Friday, October 11, 2013

Surprises, even on a rainy day

 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?

6 comments:

Pablo said...

It's because you're open to new experiences that you see what others might miss.

Sharkbytes said...

Those big snappers can really run fast too! Stay dry.

Scott said...

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.

Carolyn H said...

Sharkbytes: And this one is very grumpy, too! With its size, I gave it a wide berth!

Carolyn H said...

Pablo: Thanks! I try to be aware of what's going on around me, that's all.

Carolyn H said...

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!