MT. AIRY MESSENGER (Maryland) 01 May 06? The turtle rescuer (Nan Brown)
Some people are passionate about certain causes, and, as a result, oftentimes their projects become familiar to all of us. I'm sure you've probably heard of organizations such as Save the Children or Save the Whales. Well, I think I'm going to begin a foundation in honor of my husband called Save the Turtles.
His first rescue of the terrapin variety was about 20 years ago when we made a trip to the Carroll County Courthouse in Westminster to pick up my new commission as a notary public. I became a notary while living in Montgomery County when I was about 21 years old at the suggestion of my boss, the first attorney I worked for early in my previous 22-year career as a legal secretary. When Jack and I moved to Mt. Airy, I had to have my commission changed to Carroll County. But I digress.
The weather was to be gorgeous that day, so Jack took a half a day off work and accompanied me to Westminster. We were driving along, chatting and enjoying our trip when all of a sudden in the middle of Route 27 somewhere between Taylorsville and Westminster Jack slams on the brakes and does a U-turn in the middle of the road thankfully after making sure no other traffic was around.
I asked him, in a rather high-pitched voice, which I tend to use when I think my husband has lost his mind, what in the heck he was doing - well, actually my language was a little stronger than that, but I digress again. He drove a couple of hundred yards back the other direction and pulled off the road. It was only then that it became apparent to me his reason for doing so.
There, in the middle of the highway right on the stripes on the road was a box turtle ever so slowly creeping his way to the other side.
Jack got out of the car, reached down and picked up the wayward turtle. Of course the little guy immediately drew his head and feet into his shell - the turtle that is. Jack brought him over for me to see, and I said hi to him at which point the turtle got a little braver and stuck his head back out. After he was deposited safely in the grass on the side of the road, we continued home.
Then, probably about eight years ago, a box turtle appeared in our yard, and although Jack didn't really save that one from anything, he picked it up and brought it over to show me. Of course I wanted to put him (the turtle, that is) in a box and keep him as a pet, but my husband refused, so I guess in a way he did save that one, too - from me. He put it down and we watched it while it slowly crawled under our fence and out of our lives.
Jack's latest save was recently during that horrendously hot spell we had a couple of weeks ago. We were driving away from Mt. Airy on Prospect Road and were just barely past the intersection with Rising Ridge Road. All of a sudden, the brakes go on and the U-turn thing happens again. Only this time, Jack was saying things like, "Man, did you see that turtle?", "He's a whopper", "I've never seen a turtle that big", and "That ain't no box turtle." At this point, Jack was so excited that I imagined he had taken on an Australian accent and was going to get out and wrestle the thing like that Crocodile Hunter guy on Animal Planet.
Jack pulled alongside the turtle who had not even made it to the middle of the road yet, and we just sat there admiring him. Meanwhile, the woman in the car behind us had spied the turtle and was stopped, too.
Fearing he was holding up traffic, I urged my husband to move on, but instead Jack made another quick U-turn and pulled the car off the road, directly opposite the turtle. We both got out of the car. It was at that point I got my first good look at the turtle. Jack was right, it wasn't of the box variety. This one was much larger - probably three or four times the size of the average box turtle, with a flatter, more elongated shell. It was very dirty, and even muddy on one side leading us to believe he must have crawled out of the water somewhere fairly recently.
Jack went over to it and tried to pick it up by placing the fingers of both hands under the rim of the turtle's shell, but when he did so, the turtle jumped and so did Jack. Since the creature didn't retreat into its shell, that led my hubby to believe it might be a snapping turtle. By then, we were holding up traffic in both directions on Prospect, so I suggested to my brave husband he scoop the turtle up with something and carry him to safety.
Jack came over, popped the trunk lid, and I reached in and grabbed the folding emergency snow shovel we keep on hand for 92-degree days such as this one. Jack took it, went over, scooped the turtle up and deposited him safely on the other side of the road.
My husband - my hero - the Turtle Rescuer.
The turtle rescuer