TURTLE CROSSING

Here's an update on the Eastern Box Turtle situation in my yard.  The other evening around dusk I went outside to bring in my bird feeders and noticed this other turtle resident near the trash cans.  I surmised she was laying eggs since the dirt was disturbed around her.

She was in my walk path but left the turtle alone, grabbed the camera to take a photo and dropped a couple morsels of food for her ~ a small piece of radicchio and a piece of walnut.  FYI, young turtles will eat meat during their growth but when they get older they prefer fruit, vegetables and nuts. 

Next morning when returning my filled bird feeder noticed she was gone but left me a present (below).  Those aren't stones, they're turtle eggs and I'd never seen them in the yard before.  Guess she didn't care for my offering of food as she didn't eat the radicchio or walnut. 

Don't know if the eggs are fertilized or not but since Mrs. Turtle didn't cover the eggs and they were in my pathway decided to move them a few feet and behind my daylilies.  I dug a shallow area and lightly covered them.  Hopefully they had been fertilized and no snake or raccoon will find them.  You can learn more about Box Turtle eggs HERE.

Never a dull moment when living in the woods.  There are a couple rabbits I've seen eating together in the front yard.  Think they live under the front porch, their fur is shedding to create nests with I guess.  So the animal life cycle is ongoing and makes me happy to watch it play out.

No rain again last night, still rather cool for June and the haze from the wild fires is still here.

Have been slowly pulling loops on Scalloped Flowers and will show you an update in a day or so.  Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

MISC. CHIT CHAT

This is the third sighting of turtles returning to my property this year and the smallest so far.  Turtles usually return to their place of birth.  This time I didn't lift the turtle to check if it was male or female.  And didn't notice color of eyes before it retreated inside it's house.  You can watch this YouTube video to learn more about the Eastern Box Turtle.

Also, after my last blog post noticing Santa looking at me (us) immediately rotated the wire basket to face Santa toward the brick wall.  Just not ready for him yet.

Am still plugging along on the Scalloped Flowers adaptation and once hooked will give it a spray or wash of walnut dye to tone down the white and dirty up other areas.  Was too lazy to take it off the frame.

There is still lots of the pattern to hook.  Believe it or not that white is not the brightest white in my stash.  There needed to be a value difference so this was my choice.

I've got some ugly wool on soak and hoping tomorrow (maybe) I'll do a pot of primitive black dying.  I am always in need of primitive black wool!!!!

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

HAPPEN'NS HERE

Remember my mentioning seeing a melanistic black squirrel under the bird feeders?  Well now there are two but I've been unsuccessful capturing a photo of both of them together.  Even less successful is getting a photo of two black squirrels and a grey/brown squirrel in the same picture.  But below is a photo of one black and one brown/grey so you can see there is quite a difference.  So eventually there will be more black squirrels in my neighborhood.

In the spring I showed you a male Eastern Box Turtle which was mentioned HERE.  After that day he never reappeared again.  However, yesterday as I was looking out the window my eye came upon a turtle returning to my yard.  Of course I had to go see if it was the male from spring.  BTW, I  hate those gumballs!

So I gently turned the turtle over to discover it is a female.  Don't get your knickers in a twist because I put her back in the same spot and in the direction she was headed.  Me thinks she is going to lay her eggs in my yard as many turtles have done in the past and I've had to be careful when walking or cutting grass.

Was also going to show you progress on Cottage and Apple Tree but will save that for another day.  Haven't put Comstock on the frame since last posted.

Do any of you watch the History channel?  If so do you watch "Skinwalker Ranch"?   During the show I can barely pull a loop because my eyes are staring at the TV screen.  Sometimes I even rewind a segment to make sure what I thought I'd seen really happened.  The last two episodes have been 'out of this world' and there is only one more episode left for this year dang it.

Happy hooking.

Saundra

www.woodlandjunctionprimitives.weebly.com

 

A Bit of a Tease

In a previous post I told you about the Anniversary Sheep pattern which was given to each student last September at Cape May.  We were invited/encouraged to hook it and take to Cape May this September.  

We could design it any way we wanted but think the sheep shape was a given.  We could make it into a pillow, purse, mat, wall hanging, etc. 

I wasn't really 'feeling' the sheep and not fond of monk's cloth.  Yeah, it could be transferred to linen but didn't think even linen wouldn't have made me want to hook it more.   Not sure if I'd even finish it so thought to go ahead and use the monks cloth.

Don't get me wrong, that was a very generous and time consuming gift Norma and Linda provided to all the students in each class.  So felt it important I should hook the design in respect.  Besides all you followers know how I change my mind in a blink of an eye as to what my heart wants to hook.  

Since Cape May is only two months away thought I'd better start early.  
Here is what I've accomplished so far and it will sit on the sidelines until plans are decided on my next move forward.

One of the two species of turtles which reside on my property has reappeared to drink and wash it's itty bitty feet after today's rain.

Isn't it a beauty?  This one is an Eastern Box Turtle and has a high domed shell.  The other species I showed you in a previous post was an Eastern Map Turtle. 

After the photo shoot and putting up with the paparazzi my Eastern Box Turtle disappeared under the periwinkle.

Happy Thursday to you all.

Saundra