good morning mr turtle

i knowwww this blog ought to be postings for pets and people but i just couldn't pass up this opportunity to express my sense of shock and awe on my 6am routine morning walk with my pets. (they only pay attention to fast moving fur-such as bunnies). so in a sense it is somewhat pet related. he was hiding in the grass next to the side walk and can you imagine stumbling onto a slippery critter such as this? i ran home, snagged the camera-thinking-he's a turtle-he's a slowpoke of a fella(or gal) so i didn't hurry. 2 minutes later he's trotted about 100 feet with his ginormous reptilian paws(and claws might i add). can you get an idea of the scale (pun unavoidable) of him next to the tire? and he has retractable claws! i had no idea. so cool is that. and just look at the size of them?! what a hideous warty mess of a creature! jist wandering around the hood, lookin fer some new nesting spot. step outa the way-he's a slippery critter on a mission. iso 100, 1/500 and 1/800, f3.5, fl=54mm.