Last night I sat down to the torch and turned the knob and clicked my lighter. Then I clicked my lighter again. And again.
And again.
It was out of fluid. :( I had no fire. But I do tonight and that is a good thing. I've already got three eggs in the kiln!
This morning I noticed we had a new visitor in the back yard.
This guy was as big and as heavy as the cats! He posed nicely for me to take pics and didn't even blink or move. But the moment I put my hands on his shell, he raised himself four inches off the ground and spun a 180 to try and bite me. He even hissed!
I gave it a second attempt of trying to grab his shell gently in the middle on each side, but I learned his legs and toes were long. Long enough to push away my fingers. I was worried he was going to turn into Kung Fu Turtle and pull some jujitsu on me. I kept watch on him throughout the day and he shuffled around the backyard. I think he probably fell off the retaining wall in our backyard and landed with a surprise to be face-to-face with our cats and dogs. Look at those spikes on his tail!
Owen rides the bus home on Wednesdays for his weekly tennis lesson. Since Todd was away on business, I walked down to the bus stop to pick him up and enlist the help of two of the stay-at-home dads. Steve was much more successful with the shovel and getting the turtle into the wheelbarrow.
And off we went on an adventure to the nature trail at the bottom of our street with the turtle in the wheelbarrow.
Steve took the wheelbarrow down the steps.
The kids gathered around and said their goodbyes to the turtle. They each had their own name for him. Owen called him Cliff because he is still missing the bullfrog from our backyard. Another called him Twist. That made me smile because Twist is a little nickname we have used for our kids ever since they were old enough to cause trouble.
There he is safely down by the creek. He should be much happier now that he is away from nosy cats and little horses.
As we walked home, the kids discussed the fact that by saving this turtle we were helping the environment....major Earth Day topics and Reduce/Reuse/Recycle songs being pounded into their heads at school. And then there was concern that this turtle might be missing his Mom or Dad.
Glad tomorrow is Thursday and the weekend is getting closer. I'm looking forward to Saturday and setting up my jewelry in a booth at a tennispalooza tournament. I'll catch you guys tomorrow. With pics of the beads soaking now in my kiln. :)
11 comments:
wow, he is huge! he's a beautiful turtle even if he was a bit of a terrorizing terrence. although i'm still wishing you had video ;)
You brave girl you! He looked pre-historic! He will be much happier where y'all placed him.
How very cool, takes me back to the days of finding adult terrapins in the garden (especially after heavy rains) when I was small and still living in the West Indies.
I'm still giggling at your nickname for the turtle. lol
Great pictures!!! Thank's for chronicling that event!! I still wish I had seem some video of you trying to pick him up, oooh that would have been fun!
Well that is one interesting visitor... certainly a bit different to our rainbow lorikeets we get! I wonder if he will venture your way again - the cat looked more scared than the turtle!!
Karyn
Australia
wow that is a huge turtle.we see box and three toed turtles down here but maybe that is some type of snapping turtle..i loved the photos of the turtle relocation procession..
Aw, what an awesome adventure & such a cool looking turtle! Reminds me of returning a baby painted turtle to his pond last year. He was about the size of a silver dollar & I named him William. I wanted to keep him so bad, but of course he belonged in his pond. Still call hello to him when I go there, I'm sure people think I'm nuts. :D It always makes me so happy to see people being good to animals, thank you for putting a smile on my face. :)
We are the unofficial turtle rescue society of our neighborhood - my husband just rescued one the other day on his way to work (he said the car in front of him aimed for it but missed)...It's nice to see others doing the same thing!
The funniest rescue came one weekend when we were hanging out at home and heard a faint knocking at the door...We went to check it out, and it was a turtle - don't know why he came up our walk and up the brick step and tried to open OUR door, but we put him in a box, borrowed a wagon, and took him down to the bayou near our house...Our dogs wanted him as a pet, I think, but I could only imagine the noise and mess when the turtle got one of them...
So, yay to you guys for being turtle rescuers!
That was such a great story! lol I'd be kinda afraid of a turtle, too. I hear they can be pretty fierce. :)
Have fun at the tennis thing. :( We'll be doing the prom thing, part 2. :( again.
I'm keeping watch on the backyard to make sure his family members don't follow in his footsteps.
Karyn, I had to google lorikeets to see what they look like....what beautiful visitors you get!
Boy Kelley you have some great wildlife around that's for sure! Love all the pictures. Great fodder for a neat little story...maybe in your free time?
Post a Comment