Next Time I'll Buy Them A Stuffed Animal

We purchased one of those Intex Metal Frame pools for the yard. It's 18' X 48", so it's a nice size. On Saturday we measured off the area for the pool and Mr. Schmitty took a shovel and dug the shape of a circle. We need to level off the area, as our yard is very bumpy and on a slight incline, so the pool doesn't collapse. While he did this, I cleaned out the shed, which was a huge mess. A thunderstorm rolled in right after the circle was formed so we needed to pack it in. It now looks like a UFO landed in our backyard.

We were too tired and hot to make dinner and the troops were getting cranky. We decided to go to a local diner. On the way there I saw something in the middle of the road. It was a box turtle! I told Mr. Schmitty to go back and save it before someone ran it over. We almost had.

Of course, the kids started to scream yell whine ask politely if they could keep the turtle as a pet. Why not? I remember finding one as a child and having it for a while. I told them that we could keep it for the summer only and as long as they took good care of it. When school started, I told them that it would need to go back to the woods, near where we found it. They agreed. But seriously, who am I kidding? We know it will be a nightmare when it needs to go back in September. But these are the Days Of Our Lives.

By the time we had gotten it back home, the kids had already decided on the name Cooper. Mr. Schmitty and I really wanted to call it Dunlop because we almost ran it over with our new Dunlop tire, but we were overruled. Mr. Schmitty placed it in a large bucket with the clumps of grass he had dug up for the pool. That came it handy, didn't it? What great timing that Cooper has, such a super smart turtle!

We went out to dinner and W. made sure to save the veggie garnishes for our new boarder. When we returned, the Italian Ice truck was down the street. All of the neighborhood kids were there and after everyone got their treats, my kids invited them all to see their new pet.

After the kids ran to my house, one of my neighbors said, "You know turtles can carry salmonella."

WHAAAAAT?!

He nodded and two other neighbors agreed. CRAP! This is what I get for reading blogs instead of the news.

I took off for the house, "STOP! Put the turtle down and step away from the bucket!"

I shooed everyone in the house and made them all scrub their hands raw wash thoroughly. I then whipped out the antibacterial gel, just to make sure there weren't any trashes of Cooper germs left. I told them all to stop complaining that their raw skin now burned go back to eating their ice before it melted.

Later on, I told my kids that they could not touch the turtle anymore and explained why. After some drama, a look up on the internet to prove I wasn't lying because, "I'm such a mean mommy and I would purposely let them bring home the turtle just to take it away again," and some hugs, the turtle was released back into the wild.

Poor kids, things are so different for them. They can't be kids, like we were. No turtles because they carry disease. No licking the cake batter because you'll get sick. No playing in traffic because you might be run over. What?! Only my parents allowed that?

I came to the realization that we just don't have any luck with animals. First the fish, which by the way, I just received a check, two days ago, in the amount of $52.00 with an apology letter from PetCo. Yea me!

I'm sticking with dogs. Though after this episode, Ruby was almost sent back to Ohio.