Quite A Winter For Turtles

I started this post a few weeks ago and then had to put completing it off until today.  So, yes, we are well beyond Spring now.  And I do apologize for the delay.   But the turtle story is interesting still.  So, I've left the Spring comments in.  .....Please be patient with me.  Haha!

Its good to have Spring flowers and Spring weather.  But its even better to have Spring temperatures.  Its been quite a Winter for the turtles.  If you've followed this blog for a while, you know that I have 3 rescued box turtles.  They live in my backyard.  They live freely as if in the wild.  But they have the protection of the fence.  Each of the three has a physical handicap that makes them vulnerable in the wild, especially when crossing the road.  So, they have lived happily with us for 15 years now.  There were some years when we had babies.  But we have no males now, so there are no babies.

Claudette with one of the previous babies

The girls have always taken care of themselves for hibernation, digging in when the weather dictated the need.  Their disappearance in the Fall always signals the first freeze.  And their reappearance in the Spring is always a surprise and a delight.  But with our recent move we have a yard made of Oklahoma red clay.  Think of those big ol' blocks of red clay at the art store.  It is just too tough for them to dig into enough to hibernate.  In normal circumstances, the girls dig in 2 feet deep to get under the freeze line.  But they can only get about 3 inches down in this red clay and even that takes a whole lot of work. 


So, this last Fall, thinking I had a great idea, my son dug a hole in the yard 2' x 2' x 2'.  We then filled it with nice top soil right into the hole.  Then we placed the girls in that soil and they dug in as the temperature was dropping.  We placed a couple of small logs beside the hole lest they come up and decide to wander around looking for a better place to sleep.  There was no better place but they aren't terribly bright to figure that out themselves.   That night we had heavy rains and storms. I didn't give it a second thought as I knew the girls were tucked into their lovely winter bed.  I was feeling pretty smug about it all.

The next morning I went outside to look around after the rain.  I was shocked to see that the hole filled with top soil was washed out and was now a swimming pool.  The clay was forming solid walls as if they were concrete.  Claudette Colbert was standing on a very small island of top soil that was quickly washing away.  I grabbed her and put her in a safe spot in the grass.  I could see Goldie Hawn in another mud hole near by.  Evidently she had found a way to crawl out of the swimming pool but she was still in quite a bit of water.  And I couldn't find Cleopatra anywhere!  You see these are box turtles.  They are not water turtles.  Like you and me, they can only survive in water as long as they can hold their breath.   I pulled up my sleeves and plunged my arms deep into that cold water all the way up to my shoulders.  I dug around thinking I would find her.    Nothing!    I looked around that area in case she had gotten out.  I worried.  I prayed.  I walked the entire yard looking into every little nook and cranny to see if she had escaped and crawled off.    Nothing.    My hands searched again in that frigid water hoping I would find her this time.    Nope!    I prayed and then gathered the other two in my two hands and took them into the house to warm up.  I didn't know what else to do.  I mean, there really wasn't anything else to do.

Cleopatra

So, I paced....... for about 45 seconds.  And then I was back out there arms swimming in ice water hoping to find what I knew wasn't in that water.  I checked every little hiding spot in the yard once again as if I hadn't just done that moments before.  And again, I prayed.

This time before I went back into the house I thought to try one more thing.  IF she had dug in deep in the bottom of the hole....  And IF she was below the water level and therefore safe....   And IF she were to dig up and come out of her soil bed....  Then she would come up into the water and would need a way to get out.  ---Actually, I wasn't even sure if that was scientifically possible.  But, you know.... what if..... ?!  

So thinking she would need to attempt to crawl out, I pulled away the log that was on one side of the "swimming pool".  And then it occurred to me that if she came up on the other side she would not know that the log was missing on the far side.  So I reached over to remove the second log.

!!!!!   THERE SHE WAS!  She was in an air space underneath that log.   Hanging on for dear life by only her front claws in the dirt at the top of the hole, holding only her nose above the water level!   Oh no!  How long had she been clinging there trying to live?  And how much longer would she have been able to endure before she wore out?  I snatched her up and took her in the house.

