It's 2009, a new year, and new birthdays for Dan and I. For Dan's birthday I surprised him with a Sulcara Turtle (tortoise). His name is Rommell (for the WWII tank commander in Africa) because he is such a little tank! Actually, we don't know if he's a boy or a girl, but since Rommell was male, we'll stick with that for the time being. We learned Sulcara Turtles live to be 80 to 100 years old - so look out kids and grandkids -- someday you'll have a 150 lb. turtle grazing in your backyard!

Below is a short video of Rommell exploring the backyard today.