Two Turtle Loves

Wanna hear the cutest story ever? ... Mkay, I'm gonna tell you anyway.

I was coming home from my friend Nicole's house and I nearly ran over a turtle.

That's not the cute part, duh.

Let me first say that about a block from our house is a giant pond. I knew this turtle had strayed a little too far from home. While this is the second time I've almost hit a turtle, we thought we better bring him home. We tried to give him a bath in our backyard with the hose and our ghetto/yellow/plastic swimming pool with every intention of taking it back the next day. This thing had so much moss on its shell, we named it Hairry Potter (from here on out, it's now a boy for convenience's sake). Also, now that it was named, it was destined to stay with us forever, ... or at least the weekend.

Anyhoo, he liked to hide amidst our overgrown trim. Occasionally, it was hard to find him. A few days later Steven was out back grilling when Emmy complained that she couldn't find Hairry. Steven jokingly said, "maybe if you whistle, he'll come to you."

Some lady, just on the other side of our fence heard Steven's comment. She yelled through the fence, "are you guys looking for a turtle?"

This surprised us. We didn't think there was any way through the fence and we didn't think he'd be able to dig his way out because he was an aquatic turtle. Even so, Steven went out the gate and grabbed the turtle that this lady and her barely-restrained dog had found.

Funny thing, it wasn't Hairry.

This turtle was bigger.

Steven went back to where this new turtle had been found (just outside our backyard) and looked directly on the other side of our fence (in our backyard) to make sure he had, in fact, not crawled underneath the fence. Low and behold, there was Hairry hiding in our overgrown grass.

Our little turtle lovers had found each other and just didn't know how to reach each other through the fence.

[a collective "aaawww" from the crowd is now appropriate]

Meet Marge (L) and Hairry (R)


Emmy wanted in this next picture,
though she's only holding a lowly frog.
L to R: Emmy (w/ prince charming), Jason B* (holding Marge), Bradly (w/ Hairry), Zed B* ('cause he couldn't get enough of the turtles).

They were so far (relatively) away from their home. Had to be miles (or something) in human steps.

Olivia with her new playmates.