Sunday, August 28, 2011

Turtle Island!

My father gave me the most wonderful present for my birthday...a beautiful handpainted float for my pond!

You see, the pond has been very high this year, and there aren't a lot of places for them to sun themselves. So I asked my dad about how to make a little raft. My father, being the retired engineer, immediately began to sketch something on his napkin, and told me that he'd see if he had any scrap wood to build one.

So I was expected a simple raft. Not this gorgeous Turtle Island, painted to resemble a Blanding's turtle. I was so surprised!


We needed a weight to keep it anchored, and I couldn't find anything suitable so I ended up using a (you guessed it) milk jug full of broken beads. ha!

My dad and I couldn't get it too far from shore, so my sweet husband went out the next morning and moved it further out.


My parents came over again, and we sat on the patio and talked, and about twenty minutes into our conversation, a turtle head (a real one) suddenly popped up next to Turtle Island! It tried to get on the island, but couldn't quite manage it. It's late in the season, so I'm not sure if it'll end up getting used; plus, there might be some issues with the height of the island. The flippers are slightly below the water level, but they might not be wide enough.

I plan on watching a lot over the next few weeks. I can't wait to see if the turtles climb aboard. What a fantastic present! Thanks, Dad!

4 comments:

Lubna said...

Hope the turtles are able to clamber and sun themselves.

laurelmoon said...

I hope so too! The turtles have definitely been checking it out, though it's been a bit too breezy for them, I think. I hope that at least one turtle gets on board before the end of the season! :) Thanks for the comment!

Mary said...

That is such an awesome idea!
We live in Michigan too (Alpena) and last week we took a canoe ride on the Thunder Bay River. We saw at least 20 turtles. They are so cute! Some of the turtles pretend they are frozen (usually in funny poses) when we go by and others jump in the water so quick we barely see them.
I hope your turtles enjoy their new raft! :)

laurelmoon said...

Thanks, Mary!! So far we've had one adventurous turtle actually get up on the raft. I'm so excited that he figured it out, and I hope to see many more! :)

I have posted a picture of it on the blog here:

http://yourdailypond.blogspot.com/2011/09/pond-september-1st-2011.html

Thanks for the comment!!