Da Vinci!

When I bought Buck his pet Russian Tortoise I had no idea I was actually purchasing a real ninja turtle.

Remember how he ran away? (Okay, we kind of forgot about him for a little bit in the yard)

Well, remember how he's been gone for a good month and a half, in the wild of the backyard, during cold temperatures, raging storms, and weed killer spraying fests?

Now, may we always remember that HE LIVED. Hibernated? Who knows?! Buck was back in the garden, raking, when he moved a rock back and BAM- there was Da Vinci! Buck thought his worst fear was coming true and that he had found him dead- but no- he was most definitely ALIVE.

I came home from the store and found this walking circles around our tree:

Completely covered in dirt.

He's been a little sick but we've been doing our research and nursing him back to health and it looks like he is going to make it. Tough little ninja turtle. I mean, I know that tortoises can hibernate and all but he is 7 years old and never done it before. I guess natural instinct is greater than we know.

So we are happy that we didn't kill him off. Or that nobody in the neighborhood found him and turned him into soup. Hey, you never know.

So here is a little returning home poem to counteract the one I wrote when he went missing:

Da Vinci, you're a freaking ninja turtle,

You survived outside and you didn't curdle,

You showed us your best,

You passed nature's test,

You are rugged and rough,

Hard core, and... stuff,

And now we know,

You may go where you'll go.

But we hope you'll be happy to come home again,

To thrive in your cage, er, I mean BIN,

Your heat lamp's been waiting, it's so toasty now,

We're excited to stare at your grouchy green brow,

But whether you're Russian is not easy to say,

What ninja you are we'll discuss someday.

But till then, welcome home, Da Vinci, old friend,

May you out-live us, may your life never end.