A-Z Challenge 2021 - Photo Shoot: M - Michigan Wildlife, Maxie,

 During our many visits to Michigan we get to see a lot of wildlife without having to move far from where we stay. Including this in the paddock - 

Rocky and Bambi share the food dropped from the bird feeder

Snapping Turtle from a nearby 'swamp'

Squirrels abound as well as deer beyond the lake.

And then there's Maxie waiting for the refuse wagon.

She just loved to roll in what the deer left behind. The stink she created was almost matched by how mad she became when forced to have a bath. She would go away and sulk in the dirtiest spot she could find.

One fence, three uses - Good Fences

Three pictures of the fence which forms one side of the'corral' behind my daughter's house. Her dogs have free access to the 'corral.'

It keeps other creatures out, including this visiting dog.

Boundary fence

Some visitors will always raise a bark, if the dogs see them that is.

Deer fence

It would not need to be so high to keep out creatures like this.

Snapping turtle

I guess he could dig underneath it if he wanted to.

Nevertheless this fence has proved its worth and earned its place in a post  here  at

Shell Shocked - Sepia Saturday

When I saw Alan's prompt this week my first thoughts were of the thousands of servicemen who suffered from shell shock in the First World War but eventually I decided a lighter touch was required.

I don't have a tortoise as a pet and the nearest thing we see, two for the price of one, are:

Two Small Tortoiseshells

You know I like to show photos of dogs but try as I might I could not find one suitable and settled instead for:

Tortoiseshell Cat

(By Rehman Abubakr - CC BY-SA 3.0)

By chance I found out that Horace Walpole (1717-1779) once had a tortoiseshell tabby cat that met an untimely death - it drowned in a goldfish bowl. The poet Thomas Gray, a friend of Walpole, wrote an ode to commemorate the cat which was called Selima. Part of the tribute reads:

Her conscious tail her joy declared;

The fair round face, the snowy beard,

    The velvet of her paws,

Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,

Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes.

     She saw; and purred applause.

However tortoises and turtles have been exploited by man and their shells used in all sort of applications like this:

Tortoiseshell and Silver Snuffbox - early 18th Century

The plaque is stamped with a portrait of Charles I (1625-1649) based on a medal by John Roettiers of about 1670. The Huguenot John Obrisset worked in London between 1705-28 specialising in horn and tortoiseshell. (This photo was taken as part of Britain Loves Wikipedia at the Victoria and Albert Museum in February 2010 by Valerie McGlinchey - CC BY-SA 2.0).

I'm sure that you will be pleased to confirm that no tortoise came to grief for the next picture I have to show:

Jin (Jurchen) Dynasty Tortoise - Temple of Confucius, Qufu

(By Vmenkov - CC BY-SA 3.0,2.5,2.0 and 1.0)

This stele is in the third pavilion (from the east) of the Thirteen Pavilions in the Temple.

This 'fellow,' much smaller in comparison, had been intent on laying eggs in the grass of my daughter's Michigan home last summer. I can confirm that she was returned safely to the swamp from which she came. Oh and she is not a tortoise at all)

Snapping turtle (11inches long)

I hope I haven't shocked you too much with my take on the theme so I'll sign of with a collection of shells.

I just wonder how old these are.

Please don't forget to check out others' interpretations at Sepia-saturday-164

Speed - Thematic Photography

Carmi has chosen to show a plane in flight as our prompt for his 'speed' theme so I thought I would follow him,

Landing Speed - 1940s

This was an aircraft coming in to land on an aircraft carrier during WWII.

Someone shouting dinner provoked this turn of speed.

Cody and Lily at racing speed

In the local town of Yarm is the house once owned by a war hero.

Sign for Tom Brown's House

Tom was the hero of the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 where he charged the French to recover the British battle honours. Supposedly Tom was knighted on the battlefield by King George II, the last British monarch to lead an army in the field.

Yarm has a fair in it's high street every October and there is always a chance to get yourself in a spin.

A Ride at Speed

From time to time a photograph gives an illusion of speed and you wonder how it happened.

Speeding Hedgehog

We have speed humps on the lane in my village approaching the primary school, not they would trouble this fellow if he ever made his way across the Atlantic.

Snapping Turtle

No wonder he's snappy, he wouldn't even catch that hedgehog.

No you have the chance to catch your breath before you rush over to Thematic-photographic-234-speed.

Orange - Thematic Photography

I have shown photos before of Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain in its Bristol dry dock; the orange theme this week allows me to show two more.

Rudder of SS Great Britain

This shot is taken through the 'glass' covering that surrounds the ship. Visitors may go into the dry dock and walk round the hull of the ship. You can get a different view of the rudder and go right up to it.

Propeller and Rudder - SS Great Britain

Boat races are held on the River Tees on Yarm Gala Day; the boats fit our theme.

Boat Race on River Tees

During my holiday in Michigan this year one of the jobs to keep me amused was to cut the grass.

Orange mower

If you are wondering about the driver, he's behind the camera ready to take photos of the wildlife before moving them out of harm's way with that metal snow shovel.

Snapping Turtle laying eggs in the grass

It's not often that you get the chance to see a bird of paradise but this is one I like,

Bird of Paradise flower

growing in my son's flat in Cornwall.

For orange treats you need to pop over to Thematic-photographic-204 where you will find others who have responded to Carmi's challenge.

Snap Happy or Happy Snaps

Still in dressing gown and pyjamas as I finished my breakfast cereal - not Sugar Snaps or those that go 'snap, crackle and pop' - when a movement against the wire fence caught my eye. For some reason or another the first thing that came to my mind was that it was a snapping turtle. I should say that we are at my daughter's home in Michigan.

I grabbed my camera not wishing to miss a snapping opportunity and rushed outside making sure that my daughter's four dogs were not able to follow me. There alongside the fence to the corral behind the house a female snapping turtle was slowly making her way up the slope to the gravel drive.

Common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina)

Unfortunately the dogs made their way through the flap in the garage door into the corral the other side of the green wire fence expecting me to play ball with them. They were most unhappy to be shouted at and warned to keep away from the fence - a snapping turtle can give a nasty bite; they are noted for their belligerent disposition when out of the water with a powerful beak-like jaws and their highly mobile neck and head.

This one proved no exception, hissing and rearing up to deliver warning snaps.

The carapace or upper shell may reach nearly 20 inches in length; this one was around 11-12. They can weigh from 10-35lbs.

She had to be moved from the area - to protect the dogs and to avoid her coming back to lay eggs in the gravel drive. Moving her was easier said than done. By now clad in tee shirt and track suit bottoms I had the idea of using a metal snow shovel to move her. But where to was the question. The shortest distance was 50 yards back into the woods and the swamp at the back of the property but that was where she had probably come from.

She was far from happy to be lifted on the shovel, hissing and trying to bite it. Lifting her was not easy as I had to avoid my bottom hand being within the reach of her snapping 'beak.' By the feel of her on the shovel she must have weighed over 10lbs.

My wife had the bright idea of moving her in a small car trailer. She tried in vain to climb up its sides. Eventually I transported her to the end of the road in front of the property and set her free over the other side of the main road. 

We had a happy snapping ending after all. As long as she does not come back.