Something is up...

...with my family and reptiles. The only pets my siblings and I ever had growing up were three painted turtles that my dad rescued from the highway on his way home from work. Some nights he'd simply come in to dinner with a mischievous smile on his face and say, "There's something in the car for you guys." And the three of us boys (with Lauren not too far behind) would race to the car to find it. We made up a makeshift pen with a wading pool in the backyard and fed them crickets for a few months and then released them. That was about ten years ago.

This year, the tradition was revived when my sister caught a small turtle in a nearby stream. She kept him all spring and summer and just released him a few days ago. His name is Brotus, after a character in Lauren's favorite movie. Here is the photo.



This second image was taken of my dad with a hognose snake on our backpacking trip last weekend. So maybe it's not my family that are into reptiles. Maybe it's just my dad... hmmm. It's amphibians too. Here is a photo of 11-year-old Harley and a bullfrog at his childhood home in Stanton. Whatever it is, dad is the one who first exposed me to the natural world and is the reason that I minored in Outdoor Rec.