Wild Kingdom adventures in the back yard

I was mowing the yard this morning, when something moved in the grass in front of me. At first I thought it was a stone rolling down the hill, so I stopped to move it off the lawn. Only after let the lawn mower turn off did I realize that it was a tiny turtle. Only slightly larger than a quarter, it was very cute.

( Here's a picture )

I called my wife and daughters. When they came out, we took the turtle to the neighbors' house. Our neighbor uses fingernail polish to mark the shells of the turtles he finds in the neighborhood, so he can tell them apart. He marked the shell on this little guy, we took some pictures and let him go out in the back of their yard.

I think my daughters really enjoyed this close encounter with our local wildlife. I'm just glad I didn't mince the turtle with the lawn mower!

( Picture of my daughters playing with the turtle )