Holey Shell

Each time a chance meeting with any wildlife during morning walks, our human feels deeply pleased and privileged.

Lately it was with this lovely spiny turtle.

Not to frighten it, our human slowly and carefully place one foot beside it for comparison before snapping this photo.

And then noticed that there was a hole in its shell.

Can you see it?

Standing still, our human contemplated whether to help it to the vet or not. Bending forward for a closer look, that hole was not that big, approximately about 0.75cm in diameter.

Our human decided to let Nature heal itself as environmental change and journey to the vet may not go well with it...

...and continued the walk after watching that probably male spiny turtle entered the thick undergrowth beside the path.

Let us hope we meet again!

Pet B&B?

Our human's brother had to go overseas for a week and had to have his pet cat looked after.
This sent our human into a panic frenzy of clearing and cleaning the "MeowRoom" which had been turned into a sort of storeroom. It took a few days. Proper food and litter supplies were also purchased.
That timid kitty named Snowie came on a weekend and left on a weekend.
But our human called him "Moe" after one of the three stooges due to that comical look on his face at times.

Soon "Moe" quickly relaxed, played with our human's late kitties' toys (yes, those toys were cleaned and kept as our human simply could not throw them away).

A totally relaxed "Moe".
Almost a week has passed after "Moe" left; our human procrastinated and have not cleaned the "MeowRoom" yet; hopefully in the next few days!

Helping a Friend who had a Problem

As you all know, our human has made a number of friends, bipeds, quadrupeds including tripawds on daily morning walks.

This gentle friendly black male stray dog accompany certain hikers including our human almost daily. 

It was not as active as before and was not seen on some days.

And when it appeared, our human noticed that it moved slower and had something on its rump. On closer inspection, it looked like some skin infection.

A photo was quickly taken and sent to our human late kitties' vet (yes, we still keep in contact through whatsapp) explaining the situation and that we do what we can for that stray. A certain medication was recommended.

It was not easy as our human's jalopy could not possibly survive the 30km to the vet clinic and so had to order the medication from the nearest pet shop.

Other problems was guessing the stray's weight to order the right dosage and how to make it take the medication. While at the shop, our human suddenly had a brainwave and bought several sachets of delicious wet dog food.

Medication was mixed with the wet dog food in a plate and then given.

It did not eat immediately. Our human left and hoped that it would eat when it wanted.

More than a month passed and when our human saw that stray again, its rump was clear. (Those specks at the rump were sand.)

Happy, a thankful message was immediately sent to the vet for the free consultation.

Lately, the stray came and 'nosed' our human to ask for pets which our human gladly gave.

Silent Secret Support

Few mornings ago our human was lucky to meet this beautiful creature during the usual walk and stayed with it.

Our human was happy that no hiker was in sight during that time and waited to see where it wanted to go.

It crossed the path to the opposite side and tried to climb up which is a normal step for humans but a monumental climb for a tortoise.

To help its climb and not to frighten the tortoise from retracting into its shell, our human gently placed two fingers at the bottom of its shell to prevent it from falling down.

Our human stood silently urging and encouraging its efforts; and only left after seeing it moving out of sight into the thick undergrowth.

Sun Worshipper!

Our human heard a slight rustling movement in front and stopped immediately. Looking around, it was not easy to see as the early morning sun shone through the trees creating bright and dim patches on the path with fallen dead leaves of different colours.

Then, directly three feet in front was a small sun puddle with a reasonably-sized skink enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Our human took its picture with the cellphone.

That skink took a while to sunbathe. To get a better picture, our human ever so slowly bend the body left and right. It was difficult as the body was straining to balance and at the same time the leg muscles were starting to numb and cramp up.

The sun puddle moved when the early morining sun moved.

In a flash, that skink disappeared. Relieved our human continued the walk only after massaging the strained muscles.

Actually this photo did not do justice to the skink as the beautiful rainbow colour reflected on its tail was not captured.