~ snap ~

One dusty June day, we happened along this little critter. Our four year old spied it and was instantly scared silly. I have to say, before I realized what it was, I was a little taken aback myself. This quarter-sized guy was super dusty and moving ever. so. slowly. Once we realized it was a snapping turtle, we picked him up (by the sides), asked the orchard folks if they had a pond they'd like us to pop him in and upon hearing the answer we settled him into a container and decided to take him somewhere he could live out his many years to come.

We set him up with a temporary pool and tried to feed him... which he so politely declined. The kids took turns holding him, watching him, trying to feed him and, generally, fussing over him. After keeping him overnight, we decided his heart was in the wild so we took him to our favorite hiking spot and let him go in a small pond there...