What the dog saw

Yum! Turtle flavored.

This morning as the dog and I walked out I noticed that the sky had cleared and there was not a cloud to be seen. The sun at 730 am was a brilliant ball in the azure blue sky and was a welcome site. We walked down to the west end of the dirt road and along the way I spotted a large moccasin hiding under 2 feet of water in a drainage basin. I could see that it had a lump in it's body indicating that it had eaten well the night before. After directing the dog around that obstacle we moved on past the yellow jacket nest where someone had poked a long stick into the opening. I pulled the stick out and immediately the yellow jackets flew out in an angry swarm. For some reason they were not very appreciative of my help. As I ran away from the bees I looked back expecting the dog to be following me but instead he was otherwise occupied. It seems he was having some quality time on the opposite side of the road which was very quickly being turned into a stinging session by the yellow jackets. He managed to finish and was running after me with that "why did you do that" look on his face again. Later, when we arrived at the end of the road the dog started sniffing in the weeds and I knew he had found something and that I should watch out for surprises. He quickly located a baseball sized box turtle and started heading back to the house with his booty. I yelled to him as he ran that I was going the other way and that I would see him later. That turned him around and he came running back to me. When he walked up to me he made it clear that he was absolutely not going to give up the turtle. He held it tight just as you see him in the photo. After 15 minutes of fighting with him over the turtle I gave up and just followed him back home. Half way back he stopped and laid down to rest and I caught him with the turtle on the ground and wrestled it away and tossed it over the fence into the woods. It is a good thing dogs can't really speak because my dog was probably using every curse word in the dog language on me. I have to take the turtles from him or he will kill them or swallow pieces of the shell which I am not sure a dog can digest. Fortunately every walk we take is not this eventful otherwise either the dog or me would wind up in the hospital. If you don't have enough adventure during your walks may I suggest that you get yourself a stray dog and take him for a walk on a dirt road each morning and evening. But remember, you must be prepared for anything and I mean anything. Thanks for coming by. Have a good day.