Sunday, November 16, 2008

Just Passing Through

One spring morning, E. found this desert tortoise in his little "meadow" munching fallen rose petals. When she found herself being observed, she abandoned her roses to beat a hasty retreat ...well as hastily as a tortoise can retreat. She was around for a few days as we discussed what to do with her. It pretty much boiled down to searching for her owner or taking her out to the local zoo..when she disappeared as mysteriously as she'd appeared. Being me, I wake up in the cold of the night and worry about her.
This little bull snake stopped by too. He was all shiny and new looking having apparently just lost his old skin. We drove him down the hill to the wild brushy area where we take the skunks.
There, he was more than happy to slither into the underbrush. At least I assume he was happy. It's hard to tell with a snake..
It is just such momentous occurrences that keep the One Acre Wood humming along!
I'm still fussing with my pictures. Hopefully, I'll get them straightened out one day!

12 comments:

Granny J said...

I should think you might get all kinds of critters at the One Acre Wood, especially now that the pigs, alas, are gone.

Linda G. said...

I don't think critters like this noticed the pigs, although once, when T was about half grown I found a huge garter snake skin. I said, "Wow, would you look how big that skin is," He replied, "yum yum," and gobbled it down with much appreciative lip smacking...

Anonymous said...

I am so glad the tortoise made it there and back to where he came from or she came from. I don't like snakes but wish I could overcome my fear of them.

TomboCheck said...

Love seeing the wildlife in your area.

Out in chino it's roadrunners, javalina, coyotes, and rabbits (or more properly hares perhaps?).

Linda G. said...

OML, I hope she's okay....

Tombo, that's a lot of wildlife! I don't know about hares..I think maybe jack rabbits are hares, but not cottontail...

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Awww, looks at her little stumpy legs. What a cutie. I'd be worried about her, too. Hopefully she's just burrowed down for the winter.

We've got bull snakes around here, too. We like them alot because bull snakes seem to keep the rattlesnakes in check :)

Ok, skunks, eh?
I can't wait to hear about them here. lol!

~Lisa
New Mexico

photowannabe said...

Fascinating to have a tortoise in your yard. Not too fond of snakes and dislike skunks in my garden. This year hasn't been too bad but last year phew....

Linda G. said...

Photo, skunks in the garden are definately not a welcome smell!

Granny Annie said...

I am convinced that turtles have super sonic speed when no one is looking. They certainly can disappear fast but only when we aren't looking.

We also relocate snakes when we can. Rarely do we kill them, but sometimes it is necessary.

Skunks are given practically free reign since we do not care to upset them

Jan said...

She..the tortoise would be fine-we had one living in our back yard in California, but it would be hard to catch me if I should come up on a snake! :)

Shammickite said...

When I was little in UK, there were two domestic tortoises who lived in a neighbour's garden. The garden was surrounded with a waist high stone wall, and one of my great pleasures was when my mum would lift me up to try and spot one of the tortoises.
No snakes though.

Linda G. said...

GA, I think you're right! This one was here one minute and gone the next!

Jan, I can pick up a snake, but I'd rather pick up a tortoise:)

Sham, what a nice memory:)