Basra is now a resident of the Phoenix Herpetological Society in Scottsdale, AZ after 16 years in Buffalo.

This 4:30 in the morning we dragged him out of bed, put him in a dog kennel, and got him on the flight to Phoenix. The airpot cargo man was pretty strange. It all was so unceremonious.





I felt guilty sending him away - their website even acknowledges how many sulcatas they receive from people who can't keep them anymore. But I know he'll be a lot happier living in warm weather year round. Who knows, maybe he'll even like their other tortoises?

Since we are sponsoring him, he stays in a special area and we're allowed to arrange visits up to twice a month. (E:lilho) you should stop by. It's too bad Phoenix is such a car centric city and so far away. Cross country bike trip there one day?





See ya later beasty!

(e:paul), (e:terry) and I went for a long walk today. The weather was perfect.

Feeding the beast before we went.



The mushrooms on this tree on Ferry Street are going to town. Surprisingly the tree seems very alive.



While we walked down Elmwood, they had a daytime trick or treat going on. I notice there's a lot more of these things going on and not many night trick or treaters. Are parents really too scared to take their kids at night?

The worst I've heard is "trunk or treating" where you go to a parking lot and go from trunk to trunk for candy. If my parents ever made us do that growing up I think I would have died.

Notice for a lost dog ;(


On the way back we met up with (e:mike) and went to the bougie smoothie place next to the fancy salad place. It was good but very overpriced.

We walked down to Allen Street - look at this art inside the hoarder store. (e:xandra), that rear painting is meant for you.

One of the best looking streets in Buffalo is Timon Street. It has a full canopy of elms on it running between Genesee and Northampton. It even has a brick road. How have they survived?

I can't imagine back in the day when every street in Buffalo had a canopy like this.

There are disease resistant elms now . I would love to have one - a big tree that could withstand snow, salt, and not fuck up all the pipes and sidewalk. Especially compared to the twigs the city plants now.

Saturday was a lot of shopping.

First off (e:paul) and I went to the farmers market. It was good as usual, except for one farm. I need to confirm which one it is next week before I publish the name - but when we got up to get our fruit, the trashy lady was swearing and complaining about something being "fucking sent her way" and gave us a knowing look - I ignored it not knowing what she was talking about. When we finished our transaction and walked away, I saw the only other people at that stand was a family speaking Arabic. I can't believe how ridiculously racist that was and she looked to us for some sort of confirmation. I'm making sure to never buy anything from that stand again.

This put me in a bad mood. Then we had to go to Cheektowaga Target to look for a container to ship Basra and I went nuts. Sorry I was so miserable Paul - I shouldn't take the culture hate all out on you.

Here is childrens' olive oil they have - how could it really taste that different?

A gold spray painted geode

And royal tabloid news for (e:mike)


It turns out Target didn't have a box big enough for the beast so we went to the nearby pet store. This is some shopping I am okay with, because we got to see:
Meerschweinchen!


and birds



and Paul looked at orthapedic dog beds (they were really comfy)

It almost felt like cheating but I even looked at a Russian tortoise. He only gets to 8 inches, and lives 50 years. He also hibernates.

Lots of ridiculousness was had, especially by (e:mike). And lots of candy. Congrats to (e:heidi) and Bobbi.