Turtles and swamp-rot: perfect together

Yesterday, I ventured out for a walk on (gasp) uneven surfaces, which means a walk on grass and trails. I wrapped my knee in my Ace bandage and took the happy pup down and around the pond on a simple little hike. When I got to the ditch on the far side, I turned around and headed back home. Coming around the pond, I saw what at first looked like a rock just sitting there.

It was a turtle, hiding in its shell. So I ran (read: walked) back to the house to get my camera . When I got back to the spot, the turtle was still there, apparently waiting for his photographic debut.

Although he wouldn't come out of his shell, even when left undisturbed, I managed to get a couple of pictures. For those who get grossed out over graphic nature scenes like this, I apologize. It really isn't that graphic, though.

I looked up turtles in one of the books we have at home, and found that this is a young snapping turtle. That was my husband's guess, as well. Snapping turtles love our pond and this one was coming from the wetlands and over the berm, heading for the pond.

He kept sniffing, or so it seemed, and his nostrils were huge. I put him back and George sniffed him for a bit, then went and treed one of the cats who had come down the hill to investigate.

I put the little turtle down and sniffed my fingers and what an awful smell! I thought I'd smelled something bad. Now my fingers smelled like swamp and muck and I had an urge to run home and wash my hands before touching my camera again.

But I'm not that kind of girl. I can handle the scent of swamp-rot for a little bit.

I looked up the hill and saw my husband working in the garden. It was a beautiful day yesterday, but later in the afternoon, the wind picked up and we had some gale force breezes going on. It blew like that all through the night and we had a little rain and some thunderstorms. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods today.