Old Snapping Turtle

On the way back from Church today, we spotted a very old snapping turtle walking down the road. Technically, you are supposed to move turtles off the road. But snapping turtles, although they certainly do look like docile reptiles plodding along harmlessly, but due to their extremely quick reflexes and not so pleasant disposition, I didn't wish to risk an arm or a leg.

Snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina), are reptiles that can be found near almost any permanent body of water in the U.S. Since they are fairly nocturnal animals, and surprisingly prefer a shady, muddy and weedy hideout rather than a bask in the sun by day, the best time to see them by day is in spring and early summer, when females move out of the water in search of a suitable spot to lay their eggs. Unlike many other animals, turtles generally do not guard their eggs. Interestingly, the sex of a turtle is not determined by sex genes, but rather by the specific temperatures that the eggs are exposed to during gestation! Females are pruduced when eggs are in warmer temperatures, while males are preduced when eggs are exposed to cooler temperatures.

An old turtle can be distinguished from a young turtle by looking for keels, or bumps, on the carapace (shell). Young turtles have pronounced keels, while older ones have a relatively smooth carapace. A turtle that is well weathered will probably have parts of their carapaces chipped off, as well as parts of their hooked 'beak', as this snapper (also called loggerhead) does.

Planetary Conjunctions

As you may have read in a past post, I wrote about a Planetary Conjuction last year. Well, as I said, there is another conjuction tommorow morning. But it will not be vissible, unfortunately. But something you can see: Jupiter and the Neptune will have an exact conjuct on the 26th!

Lazy Friday Afternoon

Two exams down, five more to go...*sigh*

It is a beautiful day outside. As I sit here typing and not studying, I can hear a redstart and a house sparrow. All the windows are open, all the doors are open, all the lights are off, and the fans are spinning. Even though it is only May 22, it feels awfully like a cool July afternoon! As I walked out to check on my garden, I saw that some wassically wabbit munched the radish greens off my radishes. There are nibblings on my lettuce leaves as well. Ahhem...This is my garden, and I would like to know just who would scale a WABBIT proof fence and trespass into private property?*cough, cough * John Chippy Chipmunk *Cough*

I am happy to report that the corn family is doing quite well, as well as the pumkin family. No trespassers are making baby green salads out those, thankfully. I am sad to report that a different sort of trespasser knocked Mr. and Mrs. Robin's nest down from under the deck posts. We all know what bandit would have done that! The eggs were pipping when I last checked the nest last week...it's so sad, isn't it? I've tried to deter Mother and Father Robin from building their nest there for several season, because racoons have no trouble getting at the eggs, as you may imagine. (If a racoon can brave pepper spray, outwit little brother knots on about 16 bungie cords on trashcans (Not plastic ones!), and still win what ever little bit of soggy food and eggshells are inside, then scaling a wall shouldn't be too difficult.)

It is 85 degrees outside, and Ms. House Sparrow is not the only one who would like to bath in the warm and enviting sun patches in our shady backyard. There is Master Chip the Chipmunk who is making very hasty trips from garden to hole in the log...hmm...looks fishy...there's somthing in his cheeks! Actually, the little fellow has seen me, and now he is tearing by me like the Tazmanian Devil, and squeaking, as if I'm some really ugly monster....I wonder if I am.....all the animals look at me like that.....Well, here he is, hoping he made just enough noise in that direction, so that I wouldn't notice that that he was really coming from the dirrection of radishes and salads and all my delicious herbs.

I really like days like these, where it is too early for raspy winged cicadas and the violinists, I mean crickets, that practice their instruments high in the great big maples, and it isn't hot enough so that I would need a cold beverage the minute I step outside. It is just the temperature where you want to walk along in the unmown grass, bare foot, and feel the warm earth. And don't you just love the feeling when you step into the shade, and the grass feels so cool compared to when you were in the sun?

Mr. Fly

A Trip to my Garden

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