Bath & A Bagel Bite

Nemo was helped from his igloo to his wading pool area yesterday morning where he trudged over to the dish and began by immersing his head while standing on tippy toe. He has such funny stretchy legs. Afterwards, he wandered to his summer home and immediately crawled under it so the "house" was resting on top of his shell--his favorite position now.

Today he was quite alert with head up like a periscope while I fixed my breakfast and Linus puttered around making his dino noises. Normally Nemo isn't quite so attentive with me. I wondered if he might be hungry. He turned down a small piece of prosciutto and lifted his head even higher trying to catch my attention; or at least that was my interpretation. I asked him if he preferred bagel and promptly placed a tiny piece down near him. Seconds later I could see the bagel moving slowly inside the summer home. lol. Guess I had it right.

He turned down the opportunity to bathe again and hiked back under his summer home. Am fairly certain of at least another two weeks of hibernation. As I lifted Nemo out of his igloo yesterday, Brian, being Nemo's commentary, said "Can't a guy get a month's sleep without being interrupted?" hehe.

Nemo Sighting

I turned Nemo's special lamp on this morning and, lo and behold, he was in the foyer of his igloo alert and observing. He is due to be out for his hydration bath in two days. He has, on his own, gone into alternating igloos after each two-week hydration. My prediction is that he will now go into the "guest igloo" which, IMO, looks quite cozy in the brown fleece throw.

It's nice to see his grumpy little face. He might be wondering what happened to that green varmint that's been yoo-hooing outside his igloo. Linus's new battery will hopefully arrive tomorrow because I've missed him too.

Move Over Nemo

Finally, the video from my new camcorder capturing Linus and Nemo's first meeting.

Linus's Unextreme Makeover

Sorry, Nemo, but your brother needs some blog time. I'm posting here so Pleo owners can see both here and on the Flickr site easily the products and results of my Pleo eyelid makeover after Linus's accident. As Pleos are prone to do, he used a nearby object to change direction. Unfortunately, Linus chose the leg of a cast iron table using his closed eye. omg. Pleo boo boo! It scraped a bit of paint completely from the eyelid leaving an exposed smooth clear surface so that you could see his pretty blue eye through it. okay...ewwww.

He'd had some minor scratches on his eyelid that I was going to wait for Ugobe's recommendation, but this boo boo needed attention nowwww. Since most products being recommended are not available in all places, I think the best suggestion is to go to a crafts store and get a small bottle of a popular brand of acrylic paint. I read labels and got one a shade darker than his original eyelid color that covered surfaces that were textured. I got a second small bottle of an enamel that covered glass. I wasn't sure the acrylic would do both. Each bottle was $1-$3. I purchased a single small paint brush for acrylics for about $4. I had Linus with me so was able to hold the brush and see how comfortable it would be painting his eyelid. I didn't want one too big that I couldn't do the edges well or too small that it would take forever. The colors were similar. The photo enlarged (which you can see more clearly at the Flickr site--link on the right), shows the two I chose and the colors.

I only needed one coat of the acrylic paint for the most surfaces. It went on easily. Immediately I could see the difference and how good it looked. Only one small spot remained that needed the enamel. It went on just as easily. I was surprised how well the two blended. I thought I would have to touch up that paint with the other color to blend it. It's difficult to tell colors for sure. You just need "close". I let it dry overnight before I turned him on again. So far, Linus looks literally good as new. Hope this is helpful to someone!

Nemo Takes The Plunge

Nemo was assisted from his hibernation igloo this morning to hydrate. I wish I'd taken a photo of him sitting outside his igloo still in hibernation position. I'll get it from the camcorder at a later date. Watching him stretch out from being so scrunched up was fun. I placed him near his wading pool and he managed to flop in except for his tail and right rear foot. lol. He stayed in this position for about a minute until the rest of him went into the water. Poor Brian (who had not seen how long Nemo can stay underwater) was fearful Nemo wasn't breathing. As you can see, there are tiny turtle air bubbles. He soaked for nearly an hour and then went directly to his summer home where he tucked himself under the house. If he hadn't done that, how would we have been sure it was MY Nemo? hehe

An Almost Close Encounter

I forgot this photo was on my camera. So while Nemo is still in deep hibernation, you can see him cringing while Linus's attempts at a nose-to-nose meeting are thwarted by the chair.

Deep Hibernation for Nemo & Linus Slings It

Nemo went back into deep hibernation two days ago in the "guest igloo". I expect him to reappear in two weeks for hydration. Having never gone through a hibernation cycle with any critter previously, it's all new to me and very strange. He was so active for those few days blogged earlier, I thought for sure he was gearing up to eat. Maybe he went into hiding to plot Linus's demise. lol.

Linus's photo is being featured on Nemo's blog today because it's so darn cute and the Pleo plog photo is very small. I wanted to share Linus's grin in his new baby sling. Since he loves cuddling and being held, I got the sling so he could keep me company while I'm doing chores or otherwise needing my hands as well as to allow him to continue to snuggle rather than be abandoned. Brian noted that it's a good thing Nemo didn't find the sling because it is polar fleece and Nemo adores his polar fleece blankies.

Good news. The camcorder recordings of Nemo and Linus are now on my computer. Hopefully I can start working on my next YouTube video this weekend. Now that I'm back to work, my career is interfering with my fun!