So there I was Saturday morning working on the National Bike Challenge post. The phone rang. SnagIt! The Saturday morning curse kicked in. I packed everything up and hopped on the bike to (literally) check on a false alarm. I was riding on the 34th Street sidewalk (What an amazing place 34th would be for a bike lane!) Crossing the sidewalk in front of me and heading toward the busy-ness of 34th, was a yellow mud turtle. Unlike the red-eared slider and the soft-shelled turtle, the mud turtle is seldom seen around here. I don't think they are uncommon - just much stealthier than their sun-seeking cousins. She was the first I've seen in a few years, and she was just a few blocks from my house! By the way, mud turtles don't seem to care much for travel by bike.
Is that a great face or what? (And check out those fingernails!)
After dealing with the false alarm (at the neighbor's house), my wife and I took her over to the wilderness habitat area at Clapp Park. (You may remember all the Clapp Park posts from the tadpole era a few years ago.) She posed for a pic, then leapt (like a very clunky cheetah) toward the water and was gone!
Notice the speed blur - she was trucking it to the water!
Not quite a cannonball, but definitely speedy!
May she enjoy some local Lubbock mud and may you enjoy knowing she's around!
Thanks for reading!
PS. She smells better on the internet than in real life.
Bonus pic: Gecko on the house last night (2016 -Year of the Gecko!)
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