Gunter is an African Sulcata Tortoise, and the pet of friends from the other side of the mountains. He and his brother Ranger, the Big Ugly Dog, stay here whenever these friends must travel far. (Gunter gets the run of the greenhouse when it's summer; otherwise he gets a cubbyhole and a heat lamp under the steps.) And yes, Gunter is a miraculous omen.
If I remember the story correctly, my friends (or someone they know) found him seven or eight years ago crossing a highway somewhere over closer to the coast--he was 6 inches across then. Yes, he really weighs 70 pounds. He's my buddy, even though he hates me.
Gunter stayed with me for six months the first time around (2002-03), in my pantry in the middle of winter, while his owners were tending their premature baby in a little glass tray in a very good, very faraway hospital. In those six months of my feeding and sweet-talking he never gave me the time of day, but when his long-missing mistress Melissa took a break from premie-tending to drive up for a day visit, he ran to her, neck extended, with the tortoise version of love written all over him.
Don't believe it when they tell you these guys don't know one of us from the other.
4:07:57 PM 
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