Thursday Turtles

This my friends here above is a clean turtle aquarium. Below is the unclean turtle aquarium, where we actually start todays journey, cleaning the turtles aquarium. Yuck, nasty, I know! (Be sure and see at the end of this post for a look back on Thursday Turtles-click on each one to look back)

Let the process begin, I start here with a net to fish out each turtle one by one. 

I place each one in a small clear plastic container. They climb over each other repeatedly to a settling stance waiting to see what's next. 

Using an old toothbrush, I lightly scrub their back to remove what amount of yuck I can. 

While they continue sitting in the container, I begin the process of dumping the water and washing the aquarium out. If you notice there are two rocks laying next to the aquarium. One is a floating rock, it's the big one, and the small one is a regular heavy rock. Both are removed and scrubbed down. 

I love to wipe the glass with a paper towel removing the water spots. 

Crystal clear, I start the process of putting water back into the aquarium. The aquarium is set back on the table on top of a black towel. I place the water hose into the aquarium slightly turning the water on. This process of putting water back into the aquarium doesn't take long at all. Usually I only fill it up half way. What does take a long time is the entire process start to finish and taking pictures of each step take even longer. 

Get me out of here!

Almost full!

Full!

They love when their water is clean. They swim for hours once they adjust to being back into the water. I did a video one day of them swimming around in clean water to my grandfather. He loved it!

A look back:

Meet the Turtles

Fred

Pedal

Sammy

Engine

Who's Bigger

Engine's Day

Spend the day with Engine!

Well, you're not going to believe this but Engine was found the afternoon Sammy was found. Once I got Sammy settle in at home I dashed off to pick my daughter up from school. It was on our ride home from school we found Engine. How on earth did my eyes find these little guys in the road. From there on out I just drove with my eyes closed. Not really, but I sure wanted to.

We should have named this guy peanuts. Look at his upper circles on his under shell. They look just like peanut shells. He was name by my daughter before I even got the chance to put the car in drive that day. She chose Engine since we were in the car with an engine. 

Engine's ranking in second place in size! 

So next year, I am not praying for another turtle, but I'll sure look for them. The turtle lodge is full here at The Murphy Lodge so I'd have to find them room and board else where. 

A look back:

Meet the Turtles

Fred

Pedal

Sammy

Can you remember which turtle is the biggest?

Do you think I'll find more next turtle season, March or April?

Pedal's Day

Spend the day with Pedal!

Well, not only did I pray to find a turtle like my childhood turtle one day, I also prayed to find another turtle so our Fred wasn't lonely. Almost a year to the date later my youngest daughter and I were out riding bikes. On the ride back almost home I saw something in the street. When I got closer looking down it was another turtle. This is where he gained his name, Pedal. Since we were on a bike with pedals, Pedal it was. We can pick him out from the slight little pedal looking mark on his under side on the lower left. See picture above. 

(the moment we found Pedal on our bike ride)

(meeting Fred for the first time)

Fred liked having a new friend once they settled in better together.

This little guy is knocking on 2 inches. He wasn't this big when we found him, but has grown a little.  

Look at his little feet trying to push away. 

Those eyes…

and nose…

Below are the pictures I posted to instagram the day we found him. 

Read more about the turtles:

Meet the Turtles

Fred's Day

Can you tell Pedal is a baby compared to Fred?

How long should we keep them?

Do you like the turtle series?

Fred's Day

Spend the day with Fred!

When I was younger say around sixth grade I had a turtle who looked just like Fred. We found him on our front porch one day. Mom let me bring him inside. Where he lived in a white bowl on a bookshelf in my room. I put rocks found from our street along with water in the bowl. He was such a fun guy to have around. By say the time I was in 9th or 10th grade he went to be with Jesus. Sad! But it happened…

Often I prayed I'd find another one like him. 

Many, many, many years later I did. Well, let me say this, my youngest daughter found him. It was towards the later part of spring, school was about to be out. She was playing down by the pool probably chasing our dog. I heard the back door burst open. "Mom"! When I went to see what was up she was holding a bright green turtle who looked just like mine from childhood. My eyes sparkled. "Oh, babe!" He was precious. 

(this was the very moment she showed me at our back door)

After sharing my story of my childhood turtle my daughter decided to honor him naming her turtle Fred also. My childhood turtles name was Fred. Can you believe that! Moments of memories formed right before my eyes. 

Fred lived in a small bowl on our back porch for a few days. My soul was not as brave as my mothers. I wasn't about to let that turtle in my house.

On to realizing we should get a bigger bowl for Fred.

Leave it to my daughter to encourage me to stop at Petsmart one day. She picked out a 9 gallon glass aquarium for him. It was perfect.

See how much he has grown and changed in color. He was so bright when we found him now his color has darkened. His spots on his under side have smeared somewhat. He's truly one of a kind.

Below are additional pictures from the day Fred was found.

Look how bright green he was!

Above is the picture I posted to Instagram that day.

Below are additional things that happened on that day.

(down by the lake)

(keeping the sun off her back as she reads)

(our afternoon bike ride)

(things I was on a mission for, notice the date, the day Fred was found)

If you haven't already, you might like to read Meet the Turtles from last Thursday. Check back next Thursday to see which turtle I am spending the day with. 

P.S. Fred is celebrating my birthday with me today!

Do you have a turtle?
What's his name?
Or have you had one before?