Today Alex and I went out to run some errands and we came across a painter turtle crossing the road. The funny thing is we were about 1/2 mile from the nearest pond or swamp. As I feel it is our families calling I stopped the truck and rescued the little bugger from certain death. I realize that they are in no way endangered and there is something to survival of the smartest but I have a soft spot in my heart for turtles. We drove to the local lake and Alex released him back into the wild. We were amazed at how quickly he moved when presented to the open water. We watched him swim out of site and went on with our chores.
When we got home I decided to start cleaning up the old wood pile so I can split and stack the wood I was given by a friend for camp fires. While I was digging through the pile I found a baby garter snake which Alex proceeded to bring inside to show Ariel and Mommy, needless to say this did not go over well with Mommy who is not the fondest of the slithering creatures.
Ariel on the other hand was quite intrigued and wanted a "pet" of her own. I was able to find another snake which was about 12 inches long but Ariel wanted a baby snake like her brother's.
I eventually came across this one which is over 28 inches long and was really cool to watch and "play" with. After the kids and I admired his coloring we brought him into the middle of the yard so we could take a picture of him. He was not very happy about our decision and kept trying to scare us away by puffing himself up and flattening his head out so we would think he was dangerous.
While trying to take his picture he kept striking at the camera which I was unable to capture in still form. I tried to get him to strike at the camera in video mode but he decided to make my life difficult. When I stood up he struck my boot so I took the video below and after some persuasion he performed for the camera.
Last but not least, Ariel was walking around with the camera when she saw a large hairy beast in the woods by the chicken coop. Thankfully she kept calm even though there were no adults around to protect her and with a quick press of the shutter button she captured what appears to be a Sasquatch with its head shaved! I am not one for folk lore so I will let you be the judge of this one, although I must say if it is Bigfoot- he sure is handsome!
P.S. If you cant find it, click on the picture for a full sized view.
3 comments:
i wonder what happened to that poor sasquatch to make him lose his hair. it's probably a good thing they roam alone...
I'm so glad you rescued the turtle! We have lots of them around this year due to all the rain, and so many of the poor things have been run over while trying to cross the roads. It just breaks my heart to see them hurt that way. We actually had to put out turtle traps in our neighborhood ponds to try and get rid of some of our snapping turtles. We don't mind the box turtles, but the snapping ones are a bit too aggressive to have around kids and pets. Btw, I think it's really cool that you teach your kids about all the plants and animals you come across.
Son, fear for your life. I hope Sasquatch does not have wild ideas. Well, if anything happens to you---I will have to notify The Godfather!!!!
Mom
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