelter at the right time, they could have a turtle or two. Before things fell apart, I acquired the names of at least 50 people who were willing to take some of the now homeless turtles into their outdoor ponds. I've used a few of those people to adopt mine to since the deluge never ends and these did not come from the ponds, but were found running through the streets of Sacramento or turned in by people who could not care for them anymore. Unlike dogs and cats, turtles can last up to 50 years. In fact, it won't be long before I am looking for new homes for the menagerie here. In fact, I am seriously considering having someone come over once or twice a week to help since there does not seem to be any stopping the amount of turtles being turned in to the hotel for 'awhile', hospital, because they are sick or injured, hospice, because they are not going to survive their injury or illness, orphanage and maternity ward. Any amount of time spent here is worth it for what you will learn and the entertainment provided by the tortoises, mostly the Greeks and Hermann's whose energy never ceases. Of course I can't write this part of the newsletter without making everyone queasy. It did happen. And it was my fault. I was showing off again. There was a gentleman in the yard picking up a tortoise to bring home and he was admiring the Greek tortoises who kept walking around his feet, hoping for a snack or two and allowing their heads to be petted. I thought he might enjoy being abused by Zappo the Wacko who was nearby but whom I had placed in a special area so he wouldn't be running free in the yard attacking people's feet. Mistake #1 - I was wearing open toed sandals. Mistake #2 - I let him out to make love to the man's shoes. Mistake #3 - I stopped paying attention and the next thing I know there was a sudden terrible pain on the side of my big toe on my right foot. ^#$%#$ Zappo got me!! It was deep and it hurt and it would not stop bleeding! I had to sit down on the porch step and I wrapped it as tight as I could with some paper towels I grabbed out of the kitchen. The gentleman said, "are you allright?" And I was honest and said, "I don't know".........(I truly was scared!) But I wrapped it up really tight and put a sneaker on and escorted the man to his car and smiled, etc. and wished him good luck with the tortoise. After he drove off, I limped back into the house and laid down for awhile, cussing myself for being so stupid. It's been five weeks. You can tell something happened to my toe, but it's much MUCH better and Zappo is still not loose in the yard and won't be until it's time to wear boots again!! And that's about it from The Bunker. Please keep in touch over the winter months and express any concerns you have regarding your pets. Have a wonderful Holiday season and hopefully we can have another Round Table Pizza Party Meeting on January 14 or so. Thank you for all of your support throughout the years. How time flies!!!   For Sale: Beautiful Cherryhead Redfoot for sale - about 5 months old $125. 707-648-1037 turttort16@yahoo.com