Thursday evening, my good friend, Cindy Pickard, called me, and during our conversation, Cindy told me about going to a pet store in Kerrville, and it had really depressed her. She told me that there were two beautiful turtles, in a small aquarium, and they looked like they were very sad, when she looked into their eyes.
“How much were they?” I asked.
“Forty dollars each,” Cindy said. “I felt so sorry for them.”
“Maybe, we should rescue them? Let’s talk about it in the morning.”
Friday morning, while Tony and I were over at the Lodge, drinking coffee with Kinky—Cindy called, and she left a message on our answering machine. “Nancy, I think you and I should rescue the turtles. I’ll buy one and maybe you could buy one. Call me.”
I called Cindy back. “Cindy, that is a great idea! I’ll be glad to buy one! Tony and I are fixin’ to go to Kerrville, and I will buy them on our way out.”
“Oh, that’s great!” Cindy said. “I can’t wait!”
“I’ll call you from the road, after we get them, and then you can come on over, and we will set them free!”
On the way to Kerrville, I told Tony all about Cindy’s and my ‘Free the Turtles’ project, and he thought it was a great idea. “Nance,” Tony said. “I know the perfect place to release them. It is remote, and they will be safe—no roads to cross, no people.”
Tony and I ran our errands, and then we went to the pet store. “Do y’all have turtles?” I asked.
“Yes, they are back here,” a woman clerk said, “please follow me. Here they are. We have four. The Red Sliders are $19.99 and the other two are $40.00 each.”
“That’s fine. We’ll take all four,” I said.
“You want all of our turtles?” She asked.
“Yes, all of them, please.”
The woman went and found a cardboard box, and then she carefully put the turtles into the box, and then she wrote something, on the top of the box, before handing the box to Tony.
I used my credit card to pay for the four lucky turtles, and then Tony and I left the store. As we headed home, I called Cindy from the road. “Cindy, we’ve got the turtles and we’re heading home!”
“You’ve got them!” Cindy said. “That’s great! Aren’t they beautiful!”
“Yes, they are absolutely beautiful! There were four of them, and I couldn’t leave the other two behind—so I bought all of them!”
“Four! That’s great!” Cindy said. “How much were they?”
“The two big ones were $40.00 each, and the two Red Sliders cost $19.99 each.”
“I am leaving now for the rescue ranch,” Cindy said. “As soon as I get there, I will write you a check for half, and then we can go set them free. This is so exciting!”
When we got home, Tony carried the box of turtles inside the trailer and set them down on the kitchen table—right next to my laptop. I knew that we needed to have a song to celebrate freeing the turtles from captivity, so I opened up my laptop, and went directly to iTunes, and purchased the perfect song for the occassion—’Happy Together’ by The Turtles! I then synced it with my iPod, and had it ready to play on my Bose iDock —so I could play it on Cindy’s arrival. Then I put the box of turtles on a bench, and took a picture of the receipt, box and my beautiful turtle necklace.
The next thing that I did, was to put on my beautiful, hand made by Native Americans, turtle necklace, that my good friend, Fay, up in Toronto, had given to me for my birthday, a couple of years ago. I was set.
When Cindy got here, Tony and I were so excited about freeing the turtles, we ended up going outside to greet her, with the box, of soon to be free, turtles! After showing her the turtles, we jumped into Buttermilk, and then we took off to Tony’s secret destination, on the ranch.
When we arrived at the secret location, we hiked down to Wallace Creek. Before releasing the turtles, Cindy and I took pictures of them.
Then Tony released them, one at a time, into the creek! As soon as the turtles were in the water—they took off fast~~~~swimming joyfully in the clear, cool creek water! We stayed and watched them and tried to take some more pictures, but they were too fast! “I am naming this part of the creek—Turtle Creek,” I declared.
Before we left to go visit Kinky, we said our goodbyes to the turtles, and then hiked back up the hill to Buttermilk.
We had a great visit with Kinky and then we returned to the rescue ranch. When we walked inside Outer Space, I picked up the iDock remote and The Turtles began singing, “Imagine me and you, I do...”
P.S. Before leaving yesterday, I asked Cindy to please write something for me about turtles. Enjoy!
On July 4th [as you probably have already read], Nancy and Tony and I freed 4 turtles from a pet shop and released them into a beautiful, tree-lined creek at Echo Hill. The turtles, released from their cardboard box, wasted no time in diving into the green water and what an amazing feeling to see them set free in their natural environment [as all creatures including humans should be]. A much better way to spend the day we thought, than watching a parade or fire works!
Since childhood, the turtle has been very meaningful to me: I kept several as pets and read and reread the book Minn of the Mississippi, imagining life through the eyes of a turtle. During these past 3 years, the turtle has taken on an even greater meaning, as I now work closely with Native American people, especially with an Anishnabe [Ojibwey] Elder whose healing lodge in Manitoba called the Turtle Lodge is built in the shape of a turtle http://www.theturtlelodge.com
It is said by the Aboriginal people that the true name for North America is Turtle Island and there are many legends about the turtle and its significance. In Manitoba, there are turtle petroforms dating back many thousands of years http://www.shrinesandsacredsites.com/bp.htm# and to the Anishnabe people, the turtle is one of 7 animals that represent the 7 Teachings: Love, Humility, Courage, Respect, Wisdom, Honesty and Truth. The turtle represents Truth.
It is the belief of many of the Native people that if we were to live by these 7 teachings and live close to the land again, peace and harmony would return to the Earth.
I know that we felt that yesterday as we watched the turtles swimming free, knowing that Nature would provide all that they needed to survive....in balance and free of charge.
For more information, please visit our website: http://the8thfire.org
-Cindy Pickard
5 comments:
You go guys!! Nothing like the feeling of being finally free!
This afternoon, Tony went to Turtle Creek and he saw one of the turtles! Like you say, lovintexa—nothing like the feeling of being finally free! Thank you for the comment.
Nancy, I cannot believe the timing of your turtle rescue! You know I always talk about the pond where I walk Prince? Well, several weeks back there was a turtle nest that a couple of boys disturbed. Of course I ripped them a new one and told them they shouldn't have disturbed the turtle eggs..., well that's the Reader's Digest version... I wasn't quite so nice and they drove off on their bikes and were scared shit%%%% after my lecture with 100lbs of Prince on the end of my leash... well anyhow, the nest is now empty and the remaining wee turtles seem to have crossed into the pond! I am so happy to read your story, and am glad the turtle necklace I sent you brought you such good luck!
Fay xo
Wow Nancy that was a great thing you all did. This was a great blog for Independance Day.
Hi Fay and Cindy Lou! Thank you for your comments. Last night, Cindy called and when I told her about Tony's sighting—she was thrilled as was I. She and I have decided to continue rescuing more turtles—when we can afford it! The joy it brought us—was awesome!
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