I went into the Buchheit Store between Cape and Jackson looking for a hot water heater for Mother’s house. It’s been banging and clanging for years, but I think the tank is so filled with sediment that there’s no room for water. Missouri cold water is a lot colder that Florida cold water, as I found out in the shower the other morning.
On the side of the tank, in my handwriting, was a note, “6/19/87.”
I called Wife Lila’s brother, John Perry, who had installed it, and said, “John, you told me that this thing had a lifetime warranty.”
“Well,” he said, “When I told you that, I never thought you’d live this long.”
But, that’s not really the point of the story.
“Your hat has a turtle on it”
The young gal at the customer service desk bagging fresh popcorn looked up when I asked where the hot water tanks live and said, “Today is International Turtle Day, and you are wearing a cap with a turtle on it.”
Indeed, I was. It’s the logo for the real estate company Kid Matt works for down in Jupiter, Florida.
(P.S. Kid, the hat is looking a little bedraggled, certainly not the image that a high-end real estate company would want to project. Maybe it’s time for a new one.)
“Easy content,” I thought. I’ll look up a few factoids about International Turtle Day, grab a few file photos I’ve run of turtles and turn in early.
Alas, it WASN’T International Turtle Day
March 23 ISN’T International Turtle Day. It’s been May 23 since it was started in 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue. To add to the confusion, I’ve seen it as both World Turtle Day and International Turtle Day.
The puppy and I have the same expression.
Well, at least the gal was right about where the hot water heaters were.
This reminded me of an “old saying” from our past when a mess of people was describe as like “turtles in a pet shop”? Am I the only one who recalls the days of the large bowls with dozens of little turtles climbing all over each other? Apparently that was deemed to be animal cruelty At some stage of the previous Millennium and thus outlawed. I always liked buying one as a pet. Shame on me.
Sales of baby turtles were banned because of the danger of Salmonella more than animal cruelty. That came later. You couldn’t sell a turtle with a shell of less than four inches long after 1975. A four-week-old infant died of Salmonelle traced to a turtle in 2007.