Salmon

Actually, my mom thinks that my favorite food is spinach, and yes, I really love fresh spinach, but so far my favorite food is salmon. Mom has a good salmon recipe which she is posting to her food blog, QuickKosherRecipesfromtheUES@blogspot.com. I hear that I will be eating a lot of spinach and salmon over Pesach. I am soooo happy! Can't wait!

Precious Stones

My Aunt, Havivah Reynah, sent my mom precious stones back at Chanukah time. My mom was not quite sure what to do with them. I heard through the grape vine that mom wants to add the precious stones to my tank, well, because, I'm precious! She needs to get the o.k. from Aunt Havivah. I hope Aunt Havivah will say that I can have them in my tank! I love having one Aunt and two Uncles. Uncle Ari sent a funny picture to my mom when she first got me. If I can figure it out I will post it to the web. It's a picture of a stack of pancakes with a turtle in the middle. Very funny Uncle Ari! I can't wait to meet my mom's siblings. They seem really cool.

My New Tank

See how big this place is. It's as if my mom were living in a 600 square foot apartment! One day, I hope she will. I pray for her every night!!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Mom went to back to work this week. Now I can do what I want all day long. No babysitters either! I love it when I can just be me! I fell asleep by the time mom came home from work. That's o.k. because she still admired me and told me how cute I was and I heard it in my sleep.

Mom has been taking new pictures of me but she's too tired from work to post them. So, hopefully on the weekend she can update the site.

I am getting used to the big tank. It's great. I get lost in it. Spinach is my favorite food. I really don't care for crickets but I don't want to hurt mom's feelings so I hid the crickets under the kale leaves so she will think that I ate them.

So, I'm going back to sleep. Will write more soon.

Movin' on Up

Well, when I just started out my very first tank couldn't even fit 10 gallons of water. It was one size smaller than that. The dimensions were 9 and 1/2/ inches tall, 16 inches in length, and 8 and 1/4 inches in total depth. It cracked a lot and my mom was worried that it might break open and I would run away or get hurt, or maybe she would get hurt from the glass. So she decided to throw it out and the new pet store only had 10 gallon tanks. So, last night I moved into my new home. It is 20 inches in length, 10 inches in width, and 12 inches high.

I have to admit I was a bit overwhlemed and excited. I also got new fake leaves, and another basking rock. The place is so big I am sure that my mom will get me a sibling.

We have talked about getting a sibling for me. The problem is I am so small that it is hard to find a companion that is my size. Also, my mom has heard stories that sometimes one turtle gets bigger than the other and than picks on the smaller one. Also, my mom has read books on the subject matter and she read that two girl turtles will get along nicely, and a boy and a girl turtle will get a long nicely, but two boy turtles might fight. I certainly do not need an older brother picking on me--that's for sure!!

The other problem is we do not know for sure if I am a boy or a girl. My mom thinks I am a boy, and I think I am a boy, but nowadays, genders can change in a minute, so who knows, maybe I am a girl. That would be odd! I feel like a boy.

So the next problem is that if I am boy and my mom gets me a girl then when we get older, we can have babies and before you know it, the house will be filled with turtles. Now, that's fine with me, but mom lives in a small studio and right now I am the perfect pet because of my size. However, if I get a wife and kids.....we might just push her out. There's alot on my mind today but I am happy I got a new tank. It has no scratches and it looks shiny and new. It has been overwhelming for me so I stayed up way past my bedtime trying to get used to it. So today, Sunday, I was so tired.

Mom kept nagging me to get up and be active. "Do some diving, Pancake", "Eat breakfast, Pancake". I could barely keep my eyes open. Mom started to get worried about me and she was going to take me to the reptile doctor. I told her to "chill out!". I was just tired, but she was still concerned about me so she went and bought me spinach, kale, and crickets. She was afraid to buy crickets but I scared her so much she thought she had to do anything and everything to revive me. It was nice of her to offer me all these goodies. I'm not even hungry. Just tired.
Having a Jewish mother is great. Mom likes to dote on me every minute, but you know, I am a baby turtle, and I just want to rest. So I told my mom to please leave me alone. I am just adjusting to the tank. I will eat the goodies later. Thank you very much, and can you find something else to occupy your time? Could you straighten up your own home mom? Put your laundry away? Work out? Come on, you have a lot to do. Stopy worrying about me!!!

