We are turtle farmers now.

Randy,
You have a way of bringing up pictures, stories and subjects that take me to places when life was young, good and very satisfying for me. A time when I was a better man, don't stop now. You're a good man ! Ulli

Hey-O said:

Randy,
You have a way of bringing up pictures, stories and subjects that take me to places when life was young, good and very satisfying for me. A time when I was a better man, don't stop now. You're a good man ! Ulli

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Ulli,

I'm glad to be of service. I too like to dwell on the past and remember those good times. Particularly now when the future isn't too bright.

Stopped to help a painted turtle cross the highway today. Might have been the same one, who knows!

They almost look like bird eggs by size and the spots.

Nature has many splendors. I've been stuck in the city life for ten years now and I really miss the country. Growing up on a farm with everything that Nature has to offer I'm really homesick. We even started a Scout Camp in the 60s having almost 50 acres of hardwood and a two acre pond. It was low impact camping and every boy who camped there came away with an education and memories of wildlife. I'll see someone now and then that remembers the Scout Camp and they comment on how it changed their way of thinking about Nature and made a better person of themselves. I'm fortunate for being raised in that setting and I'll never forget what Nature has to offer. Great stuff!

Our shop is in a multi-use office park and our building backs up to the woods. Two years ago the landlord's half assed attempt at redirecting rain run off by trenching killed a tree by butchering its roots. The stump remains and evidently has developed a void under the root ball.
One afternoon last year there was a commotion as the guys were leaving the shop. A parade of turtle hatchlings, dozens of them, crawling from the void under the stump were making a bee line across the parking lot blacktop towards the woods appx 50 feet away. The guys stopped all traffic and gathered up the ones in the roadway, putting them at the tree line.
We have been in the location for years and have never witnessed that before. Maybe a result of the rotting tree stump? Glad we were able to be there for the assist.