A Little Lost

Yesterday morning I was letting Checkers out on her tie out before I closed the house up and went to the grocery store. It is not unusual for her to go a little nuts if she catches the scent of one of our outdoors cats on the porch, steps, or landscaping. But she was going pretty crazy, as if the cat itself was hiding under the buttercup bush. The cats don't usually stick around and hide though, if a dog is in the picture. I glanced under the bush seeing what looked like an extra rock in the landscaping border, and thinking it was about the right size to be a baby bunny.


So I put Checkers in the house, bend down, and push the branches of the buttercup back to get a better look. Not a bunny, not a rock, not a cat,  but a . . .

TURTLE! Friends, we live a half to three-quarters of a mile from the nearest creek, wetland or river. How and why did we end up with not a forest-loving box turtle, but a water-loving painted turtle hanging out by our front step? I have heard of female turtles walking quite a ways away from their home to lay their eggs, but really??? We don't have any water for babies when they would hatch. I think this turtle got a little lost.


So I put her in a bucket, and carried her down the road to the creek, and set her a little ways from the water's edge. Pointed away from the road, obviously. Hoping that if she felt the need to climb away from the water she would just go up the hill into the woods, and not turn around towards the road.


Checkers and I took a walk this morning. No smashed turtle on the road. So far, so good.