Cottage Life

I am terrified of snapping turtles despite the fact I have never been snapped or touched by one while in the lake.

Doesn’t matter. They are ugly. Yes, they are one of nature’s creatures but they are simply butt-ugly.

Every summer there is a spotting of the snapper. We choose to believe there is only one snapper but in our saner moments acknowledge there must be more.

We can be blissfully swimming for days or weeks but after that first sighting we are on HIGH ALERT. And, I admit I’m talking about the females in my family. The males take a more laissez-faire view of the creature.

The females:

“You go in first – I’ll watch for the snapper.”

“Uh, how about you go in first and I’ll watch for him.” (We make the unwarranted assumption it is male.)

“How about we throw a stick for the dog and he goes in first?”

It can be a while before any of us takes the plunge.

Here’s the thing - what if I’m just swimming along and HE pushes up beneath me as he comes up for some air? Touches me! I think I might drown/die of fright. A perfectly reasonable scenario.

Anyway, I also hold a grudge against this guy since I suspect he’s the reason we never see any baby loons on the lake. I’m not keen on this predator/prey thing.

I gave some semi-serious thought as to making the lake safe for the loons (and us). I used to be pretty good with a twenty-two rifle as a kid and if I could find the parts of that rifle – kept separate for safety reasons – I might take a pot shot at that ugly dude. However, in all likelihood the bullet would ricochet off the turtle’s shell and come back to hit me.

And by the way, I did not take the above picture.

I would never deliberately get that close to my dreaded foe.