My Turtle Economic Stimulus Plan

I know that everyone is worried about the economy these days and I, Pancake Zeltzer, have devised an economic stimulus plan to get the economy rockn' again. I had Aimee Zeltzer, my mom and secretary, write down all the details. So without further ado, here goes:

Pancake's Turtle Care Company
CEO--My mom, Aimee. I have hired Aimee to do all the hiring. All positions remain open until filled!

Director of Feeding-Hires “Feeders” to “feed” turtles on daily schedule when owners are out of town.
Director of Cleaning-Hires “Cleaners” who will clean turtle’s tank while owners are away on set schedule.
Director of Healthcare—Hires Healthcare technicians who will find exotic pet veterinarians for annual check up. Can transport turtle in for visit. Also, performs analysis of turtle’s home and health. Seeks ways to improve his or her health. Coordinates with Lighting, Heating, and Nutrition Directors on complete wellness plan for turtle.
Director of Interior Design-Hires designers who will enhance tank asthetics and/or provide additional tank of water plants to supplement turtle’s enjoyment.
Director of Recreational Activity—Hires activity persons who see to it that turtle has proper amount of toys, cork, floating items, caves, bridges, plants, and uses them.
Director of Breeding—Hires and trains breeding specialist who assist pet owner set up optimal environment for turtle breeding, incubation, and hatchlings.
Director of Lighting—Hires light technicians who will troubleshoot turtle’s tank for lighting solutions. Will recommend and/or go to pet store and buy and assist in lighting set up for turtle.
Director of Education-Hires turtle educators who will recommend and bring books to turtle owner and discuss essentials of healthy turtle ownership. Will troubleshoot for any problems and will set up check list to make sure all of turtle’s needs are being met.
Director of Heating—Will hire heating technicians who will troubleshoot for heating problems. Will solve problems with heat gravel rocks, submergible heaters or special heating pad. Also, will assist in setting up thermamator to help owner monitor turtle’s water.
Director of Nutrition-Will review turtle’s dietary needs and make suggestions to ensure that all of turtles’ nutritional are being met. Will coordinate with director of feeding in regards to special snacks, like crickets.
Director of Hibernation—Will hire hibernation assistants to facilitate turtle hibernating during winter months. Hibernation assistant will work with pet owner to set up proper hibernating conditions, will also help de-hibernate turtle in spring time so turtle survives.
Director of Marketing—Will hire marketing assistants to publicize comprehensive listing of turtle services.
Director of Research and Development —Will hire researchers to read and learn about best turtle products and turtle care. Will provide weekly newsletter of findings. Will post on website. Will educate the rest of the turtle team monthly on findings.
General Manager—Will manage all directors and their hireees. GM will oversee that all paper work and administrative procedures are followed and carried out properly.
Director of Spiritual Affairs—Will hire spiritual advisors to advise owners on how to help their turtle maximize all of their potential.
Director of Facilities—Will find necessary property/space to conduct business .
General Counsel—Will hire attorneys to make sure that all laws regarding turtles are being followed, especially regarding the purchase and sale of turtles.
Director of Compliance—Will hire attorneys to make sure that all laws and other administrative procedures are complied with.
Director of Art and Literature—Will hire artist to draw, paint, and scuplt turtle art work and write turtle stories, poems, etc.
Website Coordinator—Will hire techies to set up “turtle care” website.
Just Ask “turtle” expert—Will field daily questions regarding turtles and provide answers/referrals.
Director of Training—Will hire people with little background and get them up to speed by lectures, workshops, books, quizzes, and “hands-on” experience to become a turtle care provider.
Market Research—Will conduct analysis on how many homes own turtles and how may homes could become “future” homes for turtles.

Check me out....I'm sooo cute!!!