No Garden of Eden …more like Jurassic Park!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Well, yesterday I laughed at Laurie's blog about snakes and missionaries.  But truth be told, I'm much less serene about my place which I've long called "The Wild Habitat" since Finn's encounter with a groundhog last summer which almost gave me a heart attack.  I'm happy to report that groundhogs must talk to each other because not one has come within 250 feet of the house this year.  But yesterday evening, I was taking a basket of flowers down my front walk to hang when I noticed what I thought was a big rock by the day lilies where no rock had ever been (to the left of the basket hook).

Lucky, Finn was in the house. Lucky, lucky, lucky!!! Because I crept around and came face to face with this ...

A good foot across and about 17" long.  I thought OMD somebody's tortoise has escaped.  Is there a tortoise rescue?  It wanted to be friends.  Not me, girlfriend!

 Lucky I've got google, and with one eye on the dinosaur and iPhone in hand, I discovered my mistake.  This was a common snapping turtle and she had selected my bed of lilies as a nursery.  Lucky she was tired from laying all those eggs but I felt no motherly sympathy.  Please leave and take those eggs with you!!

I hid in the house, and went back a little while later and she was gone.  Only to discover this morning that she only got about 50 feet and must have spent the night in the Rock Garden Hotel.  But she was slowly making her way back to the creek and Finn was on the leash not even noticing the moving rock.

OMD these things date back to the dinosaurs…and so so ugly.  So my question is this…what do I do about the eggs?  Do I dig them up and throw them away? (I know I sound like a terrible person).  Do I let them hatch and make their way to the sea? Did I mention I'm not fond of reptiles (well,except for little blue frogs that I saw in St. Louis Botanical Gardens) and the box turtle, Chrissy, that Ryan had as a kid.  Poor Chrissy met a bad end.  I'm SO ready for a condo! 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I love this!  I have a little more bad news for you....I believe they come back to the same place every Spring to lay their eggs.  We had one in our old house that showed up every year.  I think I'd let the eggs hatch...I'm not sure I could bring myself to destroy them. 

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Thanks Jane!  So I have one year to come up with an idea that puts the nursery off limits…hmmm...

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

We find turtles in our yard all of the time.  I would leave the eggs and let them hatch.  Several years ago I found some baby turtles in one of my flower borders.  A couple of weeks ago Otis told me to bring my camera and follow him.  He led me to that border and this is what he wanted to show me.  You will have to use your imagination-terrible picture.

This turtle was in some overgrown vegetation just a few feet from where I found the baby turtles a few years before.  Otis offered to pick it up and move it out into the open but I told him not to that it might be a female in the egg laying mode.  : ) 

Cheryl, Yours is an impressive turtle. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

So is yours, Anne.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Wow, Anne.  Looks like you'll have a nursery again.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

: )

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

Yikes!!  That is one ugly trespasser, Cheryl!  When I first saw the face before I read what it was, I thought it was a sloth peeking out of something!  (Yeah, not many sloths walking around North America, so that made no sense...but I thought maybe he was a zoo escapee lol!)  That just makes me want to stay out of the yard - I'm forever terrified I'm going to encounter a snake, much less some prehistoric creature like this.  Now that I think of it, I'd much rather see a sloth hanging out in the flowerbeds... 

Good luck with the creepy thing.  At least it does look like a rock, so hopefully Finn won't develop a curiosity about it!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

The turtle is long gone.  The Game guy came, and offered to dig them up but said moving them, even with the shovel would kill the embryos.  But said it was up to me.  In the meantime, I learned that the turtle is sacred to all Native Americans (and many cultures).  It represents mother earth, luck, and longevity. Since this land was  a place for sacred ceremonies by the Lenape I  said no.  I'm wondering if I disturbed her though before she laid the eggs because although she shoveled the mulch away, I didn't see much dirt disturbed.  I guess we'll wait and see… :)

Meanwhile, today I saw a garter snake in the driveway! I've never seen a snake here.  This all started with Laurie's blog.  Laurie, stop channeling reptiles my way!! LOL

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

OMD, I'd much rather have turtles than snakes any day!