Turtles on my Mind (or How I Avoid Doing Housework)

As anyone knows who has read many of my articles, I am a wanderer at heart.  If I was a member of this current generation, I might have been diagnosed with ADHD.  I flit from one project to the next...never quite completing an activity in a timely manner...in the end I usually get it done...but it takes me longer then the normal person because I get distracted.

Yesterday was a day I set aside for cleaning the house...washing windows, doing a mound of dirty laundry and replacing my computer desk with one that I had bought at a yard sale.  Early morning went well...a load in the clothes washer,  another load in the dish washer, screens on the porch ready to hose down and remove all the yellow pollen....I was pleased with my industry.  But then Tuck gave me that sign that a walk he had in mind and so I grabbed the lease and off we went over to the bogs.  Once we crossed the road I unleased him...and off he trotted chasing a red fox up the hill and through the forest.  Unsuccessful at his latest chase, he came running back to me to tell me lies about how he had scared a most terrible animal...but something caught his eye...a black rock on the hillside.

Tuck went over to investigate and started dancing around the black rock. 

Realizing that it was a painted turtle in the throes of labor, I leased Tuck and brought him home.  Having experienced labor three times in my life, I knew a barking dog was not conducive to bringing forth life.  But I was intrigued...I wanted to view life at its beginning and so I returned to the hillside with my camera and laid down beside the box turtle.  With her hind legs, she had created a hole...

hopefully, this would be the sacred spot where she would deposit her large white eggs. 

Time passed ever so slowly as I laid there.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Dominic Fernandes, the owner of the bog, had arrived  to turn on the sprinklers to water the bogs.  Noticing me on the hillside, he started to run towards me.  Not wanting to disturb the mother to be, I went down the hill to talk to Dominic...we chatted awhile and then he left and I returned to the spot...but no turtle was to be seen ...just an empty hole.

I scanned the hillside.  Where could she be? 

I wandered around...looking for a black rock....

Finally I found her....couldn't believe how far she had traveled on rough terrain in just such a short time. 

  This time I didn't get too close....and just laid down quietly beside her and waited....and waited....and waited....

and now I know where some eggs are hidden and waiting in the sun...and if a skunk or a raccoon does not find them, baby turtles will hatch in their own good time to populate the reservoir where pond lilies grow... 

Returning home, I found that Zach our youngest son was visiting from Cambridge....housework forgotten...tales to tell, we head down to the pond and while away the afternoon.  Cleaning a dirty house can await another day...but not today...for today I'm heading down the Cape in just an hour to meet Laurun...we are going crabbing today.....