Crush

I'm feeling calmer now that it's been several hours and I've had many distractions.

We took Crush (the turtle) outside for a walk in the backyard. The sprinklers had been on so it wasn't as hot. He has been in a plastic tub for over a month now, due to moving and such. So he stretched out his back feet, as though he were going to stop and bask right where we put him. But he heard the cars go by and he started across the lawn. At first he moved as we expected, nice and slow. I started recording him on the camera and moved in to get a closer view, Crush started walking/crawling faster. After a couple of seconds he was tearing across the lawn, My video is a bit jumpy because I was laughing so hard. He must've smelled freedom. I don't think he knew what was on the other side of the fence, what danger was only 10 feet away. I just know he was very interested in what was on the other side. A car went by and he turned and crawled in the direction the car was going. Did he feel some kind of vibrations in the ground or something. I don't know. I just know that Crush is supposed to be my son's turtle yet I am usually the one to change the water and feed him. He pops his head out of his shell when I say his name (most of the time). It is interesting to watch him each day, as he sheds his "scutes" as one book called them, it's the skin on his shell, the plates. It's much like our fingernails. He loses them one "scute" at a time, not like a snake who sheds all his skin at once. Crush seems to always have a piece that's just waiting to come off. It moves around on his back until it finally breaks free and sinks to the bottom of the tank (or plastic container).

We celebrated my husband's birthday as well as my youngest daughter's birthday tonight. Just the grandparents came over. We've already had parties with friends and family but it just didn't seem right to not do SOMETHING.