Part One
A box turtle? Doesn't look like a box to ME!
There he was... right by the front porch! In the cool shade... in a clump of clover growing wild.
At first I thought it was one of those fake ones from the yard around the pond.
But how did it get over here?
Then I touched it! Looked at it underneath! It did look fake, but real too!
It was closed up, TIGHT! I couldn't see any place it could open up and let a head out!
I shouted.... and laughed.... and took it to let Big Dude see it.
He said "it's a box turtle! Yep! That's what it is!"
He put it in the sun... so it would get hot and come out.
That didn't work. He put it in water... to make him come out for air.
That didn't work. He put bricks around a little area for a pen, in the shade, for him to live in.
I put some spring mix and carrots in front of the shell. And waited.
I said, " are you sure he can't climb over the bricks and leave?"
Big Dude said, " naw, he's not gonna get out by climbing over that wall."
And off we went about our chores.
I walked over to the pen and what do you think I saw? A big... long... colorful neck with a head sticking out!
I took pictures with my camera! I laughed... danced... I shouted!
Then I asked Big Dude, " think we should put some sort of cover over the pen to keep the wild animals out?"
Big Dude said, "naw, nothin's gonna bother him right next to the porch like that."
So off we went about our chores.
Just a little while later, when I stepped out of the kitchen to look at him again, what do you think I saw now?
NOTHING!!!
Box Turtle was gone!
YEP! Climbed over the wall of brick... and RAN AWAY!
Sure wish I could have seen that!
Part Two
Shakey and Spazz had been running free all winter. No leash for them now.
And boy! Were they happy dogs now!
Shakey didn't look so much like a small horse anymore... not so fat !
And Spazz liked laying around on the porch, sunning himself, snapping at the flies.
Pushin' his nose at White-Haired Lady to get her to pet him.
Every morning they bolt out the kitchen door and run for the woods!
They stay gone for a while, but always come back for breakfast and drinks.
Lots of times,they drink from the pond! You should see the fish scatter then!!!!
Most of the time Spazz just stays close to the house when White Haired Lady is out, but Shakey, well you can tell he is on an adventure in those woods!
Barking at who knows what! Running back and forth after something I never see! Sniffing like an old steam engine up a steep hill!
And always has a smile on his face when he comes back!
Just tellin' him he has to get back in the house makes his head drop, and ears hang low, and his tail falls to the ground.
That is one free spirit!
Until... last Saturday.
Big Dude and White Haired Lady were relaxing after chores in the front yard, when Big Dude started looking at Shakey real close.
After getting Shakey to lie still on his back next to him, Big Dude started pullin', T-I-C-K-S!
a-a-r-r-r-g-g-h-h-h-h-h-u-h-h !!!!!
e-e-e-e-e-ey-y-y-y-y-y-ye-e-e-e-e-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-u-h!!!
White Haired Lady was not close enough to see, and Big Dude wasn't tellin' her how many were on Shakey.
But soon enough, Big dude said, " think we better get him in for a bath."
So White Haired Lady and Big Dude took Shakey in to the bathroom, and began the task of
"Tick-Pickin'".
Nobody countin' to be exact, but there was more than a hundred of those ticks on Shakey!
And White Haired Lady was near tears when it was all said and done.
Shakey had a body full of tick welts, and sad eyes too!
Sad because he knew there was no more "runnin free" in the woods now that the ticks were out.
And next was Spazz's turn in the tub.
Part Three
The weather turned cool last night, and the morning was perfect for an after breakfast pull.
That's what it's called when T Bird holds the leash.
Cuzz the dog at the front end of the leash T Bird holds does all the pullin'!
Pullin into the sunshine and springtime breeze made my eye-(the bad one)- water up.
So when the pullin stopped off to the side of the road, I took a second to clear the tear.
A sudden jerk on the dog end of the leashes caught my attention.
Shakey made a kind of snorting sound... like blowin dust out of his nose... but that didn't startle me.
It was the long, shiny thing danglin' across the stretched out section of the leashes that got my heart in my throat.... which by the way, kept the scream from comin' outa my mouth!
Yep! Shakey and Spazz had just got introduced to the business end of a snake!
And that snake just got introduced to the business end of Shakey!
Twistin and thrashin on the leash until he dropped to the pavement... that snake just realized he shoulda stayed in bed this morning!
Bravin' the distance 'tween him and me... I got a look at those round eyes shinin with shock!
I attempted to determine if Shakey had gotten a bite, by asking him! "Did he bite you Shakey?"
Shakey just kept sniffing the ground by the side of the road, which meant he did not even know that he had made that snake airborne my way!
So, at first I thought, " I am glad these dogs are with me to protect me from the wildlife."
Then I thought, " SHAKEY!!!! YOU THREW THAT SNAKE AT ME !!!!! "
Then I thought, h-m-m-m, that snake doesn't have long for this life with the hole in him from Shakey's teeth.
And while all these thoughts were in my mind, my heart was settling down, and there was no chance of a blood curdling scream from me, the snake twisted himself over two or three times, with belly up to the sky, and head and tail, each end up to the sky, and I said last rights over him and off we went for a pull.
And when from a safe distance away I turned to look again at the sly serpent who met his match today, I saw him limping, as only an injured snake can do, off to the side of the road where he met Shakey, on a pull.