I had no idea what I was going to do with them.  Obviously they could not spend the winter in this backyard like they had done in previous yards.  I had "over wintered" a young turtle once.  Which just means keeping them in the house.  It really isn't best for them.  Their systems are made to hibernate.  And when I tried it she hardly ate all winter.  I stewed about her all those months.  I wasn't looking forward to repeating that!  I now know there is a way to prepare them for overwintering so that they adjust better.  But I didn't know that then.  Anyway...  I know this is getting long.  So, to make a long story a bit shorter, I found a wonderful site http://www.tortoisetrust.org where I learned about creating a hibernating box.  This was a great idea and they could stay in the garage.   But the next weeks would prove that our garage just didn't get cold enough for them.  They were cold enough to sleep but not cold enough to truly hibernate.  The result would be that they would sleep the winter away and starve to death before Spring because they would not be cold enough to slow down their metabolisms.

 

Then I learned at http://www.tortoisetrust.org that I could refrigerate them.  Not in the house next to the dill pickles!   But in their own little fridge in the garage.   So, not a few $$$ later in this turtle project, we became the proud owners of a small turtle fridge.  And they spent their winter like this.

As you can imagine I was really really glad when it got warm enough to get them out of that cold box.  Here they are enjoying their first Spring treat.  They don't live in this box.  But I got them out of hibernation a bit early so I needed to have them contained to enable me to bring them in during cooler nights and cloudy days until it was truly warm enough.   And now, well into July, they are enjoying their freedom and the warmth of lovely Summer weather.

 

As previously promised, here is another journal page.  I love the look of the graphite image layered with the watercolor and the black and white designs.  But I have to say that it is more challenging to draw over the writing than I thought it would be.  The lettering was quite a distraction.

 

 
Wind and Honey Creations
Creative Pencils - Online Drawing Lessons

And Now It Can Be Spring!

The girls are up. The turtles, I mean.  It isn't officially Spring at our house until we see the turtles.  We have 3 of them and they live freely in our backyard.  They could leave if they wanted to.  They could easily dig under the fence.  But they choose to live with us.  I like to think they enjoy the tomato and watermelon treats I give to them as much as I enjoy sharing.

The first picture is Cleopatra and the second one is Claudette Colbert.   These pictures were taken today.  I didn't have time to create a reunion picture today as I am supposed to be recording a workshop.  And besides that, Goldie was hiding somewhere this morning.

Cleopatra

Claudette Colbert

A turtle picnic

Here is a picture of Goldie and Cleopatra taken last year.  It was
later in the year, hence the watermelon.  If you find our turtle family interesting, you may read more about them in previous blog posts here and here.

I will be recording a turtle drawing lesson for the new subdivision of Creative Pencils this week.  I might have to bring one of the girls in as a visual aid.

More about the new Creative Pencils project in just a few days.  We are wrapping things up to get it all ready.




Wind and Honey Creations

And The Winner Is..........

Well, its almost midnight on Thursday and time to announce a winner for the Name Your Baby Contest.  Baby turtle can hardly wait to have a name and stop being called Baby turtle.  You all came up with very creative names.  As each one came in I would think, Oh, I bet that will be the one.  It has been a much more difficult decision that I expected.

But in the end, there can only be one winner.  So after thinking through each name thoroughly I've made a decision.  

So now, the envelope please..........

Drum roll.............................................................................................................................................

The winning name is Miss Mae after Mae West.  It is fitting that her name be that of a floozy since her daddy was Captain Jack, after all.

Miss Mae was submitted by Pey of peylu.etsy.com and folkartvision.etsy.com.  Pey is from Canada, an active member of EFA/artist helping animals, and a very creative artist. Congratulations Pey!  Convo me with your mailing address and I will get your card in the mail. :)

Here are some of my favorite examples of Pey's work.

Thank you to all who participated.  I hope it was fun for you.

Elizabeth

Its a Name Your Baby Contest!

Finally, I have pictures of the baby turtle's face.  She wasn't terribly cooperative.  And either she's not very photogenic or I'm not a very good photographer cuz it took a million tries to get these not so amazing pictures. - probably both!  

