Tortoise Tails
I knew there was an unknown reason to get out of bed earlier than usual this morning. So, due to learned listening to that inner self, I did just that. After my day’s cup of coffee I walked little Piper for her morning relief. After a walk up the tree lined road and then a brief check around the perimeter of my yard, it was then I heard a strange noise coming from the green house. Upon entering the hooped arches I first noticed the claws and a dark mound stuck right between the two hoops, weighed down by its own mass.
At first I thought it was a groundhog, but to my surprise it was a snapping turtle. Now, I have been known to rescue or assist many a turtle, always in the middle of the road or on its back. Also, I love the chance of seeing turtle eggs hatch in my compost pile, placed there by a mother snapper who visits every year. But, on top of my hoop house? How the hell? Why? What was it thinking….kinda like a post turtle. Perhaps it became disoriented. All I did know was I must get it down soon before the soon to be hot sun bakes it.
Regardless of the unanswered, I went right to figuring how I would get the poor thing down from the remaining netting of the clear UV damaged tarp I would be replacing in the fall. It was left up for the summer months to ward off deer, birds and cabbage moths from ravishing my potted veggies. The remaining netting made it difficult to release the large tortoise. After an hour of trying to capture it in a box, I was only making matters worse as the snapper wandered to the middle of the length of the twenty foot structure. I was not managing all to well on a ladder with arthritic knees threatening to give out. I had to re-strategize. I then pulled out the ultimate tools, a tiny pair of scissors and an old galvanize coal bucket. Snip, snip, snip and the twenty pounds of turtle fell into the bucket. Learned something new….turtles sure do pee a lot when scared. It felt good to set this hard shelled creature free and my morning’s mission completed. Now I must go shower.
Update: the very next morning as I took advantage of the early morning’s cooler air to begin some gardening chores, there she was again, not on top of the greenhouse, but nestled beside it. She had already dug a nesting spot for a deposit of eggs…in heavy clay soil…another unanswered question as the compost heap was always her choice and much more suited for hatchlings to maneuver out into their new world. I watched her for a while as she covered up the spot with muscular rear legs. She then left but left me with a wonderful memory and anticipation of things to come.
