Hatching baby painted turtles

Today I am going to share a little story with you, my first "pet" was a painted turtle, for years I had turtles, Myrtle, Bertle, Squirtle, I always had turtles since I was probably able to walk HA  ok so maybe not that young, but for a L O N G time, I love their little faces, just adorable

Well as I grew older and had kids of my own, we would take our walks down along the creek and the roadside in late summer to watch at night the turtles that would come up along the edge of the road and lay their eggs, then the next day we would find that the raccoons and/or possum would dig them up in the night and eat the eggs! well that started our mission, we would sneak down later and re-dig up those nests and carefully place them in my flowerpots buried in my gardens so they could survive and hatch out, then we turned them lose in our swamp behind the house.

The kids' school principal was also into reptiles and amphibians, he taught classes on it at the local Kent State branch, so I stared collecting things for him to show off during his classes, he has used my photos AND has taken a few of the babies to use to show the class as well, so here I am going to share with you my hatchling who we called "Speedie" because that little critter was fast!

Here he is (I say he, but I don't know at this age, never looked!!) isn't he precious, just look at that face!

He is 7 days old here, and about to be released

so back to the story, we know about how long it takes for the turtle eggs to hatch, when the time gets close, within a few days, we put a screen over top the flower pot and start peeking at it off and on during the days that lead up to the first time you see the soil start to "move" when that happens everyone gathers around and just waits for them to peek a little head out of the soil

once we see a head, usually it's not too long and they will push their way up and out of the soil, this day I was taking photos for the principal, so we removed a little dirt to get the photos

awww soo sweet

another view of this one hatching, we don't touch them or mess with them, when they come up above soil and look like they are ready to get out, then we remove them and place in a very very small aquarium with a little water and a rock that is covered with a paper towel so it doesn't harm the egg sac you can still see on their underside, this is how they get their food for a few days after hatching, sometimes they don't emerge from the soil until it's gone and it's time to head for water

once that completely absorbs then it's time to set them free

but not before we enjoy little Speedie for a day or two or in this case, "the runt" stayed till day 7

we offer up little freeze dried shrimp, they LOVE it

they even take it out of your hand LOL - we keep them less than a week normally, and then turn them lose, and hope they make it ~ we also do this for the snapping turtles, such a neat thing for the kids to see - to watch the mother lay the eggs, then get to see them hatch instead of getting eaten before they ever had a chance :) 

Thanks Speedie for the great photos, it was nice knowing you, we hope you are out there somewhere!

Fall has arrived at new home

Yes, it's October 2009, Fall has arrived and it's time for deep fried turkey!

yummy!

and the pond project hasn't moved very much as far as the rocks around it go

but the little grinny is enjoying running around the edge of the pond!

leaves are starting to fall under the yellow transparent apple tree

but the grass is still green! and it's raining, that means it's time to take dear auntie on a 4 wheeler ride, that is IF she can convince her to hop on!

try a little harder!!! LOL 

- well it didn't happen that day!!

ahhhhh there, 2 days later auntie is back, that wasn't so bad was it? at least she kept her out of the mud, she didn't come home covered this time :)

September 26, 2009 Nicewander Family Reunion

September 26, 2009 was our annual Nicewander family reunion, oh yes, it was a rainy day but we had a pretty good turnout, have you ever tried to get the great grandkids all lined up and looking at the camera, well let me tell you, it's not easy!

all kinds of antics going on, the great grandparents would have enjoyed watching this play out! 

well I can understand, it WAS raining and was taking awhile LOL

Needless to say, I think this one was about the best of the great grand kids of Ben & Ruby Landis Nicewander! of course, we are missing 12 of them as well as a few great great grand kids.

First neighbor cookout & sons housewarming party

Been at the new house a month, decided its time to officially have the neighbors over for a cookout!

We turned them all onto deep fried turkey, they had never had it before and it was a big hit

we told farmer John he looked like "Shrek"

also our oldest son had a housewarming party and we deep fried a turkey for it as well

 heading out to big brothers new house

Fun back in the woods

Thought I would share a secret hideaway we love to go to when we can, I grew up in these woods, playing all over these rocks, it's so nice that my grandparents property is still in the family and that we all have gatherings here when we can all get together!

isn't it just beautiful back here

there are beautiful rocks and caves on the property ~ I spent alot of time running wild back here as well as mushroom hunting each year, what fond memories!

We are just around the corner from Dundee Falls

it's the perfect spot for family nights at the fire hidden back in between the rocks

and what is even better, the 3rd generation now enjoys these gatherings too

and well, for some you just still can't get off the phone, even out in the woods LOL

This was supposed to be a gathering of the cousins, however one of my cousins cars was here, but he was nowhere to be found, so the kids decided to take their uncles car and hide it HA HA HA and no, none are licensed drivers yet LOL

 well hell, the keys WERE left in it . . .

 and what kid could resist that!

just look at them heathens

so an hour or so later we go to his place to find him

look at them, all still crackin up over what they did

and we find him having a nap!

so we snuck back out, then thought, oh shit, we better go double check on him and make sure he's alive!

he was tee hee and joined us, never having a clue that he walked past where his car should still be parked but yet it was gone, hours, many hours later he realized it was missing, or "he thought he parked it over there"

kids busted a gut