Terror in the backyard

The calendar is marking time for me these days rather than the clock. I realized it's almost been a month since I last posted. My camera has not sat gathering dust, however - I've done a little commercial work and family shots at birthdays and soccer games: those important moments in life. My work as treasurer for the dog rescue run by two of my daughters, with the help of many volunteers, has also taken much of my time (more info here.)

And then there are those surprises that almost catch you off-guard. I discovered that a new resident had made our pond home. I thought I had caught a glimpse of him some time earlier, but when I almost decapitated him with the lawn mower (rest assured, he survived the experience with nary a scratch) I was finally able to identify him - a snapping turtle !

I quickly ran to get a shovel and pail - I remembered being warned as a youngster never to try to handle one of these ornery creatures - they have rightly earned their reputation. This one was about 8" (20cm) across and was capable of inflicting a nasty bite. In deference to his ability and potential to snap, I used a zoom lens to capture his main weapon - a sharp beak.

I released him after a short while back onto the lawn and watched as he quickly (well, for a turtle) made his way to the water. A while later as I walked past the pond I noticed some old leaves stuck near the edge. Normally I would have removed them by hand but I picked up a stick that happened to lay nearby and reached to flick them out. As I poked the leaves, a head lunged out with lightning speed from beneath them and a beak snapped hold of the stick momentarily. I quickly realized that my fingers could have been the recipient of that attack. Lesson learned - no more fingers in the pond !

Despite his nastiness, even creatures like these play an important role in God's creation, helping keep things in balance. Otherwise I'm sure that our pond would be overrun by a plague of frogs.

[I apologize if I haven't returned a visit to your blog - I shall make every attempt to do that before my next post. Please know that I read and savour every comment]

the business end

(Day 151) Self portrait, and grandpa to a child prodigy

Today was a bit of an arduous day - I spent another full day with my son, demolishing his house, er, doing the necessary demolition work in preparation for renovations. It did feel a bit weird though swinging a sledge hammer through his kitchen wall! But that's not the point of my post today. You see, I took the camera with (yes, ABC) to record for posterity what the old interior looked like, during the gutting and before the  restoration. So - it was with me when, close to home, I spotted Mr. Turtle in the middle of the road - it looked like he was late for dinner  - but he stopped dead in his tracks as I drove up to him. I wanted to get some closeups, but didn't really want the neighbours seeing me lying face-to-face with a turtle, in the middle of the road! So I placed the camera close to him hoping he wouldn't retreat into his shell (he didn't and that's why I knew he was late for dinner), checked the exposure, hoped I'd aimed it ok, and proceeded to make some photos.

Now - why did I call this a self-portrait? Well, if you blow up his eye, you'll see me in his eyeball with an outstretched arm pressing the shutter release (an unintentional byproduct). You may also notice a bug crawling up his nose, as well as some greenery he obviously didn't have time to wipe off his head.

(60mm  f5.6  1/60 sec  ISO400)

After a late dinner (ours, not Mr. Turtle's), my son opened a birthday card he received in the mail, from his sisters. Graydon, his son (my grandson) reached out for the card 'cause he wanted to read it for himself. Imagine that, not even 5 months old, and he's already reading birthday cards - what a child prodigy!

You look skeptical - here, see for yourself:

(50mm  f1.4  1/100 sec  ISO400)