A Late Evening's Inquiry

The turtle we got a year or so ago from my brother who lives in our old family home. He has nine or so turtles in his yard, the oldest being about 60 years old, acquired from a neighbor that couldn't care for it any longer.

Our first turtle we had was acquired in 1967, when we were but mere lads, smuggled back to New Mexico from Ohio in a shoe box in the overhead luggage bin of a Greyhound Bus, during a summer vacation to see relatives. There have been turtles in our family's backyard ever since.

They hibernate during the cold mountain winters in underground caves we dug for them in the hard-packed dirt, and eat either insects, or the cat food that my brother leaves out for them. They also like strawberries.

Our lone turtle in my yard we feed a bit of cat food, but also let it forage for snails and insects in its lush pen that's situated along the back wall of the yard, adjacent to the lawn, where it gets over spray from the sprinklers.

We had a very cold winter, getting well below zero during February, so we weren't sure if the turtle had indeed survived. I am happy to report that it has.

We haven't named the turtle, I'm not sure if we will. I suppose if we had a whole mess of them, we'd either have to give them names, or perhaps numbered tags. I suppose it's enough just to call it "Turtle".

(Typecast via Olivetti Lettera 22, fountain pen signature via Pelikan M100 with Parker Quink blue/black ink, photo via Lumix G1.)