It started yesterday, a huge thunderstorm, giving us the desperately needed moisture for our dying lawns. It continued throughout the night and morning, knocking out electricity. We were down for a couple of hours off and on at Headquarters. It was part of a massive front described by Fox News today this way: "Severe flooding in the midwest and southern plains had claimed at least 20 lives Monday, after relentless thunderstorms...."
By noon the rain was gone and the mercury climbing. As I went to my car in the parking lot a little before 6 I was surprised at what I saw in the road—a turtle walking right into traffic on Division. I watched as 3 cars ran over him, luckily straddling him, after which I rescued him. This is downtown Springfield. Where could a turtle come from here? Peggy and I have each rescued turtles several times as they tend to charge into traffic and we tend to be turtle-rescuers. One thing I knew—there was no place to put him at HQ where he wouldn't soon find himself back in traffic. I was meeting Peggy and her mom at Red Lobster for dinner. I took him with me, and, finding no good place to put him, we put him in a box with some water between our cars while we ate. (Very appropriate ... he's a box turtle.)
Peggy had to bring her mom home so she took him to Maranatha in a Christopher and Banks bag and deposited one very lucky and very happy turtle in a very nice pond. These are really good photos; they seldom stay out to be photographed. They are called box turtles because they totally draw into their box-like shell when threatened.
He's a three-toed box turtle: "Out of the 17 or so kinds of turtles native to Missouri, none are as well-known as our two species of box turtles. Even folks who aren’t into fishing, hunting, hiking, bird watching or gardening have had opportunities to observe box turtles. Too often, unfortunately, such opportunities involve these reptiles trying to cross roads or highways" (MO Conservation Dept.). See, I didn't make it up.
In other news, as Hurricane Dean prepares to slam Belize and Mexico, I am getting ready to go down to report with a team on Weds. or Thurs.
(Read my Vantage Point from yesterday's issue, about storms.)
