The Beach (again)

Scott's Beach.  80 degrees.  Friends in tow.  What could be better?
 

The "Alligator" Snapping Turtles

I came home last Saturday morning to find not one, but two of these snappers in my front flower beds, holes dug, with their back ends happily positioned.  My hypothesis was that they were laying eggs...

 So, we set our recycling bin on its side in front of them, one at a time and used our garden hoe and shovel to scoot them in.  They were NOT happy.  They call them snappers for a good reason. I heard that these big snappers can take a finger off.  Not sure if that is true, but I don't want to find out!

And... this is what we found!  Yep.  There are 6 in this picture, but that hole went DEEP!  There were at least 15-20 eggs, per hole.

 We reloacated the mommas and their eggs to the other end of the neighborhood where there are no houses.

Isn't she brave?  It just an egg with yoke inside at this point, but still, something was scary about holding the eggs!

 

Who does this dog think he is?

Yep, head on Adam's pillow and all.

Wildlife

There's not much of an end to the wildlife we see in our own backyard here.  It's one thing that I will miss desperately if we ever move to a more crowded area again.  

Robins eggs in our gutter:

Swans on our lake (they had babies that we like to get closer looks at with our canoe.)

Snapping alligator turtles (eek!)

Blanding's turtles that crawl into our garage:

Swans and geese cohabitating:

Frogs and toads that always hop onto our porch when it thunders:

More frogs:

Baby turtles:

Sandhill cranes? Egrets?

Grasshoppers on our cars:

And what would the Michigan country be without some whitetail deer?