A Turtle Comes For A Visit (Coffeyville, KS)

We were relaxing outside with all the cats two weekends ago when we noticed Dusty alerting on something near the back fence.  A comical sight.  Here's a 22 pound cat with his tail twitching, thumping what look like a rock, hissing and jumping backwards.......and it turned out to be this little guy trying very hard to make himself invisible peeking out from inside his shell.  

We moved Dusty away thinking he would forget about the turtle, but he was back over there once again hissing and thumping on the poor guy's shell.  Did you know turtles can hiss?  I didn't.  This guy can hiss better and louder than Dusty!

Finally, Dan decided to move the turtle to the edge of the park's pond that is only five sites away from us.  We know it is not a water turtle, but we thought he would be safer there.  Plenty of vegetation, tall grass, and water.  It already looks like he had one run-in with a human from the looks of the crack in his shell.  Maybe a lawn mower or a bike's wheel?

Two days later, our next door neighbor sighted the turtle behind his rig.  Yep, the same turtle had made the long trek back to the same spot near the fence,  He probably did not appreciate the long walk back.  

There is a big gap under the fence that we blocked to keep the cats from going under, so Dan set the turtle near the opening.  The next day he was gone.  Hopefully, he found his way home on the other side of the fence.

Dusty - our protector

But Wait!  The story doesn't end there.  The turtle disappeared for a couple of days, but he has returned to the same spot.  Yep, he is back!  I do believe we will be sharing our side yard with the turtle until it gets cold and no, we will NOT be adopting him!

On The Cutting Board

Speaking of turtles - I started quilting my Hawaiian turtle applique.  It's amazing.  I am actually getting more work done at night.  Lots of quilting and sewing getting done.  Plus, I am getting some work done on the internet.  But only on weekends, my brain is mush after 10 hours of working!  The best part of staying up late is that I find I am not as distracted with going outside or running errands like I do during the day.  The WiFi is great at 2 in the morning!  Yes, I am writing this at 2 am.  

Last week was rough because I tried to switch back to days during our weekend off.  By our second night shift, I was a mess.  I felt like I had a bad case of jet lag.  I wasn't sleeping or eating.  So this time, I decided to stay up nights during our days off.  This is not easy to do....staying up until 4 am, but I am adjusting.   I'm usually up by noon, so the day is not a total lost.

This Witch wall hanging is almost done and I have a couple of Happy Campers that are ready to be finished as well.

I can see me pulling out the sewing machine soon and sewing til early dawn.  I'm surprised that I am enjoying this new night life of sewing and posting.  The job?.....well, I'm still adjusting to the long hours, but at least I'm not as sore as I was the first two weeks.  I might finish this winter standing on my own two feet with a nice selection of new items for Etsy!  Whoo-Hoo!

Happy Quilting!