The Great Escape

We adopted a pet turtle, Shelly, last spring. She's lived in a large, plastic tub in the corner of Aaron's room ever since. The children take her outside for short stints (if she's lucky), but mostly she eats, breathes, and sleeps in the tub. I have long felt sorry that Shelly has to live in such an unnatural setting, and I finally got around to doing something for her that I thought she would enjoy. I spent a bit of time studying where an outdoor pen would be best situated; unfortunately, the best places--those with early or nearly all-day sunshine--would not work on our property. We have a small garden area in the back, next to the garage, that houses three rose bushes--one of which I've been eager to get rid of--and which receives a decent amount of sun in the afternoon and isn't so public facing to the many animals that wander in front of our house during the day. I had a fair amount of leftover cedar planks from earlier projects, so I needed one long board and some soil to complete the project--I bought a hosta to replace the rose bush, so the area wasn't completely vacant.
Of course I choose to build this new structure on perhaps the hottest day of the year. The air temperature was hovering in the mid 90's all day, which is unnatural and hard for us natives to adapt to. Large beads of sweat flowed from what felt like every pore of my body as I labored to remove the demon rose bush from the ground. Over several years it had burrowed its roots more than a foot into the ground, so it took several hundred attacks from my shovel before I finally loosened it from its lair. The bed was also covered with red cinder rocks, so all of the boys helped remove the rocks and transplant them to the side of the house. With the rocks cleared and the rose bush defeated, Edward and Ian helped cut some of the boards and we nailed everything into place. The final touch was a light layer of topsoil and some natural elements to accentuate Shelly's new home. As soon as we brought her out and placed her in her new home, she ran laps around the perimeter. I thought she was just excited to be outside of her indoor pen, but reflecting upon it later I think she was just looking for a way out of her new enclosure. We decided to leave her in her outdoor pen during day and bring her inside at night, as we have no way to protect her from the various night creatures that stalk our neighborhood ('coons and skunks). Version 2.0 of the pen will have a cover that will protect her at night, but that is still forthcoming.

Two days later Meg called me at work in the early afternoon and asked if I had done something with Shelly while they were swimming at the pool. I hadn't, of course, so Shelly must have found a way out of her new home. The kids had looked around the backyard to no avail and were on the brink of tears--Aaron had even drafted some posters to hang around the neighborhood. I don't even like animals, but I felt responsible for her escape and feared for her safety--I was genuinely worried and felt terrible. I had an idea of where Shelly might have ventured, as I have let her wander around the backyard before and remembered her favorite spots. I debated whether or not to go home and look for Shelly and finally decided that finding her as soon as possible was the most important thing I could do right then. So I packed up my laptop and rode my bike home. As soon as I parked my bike in the garage, I walked over to the spot I thought Shelly might be--and behold! Under a few inches of leaves and soil, Shelly lay resting, safe and cool, and maybe a little perturbed that I had found her. Everybody felt great relief at Shelly's return, and I finished the work day at home.  Make no mistake: I loved being the hero for the day.

Version 1.1 of Shelly's home included a big pile of leaves (for burrowing under when it gets hot) and lips over the side walls of the enclosure so Shelly wouldn't be able to climb out anymore. It's been a few weeks since the great escape, and she seems content to say put now that we know how to provide for her needs a little better.