We've Got Turtles - Snapping Turtle: Part 2

“And God said, ‘Let there be turtles,’ and there were turtles. And God saw that the turtles were good.”

The Jeopardy Category: Turtles & Things – for $200. The answer: 105. You are quick at the buzzer because you know the question – You know this one: How many days did it taken for the “High Street Turtles” to make their entrance into the world? Yes! September 30th was the magic date. And, although a picture is worth a thousand words (well, in my case 1500 words – I’m really trying to shorten these posts!) here is an accounting of that day and this extraordinary event, which, were it not for a series of coincidences, might easily have gone unnoticed!

September 30th was a gorgeous Wednesday and although the day dawned with a bit of leftover sprinkles, these quickly eased up and stopped completely by 9:00. Plenty of sun and blue skies followed. Now, I love the rain and have all the proper rain gear. I will not let a little rain keep me inside or more amply put – keep me from my great outdoors. (Nor will the “cold” keep me in – it’s just a matter of proper layering. It’s amazing, all the lightweight cold weather stuff they have – not like when we were kids – but all that is for another post!) However, my little dog (well, she’s more like a small pony) does not like the rain and she’ll cower and tremble uncontrollably, because she associates it with thunder. During thunderstorms she has been found hiding in the bathtub. So, because we are up way earlier than 9:00 – and so it was still raining - we had to skip our morning walk and opted to just go around the yard. Missy, cowering, quickly did her thing (after some convincing from me that she had to do it and couldn’t just run back into the house like she wanted!) and inside we went. Sigh! So, coincidence #1 was that it was raining, thus causing us to skip our morning walk.

Later in the day, at around 2:00, Mike asked if I could go up and get the mail as he was expecting something. Now, usually we are in and out during the day on appointments, etc. (we work out of our home) and will pick up the mail on the way back. Or, if Mike wants the mail – and we haven’t been out and won’t be – he’ll just drive up himself and get it. He must have been in the middle of something and so he asked if I wouldn’t mind getting it. So – that is coincidence #2. I had been planning on taking Missy on her walk later on at around 5 or so, but it was totally gorgeous out so I jumped at this opportunity to grab her leash and off we went. I would come immediately back with the mail if Mike’s expected mail was there, otherwise, we’d continue on for a brief walk.

So, up at the box, Missy is drawn to something in the road and is sniffing it. I pull her away. I sort of glance at the thing and at first I think it is a mouse or frog (toad?) that unfortunately didn’t make it completely across – stopped short by a car. Oh, poor thing, I think. Suddenly, I realize it is a little bitty turtle and - just as I thought “oh, it happened – it happened,” - I see more crawling through the maze of grass and leaves near the mailbox toward the road, and I realize, “oh my gosh, it’s happening right now!” I, again, cannot believe my eyes. Oh, what to do? They actually want to cross the road. I see where there are a few already that didn’t make it. They are still coming out of this hole. Amazing, look at them go! One, two, three, ---- I count seven of them crawling around. Now, I know from my research that there are between 20 and 40! I only see 5 that didn’t make it. I pick up several of them, one by one, and move them away from the road. I run down the driveway and stop at my neighbor Terry’s house and ring the bell. Good, she’s home.

“Terry, the turtles are being born right now. I’m running home to grab my camera and a box or something.”

Terry has company so she cannot get away right now, but will be up soon. I bring Missy into the house; grab the camera and a big empty box that 2 bags of Cheerios came in (Honey Nut). I tell Mike the turtles have hatched and I’m going to go back up to help them across the street. Mike sees me running out the door with the Cheerios box and he says, in all seriousness and as if he thinks I’m a little crazy, “You’re gonna feed them?” Um, no!

This time, I take the car "up top." No more casualties. Good! Guarding over them, and protecting them from the cars whizzing by, I take some pics and some video. I take more video then still pics. Terry comes up after a few minutes because her visitors had just left. We pick up as many of the little guys that we see – 13 in all – and place them in the Cheerios box to transport them across the street. Why oh why do turtles always want to cross the street? (Well, there is a small pond and brook way down there) How will they ever make it, they can barely make it through the tall grass which is toppling some of them over. They manage to straighten out and continue on. Back at the hole they are still emerging. Some seem to be stronger than others. One guy is crawling over the back of his sibling to get out.

The turtles are only about 1 inch in diameter. They can fit in the small part of the palm of your hand. The hole they are crawling out of is not that much bigger. I have seen such a hole numerous times – here and there - and have often wondered what the heck the hole is all about. Now, I know. There is currently a hole like this down by the lake. It is probably about 50 to 60 feet from the shore. A better location than right near the road? Perhaps. However, there are 2 retaining stonewalls each with about a 3 foot drop before you get to the sandy beach. Oh dear! It is never easy for our little creatures out in “the wild” is it?

After a few minutes of collecting up these cute little, almost dinosaur looking, turtles, my son arrives home from work. Of course he stops in the driveway to see what is happening. I’m glad he got to see this too! I’m glad Terry was home to see this. I emailed the pics to Jack and printed out pics for Art. I didn’t have his email address. I put the pics in Art’s mailbox the next day. He called me when he got home to thank me and we agreed on how awesome it was and we were glad that they hatched this year. I told Art he did a good job as Keeper.

About the series of coincidences: If it had not been raining that morning, I would have gone for a long walk with Missy. If I went to the mailbox without Missy I might not have seen the turtles – as she was drawn to the ones in the road and made me take a closer look. And, usually we pick up the mail at the end of the day anyway – very rarely making a “special trip” to get it. Mike was expecting something and I was happy for the excuse to get out. In any case, I definitely now know for sure that the turtles never hatched last year, in 2008, as I never saw a hole like this one there. It wasn’t a case where they hatched and we didn’t see it as it was happening and so, never knew about it. I was always looking at the ground right near the mailboxes. Not knowing exactly what to look for, I would have noticed the hole and realized what happened. I’m positive none were born last year, poor things. And if I hadn’t have happened to have been there between 2 and 3:00 on the 30th of September this year, I still would have seen the hole that they had dug themselves out of and I would have known that they had been born - and I would have been very happy just knowing that. That would have been enough for me. But actually being there and seeing it all unfold – well, you know – it was beyond double icing on the cake for me.

Now, I’ll be keeping a close eye out as June 15th of 2010 approaches.