Here's Herman

This is Herman, my friend's desert tortoise. They lived across the street and I was able to pop in to visit often. They moved (not far, thankfully) so I went over this morning for a visit and photo shoot. 

When they lived here, he would knock on the door to let them know he wanted to go out front to graze in the grass. Now he comes out of his house, munches on Cape Cod Honeysuckle, strawberries, takes a shower, grazes on the wet grass, roams around the yard and then goes back to his home. He is so happy in his new digs.

Herman is very attracted to anything red. He equates the color with strawberries. I had to be careful, since my camera strap has a red lining. He kept coming over to see what was hanging down from my camera! Red toenail polish will surely get your toes nipped.

We were trying to figure out how old he is. Cathy has had him almost 10 years now. He had two owners prior to that, so she figured he is around 20 years old. He is such a social guy. He will come when you call him and follows you around the yard.

The extra photo is of our little fur baby, we no longer have, and Herman in 2012. We were caught in a rainstorm. Cathy opened the garage door and called Herman. He went for cover, but I had to coax Shank to even move. This photo was published in the newspaper, in the pets section, two weeks after we had to say goodbye to Shank. I had submitted it about six weeks earlier.

I am grateful I have the opportunity to be a part of Herman's life.