The Continuing Adventures of Jud

I arose this morning, looked out the window at the head of my bed, and saw something very strange in my yard. Figured I gotta go see what it is- some kind of animal- at first glance looked like a duck sitting deep in the lawn... then it moved and I saw it was a turtle!

So I grabbed my camera (yes- always have camera ready) and raced out, and he cringed and put his head back in his shell, and I shot.

He wouldn’t move till I left, so I left, went back inside and watched from the window. He would take 8 steps- or sets of steps, one foot at a time, four feet, takes a while- then stop, bottom out, stick his head way up like a periscope, look all around for a long time, then pull his head back down and lift his body, and take another 8 steps.

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After a while I saw he was heading to cross the road- not a real life-prolonging move for a creature that is going to stop every two feet on roads that are largely the venue of rednecks in pickup trucks who think they get points for hitting things and watching them go squish. So once again, I got up and raced outside, sans camera, and tried to encourage him to get moving.

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But of course, now he wouldn't move. I tapped him in his backside to encourage him, but that only made him dig in harder against the direction of my urging- maybe he was a teenager? So, I backed off and waved and shouted at him to move it! He eventually took another 8 steps, while I watched for traffic. The edges of his shell were very soft, so not conducive to grabbing for lifting, and I am not familiar with this type, but I do know it has a very long neck and could get its jaws around at my hands if I grabbed it- and not sure what kind of bite it has. So that was a last resort as I watched for traffic versus progress to the other side. Well, he finally cleared the road without any vehicles having appeared and I returned inside.

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