Last Days of Pretty...

I should be working on the drapes for the Sun Room, but I had to sneak out with my camera to take some last photos of the Pretty Fall we are having...  After the Cold Front that roared through here and on up the East Coast last weekend, our Pond got so clear it looks like an aquarium ~

Look at the Baby Fish - only about an inch long!  Why are there Baby Fish in November??  I thought Nature Babies were born in the Spring.  Apparently, not.

Even the algae looks pretty...

Don't you just wonder what goes on in this other world?

The Dogwood tree has on her Red Pajamas and is just about to go to sleep...

And our little Creek Flowers are blooming their last blooms until next Spring:

Husband brought a bouquet of these in and presented them to me Monday night...they have a prominent spot in my kitchen, along with the last Rose.  He's good, like that.  

Soon, all the Pretty will be indoors, and all the Snug, and all the good Winter Food.  

I can hardly wait!

Snapping Turtles are All Gums!

We are now in Snapping Turtle Advanced Class.  And we have a News Flash.  They don't have teeth!

All these horror stories I've heard about how they will absolutely amputate your fingers if you get too close are now simply puzzling.  I've seen the lightening fast attack with that hooked beak, seen those jaws close like a vise...but there are no teeth!  So, how do they bite off your fingers???  Are their lips like a guillotine?

This is a close-up of yet another Snapping Turtle out of our pond, and look at that mouth.  Scary looking, but no teeth.  But we know they have eaten all the red meat we could throw at them.  Do they just clamp those jaws shut and Voila! cut the meat off?  Snap!  Zzzzttt!  Done.

Here's a shot of the enlarged team -  young son arrived to help out on this particular day.  He and Husband are teasing the above teenage turtle out of the pond...

I'm rather weary of seeing these prehistoric creatures in our yard...I read somewhere that the females lay about 20 eggs a year.  If these are the kids of the Original Pair, we are in for a long war.

I'm praying for cold weather and hibernation time.

Hurricane Irene Gone From Ocean Isle! However, One More Evacuation...

Hurricane Irene has gathered her skirts and moved on up the Coast, thankfully leaving without too much damage during her visit.  Just when we were breathing a sigh of relief here in Atlanta...Guess What?

Husband was out walking along the Creek Bank in our back yard, and nearly had a stroke when he saw this.  Frantic tapping on my studio window with a long cane pole brought me down the stairs, fast.

Do you remember last month's Saga of the Snapping Turtle ?

And his ugly wife?  And how we worried that they might have made Snapping Turtle Babies in our pond?

 

 I think this might be Junior:

  

When we tried to guide him into the bucket with this rake, he struck out at the rake like a cobra striking...ZZZIPPPP!!

We could hear his beak hit the metal of the rake.  Good Lord.  And this guy is only about 18 inches long.  Just a teenager.

Into the bucket he goes...Mandatory Evacuation.

The other two were mad, but this one was violent.  About as mad as a Snapping Turtle can be.  They have a history of amputating fingers, so Husband covered the bucket with another one, nested inside, before he picked the bucket up.  This guy was lightening fast, and could launch himself into the air with those powerful back legs.  With his beak reaching for us.  Not a nice creature.  Not welcome in our pond.

Which, apparently, is a Snapping Turtle Penthouse Pad.

Sorry.  Mandatory Evacuation.  Period.

Saga of the Snapping Turtle

You know from reading this Blog that we have this pond on our property that attracts all sorts of wildlife.  And we love it.  There's lots of action, and you can read about our feisty little hawk HERE and Geese with Bad Behavior HERE.

Most of the time, it is a beautiful preserve for us to enjoy:

Like watching these wild Pond Lilies bloom every morning, and close up in the evening.

However.  For the better part of 10 years, we've suffered (along with our fish) a reclusive inhabitant who resides in the murky bottom and slaughters baby ducks and geese, our fish, and anything else he decides looks toothsome enough to eat.  Occasionally, he surfaces and scares us half to death with his evil looking beak and enormous head.  Years ago, we identified him as a Snapping Turtle, and research told us we HAD to get him out of the pond or he would kill everything.  Easier said than done.

He has provided my Husband with years and years of hunting activity...and on Thursday night, after the longest hunt in history, Husband snagged him with his innovative bait/trap, and we were able to man/woman-handle him into a big garbage can.

Check out the claws, the beak, and the horns on his tail...those yellow spurs tucked around his rear end!

We performed High Fives all over the yard.

And Whooped and Hollered.

Our pond critters were Safe At Last!

We loaded him into the truck and traveled some distance away to release him into an active creek.  He was mad as hell by the time we drug the can through the woods to the creek:

There is a bank in front of him, and he raced right toward it and tumbled down to the bottom rather than just climbing down.  Things were moving pretty fast here, as you can see by the camera blur.

He immediately took off for the water in a huff:

Take a look at that horned tail...can you believe this prehistoric creature was in our idyllic little pond??

He moved with great purpose toward the creek, and just dove in...

He was moving VERY fast at this point.

As soon as he got into deeper water, he paused in a little area and positioned himself so that he could look at us...which was just unnerving.

He is looking straight at us.  Scary.

We had to delay dinner for awhile to have celebratory drinks on the deck.

We emailed friends and family, who cheered our success, and congratulated us on having our peaceful pond back again...we discussed how to re-stock the pond.  I thought ahead to next Spring and a batch of wild baby Wood Ducks that didn't get eaten up by a vicious prehistoric monster.

And then this morning, when Husband went out to check the pump that aerates the pond, that same evil head popped up out of the water, and pinned him with the kind of glare that says, "You Are Now Officially On My S--t List, you idiot."  Same turtle, just tired and hungry.  And mad.  Mad.   

I checked the Snapping Turtle website and it says in fine print that after you have managed to trap your troublesome tenant, you're supposed to take it at least 10 miles away.  That is twice the height of Mt. Everest.

Back to the hunt.

News Flash!! News Flash!!

 

It wasn't the same turtle!  I think it is his wife!  I was just getting ready to publish this Post, when I heard Husband shout out to come and help.  I ran down to the pond and positioned my garbage can, while Husband manned the line and rake.  We're getting to be pros at this!

Here she is - smaller but even more furious than her mate:

She was Hissing at us, nonstop.

I declined to attend the release this time so that I could finish this post and get it published.  Do you think our pond is safe, NOW?

Please let that be the last one - Please?