Florida Gopher Tortoise, our vulnerable friend

The Florida Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, is listed as 'vulnerable' by the Threatened and Endangered Species System. Recently, on an extended trip to Southwest Florida, I became acquainted with these stoic, marvelous animals.

Often you will see the adult members of the species out for a stroll on a sun-baked country road, and untold numbers of times I stopped my car on my way to my friend's horse farm to redirect a tortoise to a safer side of the road. This particular shelled friend had an affinity for one of the grooming stations at my friend's horse farm. On more than one occasion I would be working at the station when he would come over to say 'Hi!'

(That's him waving hello...subtle, isn't it?)

Though a herbivorous species, the extreme irritation displayed by the Florida Gopher Tortoise when you try to pick them up and move them to safety can be intimidating. They hiss loudly and blow frothy bubbles. Unless it is of paramount importance to move a tortoise, it's probably best to let them leave on their own.

Several factors contribute to the vulnerable status of these animals -- aside from human predation and carelessness, many animal predators exist: raccoons, armadillos, skunks, snakes, dogs (though we should probably class dogs as human carelessness), and fire ants. Human incidences include road mortality and construction site bulldozing in habitat areas. It is illegal to move a gopher tortoise from its habitat, but faced with burrowing tortoises in a home foundation, many homeowners resort to moving their underground neighbors in the middle of the night to what they deem may be a suitable new home.

We look to the future for these and many, many other animals on the list.

I have kept the text here simple in hopes that interested readers will look into the plight of the Florida Gopher Tortoise on their own, so here I am including some resources: The Gopher Tortoise Council, The Gopher Tortoise Organization, and an excellent article on the management of the Gopher Tortoise habitat on private property.

Everything in its right place--*

Some places inside of us were designed for one person to illuminate. When that happens it becomes impossible to determine or, indeed, even comprehend whether the light exists for the beauty or the beauty exists because of the light.

photo credit ~ Bradrick J. Pretzer

www.bradpretzer.com

Let's hear it for joy!!

The merry pranksters in our lives remind us not to take things too seriously, but rather to pay attention to what is around us and enjoy every bit of it. This horse, Echo's Aladdin Star, is one of those friends for myself and one of my bestest friends, Michele Morrisette-Galloway of Debenaire Farms in Southwest Florida. Check out her site and some of her other magnificent steeds.

O the gleesome saunter over fields and hillsides!

The leaves and flowers of the commonest weeds, the moist fresh

stillness of the woods,

The exquisite smell of the earth at daybreak, and all through theforenoon.

O the horseman's and horsewoman's joys!

The saddle, the gallop, the pressure upon the seat, the cool

gurgling by the ears and hair.

excerpt from A Song of Joys

Walt Whitman

even if--*

My birthday was Friday (thank you, thank you) and I decided that, given my failure to adopt better habits and conform to resolutions since January 1, that my birthday is a better milestone to start the year...
A metaphorical 'fiscal year', if you will...


Alanis Morissette - That I Would Be Good

If You Forget Me


I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

Pablo Neruda

--she lets the river answer--

Leonard Cohen - Suzanne

Lá Bealtaine

The month of May was come, when every lusty heart beginneth to blossom, and to bring forth fruit; for like as herbs and trees bring forth fruit and flourish in May, in likewise every lusty heart that is in any manner a lover, springeth and flourisheth in lusty deeds. For it giveth unto all lovers courage, that lusty month of May.

Sir Thomas Malory

Le Mort d'Arthur (1485)