Welcome to Sunday morning at Casa Splatgirl, where I looked up from reading the Times online to spy this making it's way across our backyard:




It's a little freaky, really, the up close views we get at wildlife right outside our doors around here. The other day it was a pack of four or five deer leisurely moving through about 10 feet from the edge of my patio that, at first glance, put me into a panic that somehow PupCake had gotten outside and was strolling around unattended. Come to think of it, that PupCake looks just like a deer may explain why the Beagle around the corner goes berzerk every time we walk by, too.

So, this was a pretty freaking big turtle, but still quite a bit smaller than the largest one we've seen here. On a previous occasion, there was a REALLY huge one in the road at the end of our driveway, and I had to freak out until Boy picked it up and moved it back to the grass so it wouldn't get hit by a car. I did a little research and discovered that a snapping turtle of that size could very well be over 50 years old!

So, does this count as a reasonable excuse for why I haven't gotten around to landscaping or planting a garden in the back yard?