And that's when I realised it was alive.Who finds a tortoise in their backyard? In the middle of the suburbs?
Quite obviously, we do.We named him Mr Beaujangles, and after a lovely play sent our newfound friend safely on his way into a neighbouring backyard.
One without a dog, cat, chickens and small children.
It may have been my imagination, but I am relatively sure I detected a look of relief on his face as he trudged off.
The boys really liked playing with him.
15 comments:
Wow! You get all the groovy visitors, Ali! :-) Guess it's a native Australian freshwater turtle maybe you can identify it from this link: http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/WfHC/Chelidae/index.html. Do you have a creek nearby? Coz they spend a good deal of time in the water but evidently wander about as well.
That would have given me a shock. I don't like finding creatures in unexpected places. I have a nightmare of putting my foot into my Wellington boot and finding a frog inside it! (or worse).
Well that is really cool! My kids would have loved it as well. We had an echindna under the chook house when I was a kid, and my Gran once found a frog in her toilet, which she discovered only after it jumped and stuck to her butt!
Mark, we don't even dare to out a foot in an unchecked boot here in Sydney. These little creatures are unfortunately quite common: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_funnel-web_spider
How long did your visitor hang around, Ali?
L
Groovy!! That's one cool critter. I'm sure your kids had lots of fun - look at that grin! Mine would have had a ball, poor tortoise.
Oh yes, they were both so excited - so was I! I let the boys play for a while and when we let him go you could tell he was pretty keen to get out! As fast as he could, which of course was not very fast at all...
I would die if a frog jumped onto my bottom on the loo... just drop dead.
Mark the tortoise was quite a surprise, but not a bad one. And I whack the life out of my boots before putting them on... 500m2 is right!
Elaine I had thought it was a tortoise, but after looking at that site I think you are right! You are such a font - how do you know these things?? He tucked his neck to the side and everything. And yes, fairly near a few creeks. I should have taken him back to one hey.
We just had one wander into our school yard about 2 weeks ago and was spotted on the cement outside one of the classrooms after all the children had gone home. The strange thing is, its totally illegal to have them here in Tasmania so goodness know where he came from. He has been taken to a local wildlife park till the authorities come and deal with him.
How exciting for your children
I love those smiles.
WOW! Must have been your vegie patch that attracted him! Hope he did not eat much! Was he a neighbours pet by chance?
How do I know these things Ali? It comes with the territory - advanced years and a stickybeak mind ;-)
I've never seen a tortoise look interested in life before.
The expressions on your boys faces says it all, actually that tortoise does look quite, um, anxious. Be thankful he did not turn up on Xmas day as I'm sure you would have been stuck with him if the boys thought he was from Santa! melx
OOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo what a wonderful visitor Ali!
That's cool! He looks a bit surprised!
Forget the totoise....What have you done with felix's curls! I'm heart broken!
Boy bliss! This made me giggle so much thinking of my two little monkeys and the wildlife that finds them.
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