Last summer, our late dog, Buddy had disappeared in the yard on a rather warm day. Worrying that he might over heat due to his smaller size, and his long hair, I went out to find him, and get him inside. I wasn't able to find him at first, and I knew he couldn't get out of our fenced yard, so the only other place he could be, was in our side yard next to the house. The side yard is where our air conditioner is housed, and I didn't see him at first. So I walked around the unit, only to find him with his nose stuck in some brush. I figured there must have been a cat over there and he was sniffing and marking his territory, but as I got closer, I realized that wasn't the case.

Buddy had made friends with a Turtle! This turtle was a pretty decent sized thing, and was hiding in it's shell out of fear. I picked Buddy up, took him inside and wished the turtle well on his journey. It rained for several days, and I wondered if the turtle was still in our yard? Once the rain stopped and our flooded yard dried up, I went looking for the turtle, and low and behold, he was still there. That thing had moved under some trees for shelter, and was hanging out. I let him be, and tried my best to keep the dogs away from him.

After several months of turtle spottings in the backyard, we realized that he must be living in our yard now, and that we had a new friend! You must know a little something about my personality. I will talk to pretty much any animal or creature I see, and name it. I view them all as friends, and this turtle was no different, he had now become a part of the family, and he needed a name. After a few moments, we decided that his name would be Herbert, the yard turtle! Herbert would live in our yard, and we would watch out for him. It was our hope that Herbert would eventually move on, and find a new home closer to a creek or wooded area, but we were honored that he chose to hang with us for the time being.


The dogs quickly got used to him, and would go to check on him daily. Once they were satisfied with what they saw, they would leave him alone! I'd make sure he was doing okay, and let him be. We'd find him all over the yard, but we would never disturbed him. After Buddy passed away, and we rescued Luna, we had to start the whole process all over again. Herbert had gone into hibernation for the winter, and we hadn't seen him for awhile. We figured he had moved on, and found a new home. I had mentioned him to my neighbor, and she mentioned that she had a turtle living in her plants, but hadn't seen it  for awhile either. We both hoped it was okay, and was out of harms way.

About a month or so ago, I heard a loud commotion in our living room, and went to check on the dogs. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luna hovering over something and jumping up and down. Diesel was just watching his new sister act like a fool! I went to see what the heck she was so excited about, and realized that she had managed to bring Herbert in the house. She didn't injure it, and I checked him over, so we put him back in the side yard for safe keeping. A few days later, she brought him in again, and was trying to play with it. At that moment we decided that Herbert was no longer safe in our yard. We placed him in our neighbor's flowers, checked our yard and made sure there were no nests, and let our neighbor know that he'll be living with her flowers from now on.

We haven't seen Herbert in a few months now, and I'm sad that we don't get to have our daily turtle time together, but I hope he is out there living his best turtle life!