Scratchy

Scratchy is a female box turtle that came to visit our back porch  for sixteen years. The first summer that we saw her she was scurrying around on our back porch catching flies or bugs. Our back porch is  covered and is fifteen feet by seventy eight feet. So she had quite a large dinner plate. My husband and I have always had our morning coffee swinging on the porch. We would watch the sun come up and converse about the cattle and sheep grazing in the pasture. The three roosters had long ago finished their morning reveille. One morning as we settled down on the swing cushions we could hear an eerie high pitched cry. We looked down and there was a small snake tying to swallow Scratchy. The chicken snake had  his mouth over Scratchy's left leg and over on her back. We went into a swat team position and pull Scratchy from the jaws of death. The snake's fang' had scratched her back trying to swallow her more. You can see the battle scars on her back. Her left front leg was immobilized. The only way she could walk was to start with her right leg and drag the rest of her body. The recouperation of her injury took all that summer. The result was very slow. Her body would clunk as she tried to walk. Needless to say, Scratchy has lost her ability to outrun her snacks. I got a flyswatter and started swatting bugs and flies. I would gather them up and place Scratchy before her feast. She relished them all. She would not eat bugs already dead. I got tired of every morning going out and hunting down the small game for her to eat. So I started expermenting with concoctions from the fridge. She soon let me know her desired delectables. Canteloupe, sandwich ham, tomatoes, and cheese. Then off she would travel to the front yard to sleep covered in soft dirt under the Crepe Myrtle Tree.  Every June we anticipated Scratchy's arrival. One summer she didn't show up. We searched in her favorite spots. She was quite a rambler. No Scratchy any more. What a delight she brought to us. And no, we did not kill the snake. He was gathered up in a tow sack and carried to the north end of the place

I so appreciate and commend all the volunteers that are on the coast lines of our country saving endangered sea creatures during this time of oil spills and record cold.