Snapper

This is my new buddy.

I went for a bike ride with my dad this morning. It was beautiful, and I haven't ridden in a while. We went to my old neighborhood first. It's always a little rough going back. It's like walking back into my childhood, only, it's not real. I can never go back. I can remember in that painful bittersweet flood that comes with every trip over there. I am one nostalgic sob.

That aside, it was a sweet ride. At some point, I lost my father, because he of course did the smart thing, and assumed I would forget the way home. I of course didn't, and

When I got back to my parents neighborhood, I came upon two girls and a barking dog in the middle of the road. The issue was my buddy the snapper. I attracted a small crowd as I attempted to get my new friend out of the road. He of course wasn't having it. One of the few things that really terrify me, and the lake was full of them. I remember one year, walking out on the ice when it was just strong enough to get out on the edge, and I looked down, and there was one about twice that size right under my feet. I always have dreams where I'm back at the lake, and most of them involve snapping turtles, usually covering the shore, just hundreds of them. Still, now, finding this guy on the road, I wasn't about to try and grab him with my bare hands, but I had no issues getting him off the road. I guess if tools hadn't been readily available, I would have sucked it up and used my hands to move him, but I'm glad it didn't come to that.

I was able to get him into one of those big plastic storage containers and get him off the street without losing a finger. I took him down to the stream where by the pond we fly kites at. Of course now, knowing he might be there, I will never walk in that pond again.