Meet Ike - May 2009

In May Joanne adopted this awesome tortoise. She named him Ikaika, or "Ike" for short. He's a really neat little guy. We even had the pleasure of having him stay at our house for a week while Joanne went out of town during the summer. It was cool seeing what a strong personality he has, and watching him change his behavior toward us as he got to be more comfortable with us. The only not fun part was when I was feeding him one time, and he misjudged the distance to the carrot I was holding, and latched on to my finger instead. Ouch! Tortoises don't have teeth, but man that beak of his is really sharp! (I had a nice blood blister to prove it.) Poor Ike was just as startled as I was, since he hung on to my finger as it (of it's own accord, mind you) tried to escape his clutches, and he thus was sent sliding about a foot across the kitchen floor.

That was a while ago, though, and we have since both recovered from the incident (thankfully he wasn't hurt or traumatized by his ride across the kitchen floor). :) And, I still say he's a very cool little dude. (I just don't offer him any SMALL carrot pieces anymore.)

For the longest time after our "tortoise-sitting" week, Arianna would ask Joanne "Where's Ike?" or "Do you have Ike with you?" anytime she came over. We haven't seen him in a while...maybe we'll have to make a visit to him one of these days soon. :)