Turtle Town

Scout must think he's Turtleman. Turtleman is the guy on the Discover channel TV show, Call of the Wildman. Scout saw a turtle in the middle of the road so he stopped and picked it up. He brought it home to show us.

The turtle didn't act afraid and he didn't hide in his shell. He stuck his neck out and started pedaling with his legs as hard and fast as he could go. He looked like he was in a hurry and had places to go. Deep in his little turtle-mind he was probably screaming, "Let me go!"

Scout sat him out at the mulch pile in a shallow container with water in it. We came back inside for a while. When we went back outside . . .

. . . the turtle had disappeared. We don't know where he went. Maybe he'll show up again someday. He's some kind of striped turtle, I think.

I thought the mulch pile would be a lovely place for a turtle. It's full of grubs and worms and scraps. He wouldn't ever starve if he lived there.

We've had some other interesting visitors this year. One night we saw a raccoon swinging upside down on a tree limb eating out of the bird feeder. He looked like a crazy cat doing tricks on a monkeybar.

That could explain what happened to Larry. Oddly enough, the raccoon showed up right after Larry the rooster was found dead, headless, with his tail chewed off. Chickens must be easy pickings. Someone told Scout that 'possums reach through fences and rip chickens heads off. I have a sneaky suspicion that 'coons do that, too.

In another interesting event this summer, Mama and Daddy caught a parrot in their backyard. It's bright green and red. They bought a cage to keep it in. He sits in the den with Daddy watching TV.

I don't know what's going on but it looks like this is going to be a year of unexpected surprises. Just as long as we don't discover a swarm of killer bees, or runaway boa constrictors, it's all good. Right?

AS ALWAYS

PIO