There is one thing I learned while taking the pictures.  At one point she stuck her little head all the way out.  Of course this was not when I had the camera in my hand.  But anyway, it enabled me to see that she has tiny orange speckles all over her face.  That means I was wrong.  She is not Claudette's baby.  Rather the mother of this baby would have to be Cleopatra.  Her babies always have her distinctive orange speckles.  Here is a pictures of Cleopatra.  

I did take one where you could see Baby's cute little tail.

As someone else has noted, this baby simply must have a name since she is now known by the whole world.  So, I've decided to have a Name Your Baby Contest.  So here is what you will need to know.  I always name my turtles after either a movie star or a character in a movie.  I really like old movies.  (And if you are young like my daughter, old movies doesn't mean the 80's.  I mean really old.)  Turtles live such simple and plain lives digging in the dirt and eating worms, it just seems fun to give them glamorous names.

I will choose the name that delights me the most.  I promise to be fair and not choose based on the person that submits the name.  If you knew how seriously I take my pet's names, you would know this is not a problem.  It took a week and 30 tried names before choosing Kenya for my most recent rescued cat.

The author of the baby turtle name that I choose will receive a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" notecard with a printed version of my Dance with a Cat collage and matching envelope.  (The green is just the background for the picture)

To enter the contest I just ask three things of you.

1.  comment here with your name idea

2.  sign up to follow my blog

3.  take the time to read my previous blog post about my friend and at least look at her drawing.  Then leave a comment there so I know you have done that.

I will make a choice on Thursday May 21.  

I look forward to lots of creative and fun name ideas.

Elizabeth

Baby pictures

Per many requests, here are baby pictures.  She is with Mama, Claudette Colbert for size reference.  Claudette is about the size of a grapefruit that is flattened on one side.  Baby would not come out for the pictures - sorry.  And Claudette was determined to leave.  So I had to be quick.

We are contemplating creating a turtle nursery in the flowerbed outside of the fence.  So she hasn't gone to the country yet.  At the house we used to live at, we had a turtle nursery and they lived in it until they were as big as biscuits, which was usually their 3rd summer.  Until they are that big they are tasty morsels for large birds.   The nursery was not moveable when we came here.  And Captain Jack, our male decided to skip town.  I guess his name fit.  So we didn't think there would be more babies.   But sometimes the eggs can stay viable for a couple of seasons before they hatch. So.....

Anyway, its too late in the day for any face pics today.  They are already starting to snuggle in for the night.  Baby is staying in a hotel called The Clay Flower Pot on the Front Porch temporarily.  I won't be here tomorrow cuz  I'M GOING TO SEE THE LION KING PLAY!!!!!!    Excuse  me.   I'm terribly excited.

Anyway, the point is, I will try to get some pictures of baby's face Monday.  I usually don't name the babies cause then I get too attached.  They have no handicaps so I like to let them go in the country when they are bigger.  So she will just have to be "Baby".

Elizabeth

Babies are blooming in the Garden

Spring is officially here.  The rains have come and the perennials have risen from their winter sleep.  And Saturday mornings are begun with the buzz of weed eaters in the background.  How I wish someone would design a silent weed eater!  But on a more positive note, yesterday when I was pulling weeds (silently, by hand) from my flower garden, I found a tiny baby box turtle.  She was about the size of a silver dollar and sooo cute!  And yes, she is a she.  Yes, you can tell.  If anyone really wants to know how, you can contact me and I will tell you.

I am sure this tiny garden dweller is the offspring of one of my backyard family members.  Today I will take her out to the country far from busy city streets where she can live a long and happy turtle life.  She could simply live in my backyard with her mama and 2 aunts.  However, although I've taught Lydia that turtles are not balls with legs, I'm not sure this cookie with legs might not be beyond her limits of self control. 

Speaking of garden blooms, I've found the cutest shop on ETSY - WarmandFuzzyBaby.   In her love of a handcrafted life, Hilda has designed these precious baby caps.   They will keep your little one's head warm while expressing the hope of new life.  I can hardly wait for a friend to have a baby so I can buy one.  Just look at these little rose buds.