The week I installed a floor for a guy who kept his pet tortoise in the room

I was doing a glue-down vinyl plank job in a sunroom in Tucson last month. The homeowner insisted his tortoise, named Sheldon, was fine to stay in the corner. I spent three days working around this slow-moving, 30-pound reptile that would occasionally bump into my knee. The worst part was when I was trimming the last piece and realized Sheldon had eaten a corner off my chalk line. Has anyone else had to work around a truly bizarre pet situation?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_clark11d ago

It's funny how people's pets become part of the furniture. You just adapt to the new normal, like a tortoise in the sunroom.

kai_brown2311d ago

Pets are never just furniture in my view. They're living beings with their own habits and moods. Calling them part of the furniture makes them sound like objects we just work around. My dog changes the whole feeling of the house every single day. That active presence is the opposite of a piece of decor. It's a relationship, not just background.