The Story of Myrtle & Bud Ekins

Myrtle is a California desert tortoise and my beloved pet. I met her when I was 19 while living in Nichols Canyon. She belonged to my neighbor, Bud Ekins, a legendary Hollywood stuntman and world-champion motorcycle racer. He was best known in the film industry for his unprecedented 65-foot motorcycle jump, doubling Steve McQueen in the ‘Great Escape’.

 

Bud’s professional motorcycle days began in the1950s. Over the course of his racing career, he won or placed in dozens of major regional, national, and international off-road motorcycle events. It was during one of those races in the Mojave Desert, sometime between 1954 and 1959, that he met and rescued Myrtle.

Myrtle's Garden – Pesticide & Chemical Free

I moved to the Midwest in 2021, where many of my neighbors use pesticides and chemicals to keep their yards lush, green, and weed and pest-free – something I was not used to.

I, on the other hand, am chemically sensitive and an organic gardener – always looking for natural alternatives. Consequently, my yard was not very popular with the neighbors, sporting brown patchy areas in the grass and an abundance of dandelions … something that my California Desert Tortoise, Myrtle, loves.

Natural Solutions for a Tick-Free, Earth & Human-Friendly Garden

 

I was born and raised in California in the heart of Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the San Fernando Valley. While I loved to hike, oddly, I rarely encountered one of nature's most dreaded pests, the tick. 

Cut to the Covid pandemic in 2021, when I found myself, like so many others, taking a midlife inventory of what the future might hold for me in LA. That’s when I decided it was time for a major life change, and I spontaneously moved to the Midwest to be closer to my daughter. I bought a new house in the Northland of Kansas City, Missouri, at the far end of a relatively newly developed area, in the middle of nature, surrounded by trees, lush hillsides, and open space.