Ahh, summer in Georgia. The birds are singing, bees are humming, and my back yard abounds with reptilian and amphibian life. Thankfully, no snakes have been sighted yet, but we had two little visitors this weekend. First, let me introduce Tom Jones Slimy Allen, Jr. (Yup, there’s a story there…)
This little guy’s shell was less than two inches long. Poor thing was crawling around the patio but when it saw us, it cowered in the corner. After much pleading and begging to keep him, I made Zach come in and read online WHY it’s never a good idea to keep a wild turtle as a pet. So Zach reluctantly relocated TJSA Jr. to a safe area in our front yard.
I knew from experience that it was better to just let little turtles run free. When I was about Eli’s age, we found a small turtle in our backyard. Mom let us keep him in an outdoor planter box. I named him Tom Jones (after a favorite singer) Slimy (because he was a reptile, ya know?) Allen (our last name). Poor TJSA Sr. died…probably of shock, or perhaps because Al Gore hadn’t yet invented that miracle called the internet where one could find out exactly how to care for a little turtle. Anyway, the boys love hearing that story and they said that maybe this turtle was a distant cousin to his namesake. LOL! Maybe…you never know.
Anyway, that was the reptile part of the weekend. Last night, we drained our kiddy pool and when Donnie went out to scrub it this morning, he found this fat boy lounging in the few remaining inches of water.
Isn’t the pattern on his back pretty?
Anyhow, Donnie had to fish him out of the water. Froggie did not want to leave the water, but eventually he hopped out. This joker was as big around as my palm. Then I enjoyed witnessing a pure redneck moment as my three guys tried to catch him. Poor frog ended up hopping through the fence, but then the crazy thing came back for more. He was like, “Oh yeah, I’m the man, you can’t catch me!” Eventually I made everyone come inside and scrub their hands. Don’t want frog cooties all over the house, ya know?