Today was a busy, exciting day for Otis and myself. The day started like any other and so did we. After breakfast we went over to the cottage and worked on the family tree chart and got another generation done. At noon I stopped and we had lunch and after lunch just before I sat down for a nap I let Otis out as usual. Only it was anything but usual. It was hot and sunny and usually Otis goes out and comes right back in because he is black he does not like the hot sun, but today he didn’t come back in. Finally I got worried and went out and called to Otis. At first I heard nothing but then I heard him barking and I followed the sound. Otis was following a very large turtle. The turtle was almost as large as Otis. Otis was not hurting it but was bothering her and I was afraid Otis might try and bite her. I picked up Otis and brought him into the house and called Becca to see if she wanted to come and save the turtle.
Becca came and I got some Mellon to feed the turtle. The turtle took a few bites of the Mellon, Becca held Otis and I picked up the turtle and we took her outside the fence. She had walked back and forth along the back fence while Otis was Barking at her and could not get out so I thought that was what she wanted to do. I gave her more Mellon and the kids came over to see her. She didn’t seem to mind everyone being around watching her and no one touched her. Patty came home and stopped to see her and everyone left.
Later Becca came over to say she had let the turtle into her back yard as she was trying to get in and Becca had seen her there in the past so thought that was what she wanted.
after supper I let Otis out and I went back to the cottage to work a little longer on my family tree chart. But again Otis did not come with me so after a while I went to see where he was. This time he was not barking but he was sure interested so I went to check and see where he was. I found him by the fence in the corner, he was watching the turtle digging a hole. I took Otis into the cottage with me but he could not settle down so after almost an hour I gave up and let him out to see if the turtle was gone. This is where I found Otis. He was not barking and was not attacking anything so I got my camera and followed him. This is what Otis was looking at. The turtle didn’t move and Otis was not bothering her. She had gotten back into our yard and had dug this hole. I a guessing she was laying her eggs because when I took Otis away she then left and went back across the yard and left the way she had come in. This is the corner of the yard that she came in. This is Otis following the turtle across the yard. Otis didn’t bark much and never tried to hurt her but he was an excited little puppy to have such a visitor. This is the corner where she was leaving. She had dug a hole under the fence to get into the yard and is now leaving the yard. Otis who will not try to squeeze into any small space really wanted to follow her so I had to grab Otis and not let him go with her. I put a flower pot in the hole so Otis can not get in there. tomorrow I will put something stronger there to stop her from coming into the yard and to stop Otis from getting out but I don’t think anything will stop that turtle from coming in if she wants to again. We have seen her before, she was here last year when they were building this house. She comes in to get the ripe mangos from the neighbor’s tree but they are not ripe right now so I think it must be to lay eggs. This is the hole she dug in our yard. I don’t see any eggs in the hole but I didn’t poke around as I don’t want to hurt any eggs if there are any in there. Also she didn’t cover up any that I could see and Otis doesn’t seem too interested in the hole so maybe there is nothing left in there. This is Otis trying to follow the turtle out. From here the turtle followed the fence line under the sea grapes in Becca’s back yard on her way to where ever she came from.
Otis went out again just before we went to bed. He checked out the whole area and was satisfied that the turtle was gone and then came back to the house. He is now a sleep beside me. He will sleep well tonight, he had such an exciting day and he is happy to have cleared out his yard. The happy hunter will sleep well tonight. Tomorrow we will inspect the scene and Otis will relive his exciting day. For tonight all will sleep well. Good night, have a good night yourself.