For a while, I thought my photos today would all look like a Monet painting. I know I said I liked a dreary October, but 6 inches of rain goes well beyond dreary. What I have now is flooding around the area, with roads closed, and the rain still falling, if a bit diminished over the torrents that dropped overnight. Baby Dog did not get much of a walk this morning.
Even a dreary day can have lots of surprises, though. I hadn’t gone far this morning when I came across these deer. Apparently for them, breakfast is more important than being completely soaked. And that newly awakened and moistened grass probably tasted a lot better it did the day before. They didn’t much care for me to stop and look at them.
Then, when I reached the bottom of the mountain I found a huge snapping turtle. I’d bet the shell was at least 15 inches long, and if someone wanted to disagree with me and say it was 18 inches, I wouldn’t call them a liar. I wasn’t about to get close enough to measure it. That head was as big as a softball, and those claws must have been going on 2 inches long. The edge of the road is 3 ft. wide, because I remember that’s how much the township widened it last year. Normally, I try to shoo turtles off the road, and I’ve done that with smaller snapping turtles, but I wasn’t going to fool with this fellow.
Who would have thought a morning like this one would provide something other than rain on a windshield?
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6 comments:
It's because you're open to new experiences that you see what others might miss.
Those big snappers can really run fast too! Stay dry.
Though it rained here quite a bit, Carolyn, we didn't get anything like 6". In fact, "my" creek is hardly up at all, and only slightly clouded with silt. If we'd gotten 6" like you, the creek would be a chocolate milk river roaring over of its banks.
Sharkbytes: And this one is very grumpy, too! With its size, I gave it a wide berth!
Pablo: Thanks! I try to be aware of what's going on around me, that's all.
Scott: 6" ended up being only about half of it. A rain station 5 miles north of me recorded a total of 11.74 inches and one about 7 miles wet of me reported 10.55 inches. That's a lot of rain!
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