turtle power

There was a boy who found a terrapin, more commonly known as a turtle. He started to examine it but the turtle pulled in its head and closed its shell like a vice. The boy was upset and he picked up a stick to try to pry it open.

The boy’s uncle saw all this and remarked, “No, that’s not the way! In fact, you may kill the turtle but you’ll not get it to open up with a stick.”

The uncle took the terrapin (turtle) into the house and set it near the fireplace. It wasn’t but a few minutes until it began to get warm. Then the turtle pushed out its head, then stretched out its legs and began to crawl.

“Turtles are like that,” said the uncle, “and people, too. You can’t force them into anything. But if you first warm them up with some real kindness, more than likely, they will come out of their shell.”

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How to describe heaven when nothing compares

There was once a turtle who lived in a lake with a group of fish. One day the turtle went for a walk on dry land. He was away from the lake for a few weeks. When he returned he saw the fish.

 

They greeted him and asked: “Hello! How are you, Mr. Turtle? We haven’t seen you for weeks. Where have you been?”

 

The turtle answered, “I was up on dry land, spending time on dry land.”

 

The fish looked puzzled and said, “Up on dry land? What are you talking about? What is this dry land?”

The turtle paused as he tried to think of a way to explain something that had no parallels to their ordinary underwater world.

The fish tried to help by prompting the turtle, “Is it wet?”

The turtle answered, “No, it’s not wet.”

The fish continued, “Is it cool and refreshing?”

“No, it’s not cool and refreshing.”

“Does it have waves and ripples?”

“No, it doesn’t have waves and ripples.”

Worried, they finally asked, “Well, can you swim in it?”

“No you can’t swim in it,” the turtle had to admit.

Naturally, the fish reasoned: “It’s not wet, not cool, not wavy, and you can’t swim in it? Well then this ‘dry land’ of yours must be complete nothingness, either a fairytale or annihilation.”

“That may be, that may be” the turtle smiled as he left for another walk on dry land.

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a true tale … by Art~

The turtle tale reminds me of when my daughter and I were fishing in the back yard, about 2 years ago. She had caught a snapping turtle and I got the turtle off the hook and threw it back into the river. She was upset, claiming she wanted to keep it.

I explained to her that snapping turtles will bite you and they won’t let go until lightening strikes. Of course this did not discourage her. We catch snapping turtles occasionally, I have never caught any other kind of turtle fishing, not even a soft shell turtle. (which are endangered now due to the fact they are good for eating)

I finally, to appease her, told her that the red ear turtles were the ones at the pet store, and that those turtles make good pets. If she were to catch a red ear turtle, I would let her keep it. I have fished for many, many years and have never caught a red ear turtle.

The very next day, I came home from work. My wife and daughter were in the back fishing and guess what she had caught? Yep, a red ear turtle.

She proceeded to tell me how she called the turtle to her hook. While fishing she would call the turtle, “here turtle, turtle, bloop, bloop, bloop,” making a sound like bubbles under the water which was turtle talk for come here. I have no way of explaining the odds of this happening other than slim and none. But, you can’t tell that to a child with such determination.

This turtle was about half a hand in size. We had an old aquarium and set it up with sand, rocks and water, making it a home and my little girl called it “Bling Bling.” 

 

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 take it slow and easy today, like a turtle taking its time!

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