Guess What We Found?

After two days of torrential down pours and high winds, we had a surprise in out garage.


The garage had been left open for different hours during the course of the time the storms started for various reasons, like taking the dogs out and leaving for work an hour later, etc.


The children had taken the dogs out while I was getting our picnic lunch together for a park outing when they began beating on the front door. They unusually take the dogs out via the garage. Isabella exclaimed there was an anteater in the garage! Not thinking about her comment, I said "Good, it will eat the ants!" When I returned to our lunch preps, I had a second to register what she had said and replied that anteaters live in Africa. Finally we had our things ready and I sent the children to the garage to get into the truck. When I reached the truck, I remembered about the anteater. Anton realized I was thinking about this and stated it was under the wheelbarrow. I carefully walked in that direction and saw a long pointed tail and a flat shell! I shook my head and murmured to the turtle, you will have to wait till I can get back.

When we returned this is what I saw.

So for all the friends who have sent me pictures of their baby raccoons or mice, here is my unnatural run in with nature!

I called Donna and asked if her son, 14, could come over when he returned from school to help me out with an animal problem. Doug scooped up the turtle with a big shovel and dumped it into a big cardboard box. Later I asked Tim what his son did with the turtle. Doug had let it go about a mile from our house near a creek inlet way behind his house, but a half hour later, Tim saw the snapping turtle walking, pretty fast for a turtle, across his yard towards the swamp. So, we might have another run in with this turtle at another date.