Why Did the Turtle Cross the Road?

Why you ask? I asked. But I guess we'll never know. He, the turtle, (nearly) flatly refused to give an interview! At any rate, he didn't talk! As the evidence has confirmed, it's not the smartest activity for a turtle. Nevertheless, I do see this from time to time. Today was the first time in our community that I saw one making it's way toward the middle of a crosswalk. And he wasn't small! His shell was probably 14 inches from side to side.

During the winter and spring, Brian and I walk a 1.75 mile loop within our neighborhood, probably 5 or 6 times a week. We see all manner of birds, although this time included our first turtle rescue. When Brian went to pick him up, he tried to dig in his "heels" or claws but that was difficult to do on the asphalt, so Brian won! Once brought to the side of the road, he headed for the grass. I trust at some point he made it into one of the nearby lakes. You know turtles; I wasn't going to wait around to see. Our lakes are small, and the community has 5 of them. So we've seen turtles swimming, fish jumping and osprey flying off after diving with a fish in its talons. Rather cool!

On this particular circuit through the neighborhood, we also saw a Great Blue Heron, a Great Egret, and a couple of Anhinga. Plus, there were many other smaller birds, in the trees, singing their hearts out! A wonderful way to start the day - after a cup of coffee, of course!!

Nature Walks?

Egret

Oh, the exercise of it all! Brian and I tried to walk a couple of miles 5 or 6 times a week when we lived in California. One of the nicest features of our home there were the trails to walk along a slough. Various types of birds were always a part of our walking routine. On special days we would see egrets, with even greater rarity we might see blue herons. Naturally :-( we never remembered our cameras, but I have many mental images in my files. Those walks were relaxing (perhaps too much so) and a great opportunity for conversation.

Here in Florida - it's the treadmill. It's far too hot to walk outside at this time of year. The treadmill does not allow for "relaxing" which is probably a good thing! Without a doubt I'm getting better exercise but I was going to miss the nature scenes. My second day at the gym I look up from the treadmill panel (checking my awesome stats!) and I find outside the window about 6 feet away - an egret! He decided to feed off the bugs in the bushes right in front of me. :-) On our nature walks in CA we were happy to see the egret when it was 300 feet away! To see the egret so closely was amazing! I guess I can never be sure just what I'm giving up - or not!

In any case, the exercise has been stepped up, so to say! At this point in life I'm not confident of decisive visual changes to my appearance. But I'm hoping to be stronger with better endurance - for many years. Who knows what I'll see along the way!