I’ve been walking and I take my iPod with me to capture nature at her best.
I was rewarded this day, alongside our very sleepy pond, with a turtle heading up the steep bank towards me. I just had to stop and get a picture. The turtle stopped too and eyed me with his eyeballs! He drew his head in just a tad.
He was big and brave and didn’t need to retreat completely. I decided to video him and he showed off for me by turning around, almost rolling over in his haste, and making his way back down the bank to the water. I have never seen such a long tail on a turtle before.
In retreat he looked like a miniature dinosaur! He was quite nimble too unlike the tortoises of my native land, he couldn’t get away from me quickly enough! My blue-eyed cowboy said he thought it was a snapping turtle, good job I didn’t try picking him up.
I’m learning from my Zoo Keeper son not to interfere too much with the wildlife.
Except where the squirrels are concerned!
They are supposed to be dead!
We’ve waged a war on them that should have them foiled and felled because we are so much cleverer than they…only think again!!
I have a wooden owl placed strategically adjacent to the fence, next to the whistling Ent,
clearly visible from my office window.
My bold squirrels halt in front of it, initially frightened to run passed on their way to do rodent business. They stare it down with their beady eyes, or was it me they were staring down as I peered out at them?
After a few days, satisfied that it was more friend than foe they now run back and forth along the fence with no worries!
They dig in my lawn, which looks like a dust bowl, not a blade of grass in sight thanks to the weather and these critters who enjoy eating fresh green shoots of any kind.
Fascinated, I watched one digging, using his teeth, pulling at the roots of a weed, causing his shoulders to contract with the effort. Then he swiftly straightened up took the earth he had dug up and scooped it ever so neatly back into the hole and patted it down with fast little taps.
Perhaps he wasn’t scrabbling for a root after all, but storing a nut for those cold days of winter.
He should be dead by now, not this poor bird.
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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