wurkin'...( with photo added)

I was supposed to work today (Sunday) from 11 until 6, but ran out of things to do, so I left early. The schedule was designed for me to be there until six, but I left soon after five, though I did some shopping, so was a bit later starting home. There was a reason for the early leaving, and the lateness of actually getting on the road. I encountered a turtle that, like the 'chicken', was attempting to cross the road...

It would have surely been smooshed if I had not stopped and spirited it away from cars going sixtyplus miles an hour. It was at the busy intersection of Macon Road and where I would turn to go home. I noticed it as soon as I got into the intersection, and wanted to stop to provide assistance. But the light was green, and there were vehicles headed toward me. I pulled over out of traffic, and anxiously waited for the other cars to whiz through, cringing, with the full expectation that the hardback would get crunched. But it didn't and I dashed out to grab it up as soon as the cars passed.

Oddly enough, I had a bucket in my car, left over from the flowers I took down to the Artist's Guild exhibition last night. So I put the turtle in the bucket and drove on home. Put it out on the driveway, and noticed the cat being very suspicions. She got close, the shell started to open up a bit, and she made a hasty retreat. I picked up the turtle and took it into the back yard and left it there, to find it's way in the world.

They are certainly making a comeback in the panhandle. That is the third one I have picked up in the past couple of months, and the fourth I have seen. The others were what I have always called 'box turtles' with a dome shaped shell. This one had a flatter shell, but was about the size in diameter of a salad plate, much bigger than the others I have seen recently. I think it might be some sort of aquatic turtle, as it's shell was very muddy, looking like it had come out of the pond on the property at the corner of the intersection. It had toenails that were about half an inch long, so don't think they are used for digging, or they would have been worn down shorter.