Monday, January 23, 2006

A post

Here is the outline for the post
A) Katamari
1) Katamari Damacy
2) We Katamari
3) The royal rainbow

B) Turtle
1) General Tso
2) Closet Turtle Dock user
3) Where did all the fishes go?

C) Cast Iron Pots
1) Good places to steal them
2) Tips to clean and maintain them
3) A yummie lunch recipie

now the post
Katamari Damacy is a videogame. In this videogame for ps2, you roll a katamari, or large ball like object and try and wad up as much as you can in a certain amount of time... like all good things katamari encourages growth... you start small perhaps a paperclip, or a pack of matches... but as you get bigger you can roll more things into your katamari, doggies, roadsigns, people, and eventually buildings, clouds, and rainbows.
The sequal to Katamari damacy, called simply We Katamari, is a delightful sequal... pretty much the same as the original game, it both challenges with more detailed objectives... ie. rolling a sumo wrestler big enough to win a match... or finding just one cow. Also, there is much more to roll, especially on the larger scale... why just this afternoon I rolled the arch de triumph, godzilla, and a giant fighting robot into my katamari among other things... truly a delight.
As for the royal rainbow... i may not be as good at it as the king of kings... but here is me giving it a decent shot.


Then there is the latest addition to my little family here at 5691 Nursery Rd. It's my pet turtle, whom i have named General Tso... or just the general for short... he is difficult to photograph but here he is anyway.



He is a red eared slider a turtle known for giving you samonella if you put them in your mouth... because of this.. no one is allowed to put the general in their mouths...
Now the general does have a turtle dock... a specially designed floating rock-like platform which he can lay on at his leasure, he has only been caught using this dock once... and at a time when everyone was away from the house... for this, he has been deemed a closet turtle dock user.
When the general moved in he had an army of 6 feeder style fishes... sadly they have all fallen in battle... no traces can be found... the general assures us though, that they died for a good cause.

Now as far as cast iron pots i have found the best place to steal them from is your parents basement... if perhaps your parents don't have a basement... i'd try and attic or garage, perhaps even these same places in a grandparents place might do. Once you have stolen cast iron pots.. i recommend giving them a good cleaning.
The hottest water you can bear would be best, and a good dish detergent. scrub it throughly and make sure it's good and clean... if there is rust or really tough grim a good sos pad or other steel wool pad will do the trick... after you have cleaned it rub it down good with oil to help season the pan, and keep away future rust... it will cook nicely

now my recipie for apple bourbon chicken salad

Fill a bowl with baby spinache, then toss lightly with olive oil and fresh ground pepper... cut chicken breasts into slices and marinate in bourbon, jack will do nicely... and some apple slices and pepper and salt (freshly ground if you can manage), heat your cast iron pot to a med-high... (number seven on my burners). and cook the chicken in the marinade mix... when cook lay atop the baby spinache, and serve with a diet coke..... enjoy.

6 Comments:

At 7:40 PM, Blogger jordan said...

i have three red-eared sliders and a false map turtle. you may want to get rid of all the gravel in that tank. it's kind of a shame that you bought it. also, his waste will stay in the water much more readily because of it. filters filter better when there's no gravel in turtle tanks. and, also, don't be surprised if he starts gnawing on your turtle dock. i had one, too, and lobster and crab started to eat it when algae started to grow on it. if you'd like, i could give you some suggestions on stuff to put in the tank with him.

but congrats! and welcome to the world of husbandry!

 
At 10:18 PM, Blogger Daniel R said...

Actually i did jump into this paritially blindly... and have been meaning to contact you about just these sorts of things... sometime soon i'd like to buy the turtle tank (a longer, more shallow fish tank) at which time makeing such modifications would be easy. Not too mention i'm sure the general would appreciate it. So fire away, thatsjazz@gmail.com... or you can just leave comments here...maybe for other turtle owners as well.

 
At 11:22 PM, Blogger jordan said...

well, first, i highly encourage you not to buy a glass tank. they're bulky, heavy, fragile, and difficult to clean. not to mention, to get one in a size large enough for the general to be happy, you'd need to shell out a couple hundred dollars. rather, i recommend buying a plastic tank of some kind. the easiest thing to do is to go to an industrial or farming website and buy a plastic cattle trough such as this one: http://www.tank-depot.com/product.aspx?id=165

the only problem is that you need to be able to put it on something, a stand or table of some sort, in order to be able to syphon out the water periodically. syphons work by gravity, so thing into which you'll be draining the water needs to be physically lower than the tub itself. in other words, it doesn't make much sense to put the general's tank on the floor.

next, you need great lighting. i find that drs. foster and smith have a great website at which to find good lighting. you'll need UVB bulbs so that the general doesn't get sick. if you don't buy that particular type of bulb, his shell could get infected by bacteria and you'll have some rot on your hands. these are great bulbs and light fixtures, respectively:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=7327&N=2006+113030
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=6513&N=2006+113030
and also:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=6548&N=2006+113030
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=7901&N=2006+113030

night lights are also a nice touch. you can find them here:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=6528&N=2006+113030

this is the platform i suggest:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=8809&N=2006+113872
get the biggest one.

you'll still need great filtration. that's something that's a little more tricky and totally depends on how much money you want to spend. changing the water a lot can actually be harmful to the general because he'll want healthy bacteria in the water, not chlorine and chemicals that come from tap water.

as for food, i suggest buying reptomin sticks and feeding the general lettuce.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=6437&N=2006+113433
for the vegetation, he'll really appreciate dark green lettuce, not iceburg. i find that buying those little plastic containers of romaine or spring mixes are great. sliders love herbs, too. as for other vegetables or fruits, my turtles are finicky. one loves just about anything you'll give her: strawberries, blueberries, orange or clementine slices, and grapes have all been hits. the male in that tank will only eat the lettuce. i've also tried carrots, pears, apples, peas, watermellon, and canteloup; none of which have had any success. in other words, you'll have to experiment.

i suggest giving the general about 5 small leaves of lettuce a day (to be more specific, that's about 5 leaves worth in size of baby spinach leaves) and only about 3 sticks of reptomin. while fish are a nice treat, you shouldn't give him too many because turtles can't really handle the fat content. they're primarily herbivors in the wild.

and, finally, whatever you do, don't over-feed him. red-eared sliders will naturally get up to about a foot in diameter over the course of their 25+ year lifespan. there's no need to make him grow faster than is necessary.

i know that was quite a bit of information, but you can trust that i've learned all these lessons the hard way over the past 2 years. i made a lot of mistakes with my first two. my second two are turning out to be much easier to handle and they're growing much slower.

let me know if any of this is unclear or you need any more information.

 
At 11:25 PM, Blogger jordan said...

PS:
i just found this:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=821
it's not entirely in line with the feeding instructions i gave you, so feel free to take both with a grain of salt. just remember that sliders are semi-aquatic. they need to have a dry land on which to bask as well as water about twice or three times as deep as the turtle is long and the same dimensions wide.

 
At 11:29 PM, Blogger jordan said...

oh! and for neutralizing the chemicals in tap water, i suggest using "stress coat." just follow the directions on the bottle.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4025&Ntt=stress%20coat&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

 
At 2:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh if only people would post....more frequently..and maybe about something other than rolling things into a ball and making stars and a turtle that is plotting my death.....on second thought....posts without those things wouldn't be much fun....love you more than you can imagine...

 

Post a Comment

<< Home