Animal kingdom

For a girl that's afraid of her own shadow most days, she had no problem holding the boa constrictor named "Captain America" at a friend's birthday party last weekend!

Terry the turtle

Once upon a time, I woke up from a rare weekend nap, looked out the bedroom window and saw a HUGE turtle / dinosaur on our front sidewalk.

You know, the usual.

Turns out this pretty lady (speculation on the gender) had been hanging out in our neighbor's yard all weekend. We have a small creek directly behind our cul-de-sac and we suspect she came to drier land to lay eggs. (No eggs or baby turtles have been spotted to date).

Because I have a slight obsession with naming objects and animals, I decided on Terry (unisex), and she immediately drew a crowd in our small neighborhood. After the initial "oh my gosh, there's a huge turtle hanging out" shock wore off, we decided it was best to get Terry to the lake in the back of our neighborhood. But then the question was how. One neighbor suggested we pick her up by the tail, but that seemed like a risky idea. Shovelling Terry into a wheelbarrow was the idea that stuck and it was quite the sight ...

Then, like normal neighbors do, we walked as a group back to the lake and released her.

And she lived happily ever after.

But not before a group of neighbors walked back to their homes in gang-like fashion pushing a wheelbarrow and holding shovels. The usual.