Turtle Rescue

I always feel a little better about myself, and life in general, if I actually get a chance to make a difference in someone's life. Of course "someone" usually means wild animals and "make a difference" usually means get them away form the road before they get hit, and they never seem especially grateful for my rescue efforts, but still it's nice to feel useful. A couple of days ago, I saved a turtle from the road. I was in one lane and the turtle was in the other. I didn't even know what he was until I got right up on him. When I realized he was alive, I stopped in the middle of the road. A car was coming the opposite direction and heading right toward him, so I put my arm out the window and waved it around like a lunatic until the guy stopped and looked at me like I was well... a lunatic. I told him about the turtle and then left my car in the middle of the lane and got out to retrieve him. The guy waits until I pick up the turtle and then yells "You gotta be careful picking those things up!" I managed to restrain myself form saying"You don't say?" in an overly sarcastic voice. Anyway, it wasn't a snapping turtle so I wasn't particularly concerned and I mostly just wanted to hurry up and get him back to the creek so I could get my car out of the road before someone slammed into it. By the time I got him back into the creek; the guy I spoke to had left, another guy in a truck who was coming from the other direction had practically peeled out going around my car (obviously trying to make some kind of point), and the turtle (who was more flexible than I realized) had stretched his back foot up and scratched a chunk of skin out of my finger. So basically I made a huge ass of myself, pissed off some redneck, and probably contracted necrotizing fasciitis, but oh well at least I got to feel useful and hopefully the turtle stayed away form the road after that.

He was one of these guys. Pretty cool aren't they?