Mr Turtle Spotting

This is Mr. Turtle

The first year he must of been a bit freaked by the furry 12 lb. creature that was playing 'big dog' when she stumbled upon him... that would be Jersey aka JerseDog or Jerse for short. Jerse had been outside for a much longer period of time then normal. After fifteen minutes or so, I looked out the window to see what is happening. She had something cornered on the back hill -- and for Jerse to have something cornered i knew it had to of been slow and small. My first thought is it was a snake and y'all know how i hate the snakes. My maternal instinct kicked in and i tiptoed up the hill to determine what she was getting into... thank god it wasn't a snake, it was a turtle huddled up in his shell pissed because that big furry thing wasn't in this annual travel to the creek the year prior... so i brought the Jdog in and the next day Mr. Turtle was gone... that was probably in 2005.

In 2006 I don't recall seeing Mr. Turtle... he must have remembered that a big furry thing moved into 5441 and he needed to find a new path to the creek down the hill.

Last year (2007) a friend had made his way to the house one day w/ a turtle he had stopped to 'rescue' crossing the road down near the four-way stop. Mr. Turtle had returned to 5441, the place where he use to 'hang out on the hill.' After telling him that the turtle was not allowed in the house, he had taken Mr. Turtle back down to the end of the road placing him on creekside.

A few weeks ago i walked out on the back deck looking at my 'desperate landscape' (as you know, I have not been much of a landscaper this year) and saw a funny shape in the middle of the hill. This year Jerse didn't notice Mr. Turtle (her eyes are getting bad and he blended in with the bland landscape well). So I had an opportunity to take a couple of photos of our transient neighbor... then Jerse and I moved inside to let Mr. Turtle peacefully move further down the hill to his summer bungalow in the creek...

See you next year Mr. Turtle...