The First of the Posts

Today is the first day of the rest of the posts.

You may be pondering on the name of this blog.  A number of years ago a pair of 3-toed box turtles were given to me by someone who was moving and couldn't take them with her. At the time, my yard (both back and front) were overrun with garden snails.  I knew that tortoises liked snails from a friend for whom I collects snails from a previous yard, so I took on Shelley and Mr. T (those were the names they came with, I swear!) to help eradicate the snails in my back yard.

Boy! did they do a grand job!  I rarely find a snail in my back yard.  They're still a problem out front, but not out back.

A couple of years later Mr. T disappeared.  He's either gone walkabout or he's gone to Stovokor.  But Shelley remains and keeps the yard free of snails. She also snacks on the partially-eaten fruits from my neighbors' trees stolen and dropped by the squirrels.  She likes earthworms, larvae, bugs, and many other things she finds in my yard.

Hence, Shelley is my Free-Range Turtle.