Our Turtle Guesthouse

You can only imagine the kids' delight when they went outside to throw their balls while Mommy finished getting dinner ready only to discover a turtle hiding in the hosta. :o)

First I heard urgent cries of "Mommy!! Come look! Come look! Come look!" And then while retrieving my camera after expressing my mutual delight, I heard panicked cries of "Mommy! It's moving!" (almost in tears) "Mommy! I don't want it to run away!"

Much to the wayward turtle's chagrin, I'm sure, we decided to set up a turtle guesthouse after dinner that evening. :o) We named him "Herby," and then changed his name to "Harriet" when some research informed us that "he" was a "she" (based on the size of her tail.)

We set up a small "pond" and fed her a nice breakfast of carrots and cucumbers the next morning.

We most definitely enjoyed watching her walk around (looking for a means of escape, but we didn't mention that!)

And here she is up close . . .

Harriet visited with us for just a couple days . . . kind of like when we go to visit grandma--we stay for a little while and then we come home.

"Why did Harriet go home?"

"Because she missed her family."

"Why?"

"Because she loves her family . . . just like you love your family."

"Oh. . . . Will she come back?"

"Probably not, but that's okay. Did you enjoy having her visit us?"

"Yes." :o)

Wheew! It took some quick thinking to avoid the tears when we learned that the website's designation of turtles as "escape artists" was quite accurate. :o) But, we did enjoy the visit, and her escape prevented us having to make a decision of how long to keep her. :o)