Tuesday, October 02, 2007

The Painted Turtle


Awesome picture of the painted turtle by John Caddy (the next picture of the turtle and the Blue Haron is by him as well). When I was young I used to catch these turtles and put them in my metal tub and take care of them. The smaller the better. I liked them about the size of a quarter or maybe as big as a half dollar. Sometimes the neighbors kids would talk me into selling them one. There was an art to catching them. You had to go into the water real slow and then have just your nose above the water in order to breath. As you approached the turtle using very gentel breast stokes, you would submerge further to where just your eyes would be above the water. Then just a few feet away, if the turtle had not made a run for it yet, you would go under completely and scoop the unsuspecting turtle up in your hand. If the turtle made a run for it then you would attempt to intercept the turtle as he made his get away. I went in after a few prime turtles with my good school cloths on, but if I had a baby turtle when I came home all wet my mother would understand. For the past decade or so I have collected all kinds of neat turtle things and my little cabin is full of them. I even have a ring made of silver with several little turquoise turtles set into it. Turtles are really cool and I really dig turtles.