Saved a life, got my a*$ kicked

[ditchtiger]

Came home muddy, bloody, and smelled a little ruff. Not really a bad story, just did not end as I wanted.
Driving home after work and I see what looks like a small flat football on the side of the highway. Had to go see what it was so I went back and saw a pond turtle, 6"x"8 shell, alive. Turtles will travel but there are no waterways or ponds nearby and his plates on his shell are dry and curling up at the edges. I put it in the back of my truck to release it in a pond/creek near my home. Getting there I find briers and all other nasty thinks along the bank. Did not want to fling it out into the pond like a frisbee I spy a bit of clearing down a steep slope to a mud incline. I'm wearing hiking boots so I figure I can do it. Got down the slope OK and that's when things went to hell. One step on the mud and my footing was gone. Did a fast dance trying to recover and spun a 360 then went down on my right elbow and back, legs half in the pond. Of course my elbow found the only rock on a mud bank and gouged me open rather deep. As I'm down and out I find I can not get up, Had pulled a tendon in my left shoulder the day before and now my right arm does not feel good at all. Then I find I'm still holding the turtle. I'm sure it does not want a ride like that again. So I rolled over to my chest and place it at the pond edge and force myself up. Clawed my way back up and watched the turtle come out of its shell and get while the gettin's good.
Heck of a way to end a day. But for the part I had explain all this to my wife.
Time for a beer and a shower then more beer.

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[2A2Dend]

Your good deed for the day got the best of you. Been there, has happened to me a few times in my past.
It's the thought that counts. As questionable as things played out! Enjoy that beer. Save the whiskey for tomorrow!!

 

[Larrytpdx]

"No good deed goes unpunished."

 

[ditchtiger]

Save the whiskey for tomorrow!!

Cringing as I ask, what is going to happen tomorrow?

 

[SA Shooter]

Someone once told me it never hurts to do the right thing.

I've had similar experiences that tell me otherwise.

Hope you recover and I respect what you did. Good for you!

 

[2A2Dend]

Cringing as I ask, what is going to happen tomorrow?

More pain

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Came home muddy, bloody, and smelled a little ruff. Not really a bad story, just did not end as I wanted.
Driving home after work and I see what looks like a small flat football on the side of the highway. Had to go see what it was so I went back and saw a pond turtle, 6"x"8 shell, alive. Turtles will travel but there are no waterways or ponds nearby and his plates on his shell are dry and curling up at the edges. I put it in the back of my truck to release it in a pond/creek near my home. Getting there I find briers and all other nasty thinks along the bank. Did not want to fling it out into the pond like a frisbee I spy a bit of clearing down a steep slope to a mud incline. I'm wearing hiking boots so I figure I can do it. Got down the slope OK and that's when things went to hell. One step on the mud and my footing was gone. Did a fast dance trying to recover and spun a 360 then went down on my right elbow and back, legs half in the pond. Of course my elbow found the only rock on a mud bank and gouged me open rather deep. As I'm down and out I find I can not get up, Had pulled a tendon in my left shoulder the day before and now my right arm does not feel good at all. Then I find I'm still holding the turtle. I'm sure it does not want a ride like that again. So I rolled over to my chest and place it at the pond edge and force myself up. Clawed my way back up and watched the turtle come out of its shell and get while the gettin's good.
Heck of a way to end a day. But for the part I had explain all this to my wife.
Time for a beer and a shower then more beer.

Good on you man! Thats the exact type of thing I would do. I wish there were more people in the world like that.

 

[SA Shooter]

You get a badge too!

 

[boogerhook]

Kennedy said: don't ask what the turtle can do for you, ask what you can do for the turtle ...

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Larrytpdx beat me to it! Good on you

 

[808hondacrguy]

Karma owes you a big one. Good form ditchtiger!!

 

[clearconscience]

Dang man, that's when you know your getting old!

I'm sorry man. At least you didn't get bite by the turtle or see if come out of it's shell give you a wink and get eatin by another animal.

I've been in similiar situations. When it comes to kids or animals I'll always help. It's just who we are.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

good job! if that turtle happened to be a beer i would be very impressed because spilling alcohol is alcohol abuse and well, its no good.

 

[Fast Eddie]

I hope you got some good pity sex for all your pain and trouble.

 

[AOTAC]

Nice job! It's still a win in my book.

You remind me of my dad. A few decades back we were driving home together from a job. There, in the middle of the road was this giant snapping turtle, casually sunning himself. Cars were swerving around him but my dad was worried that it would get run over. Off to the shoulder we pull. Dad gets out and walks up to it, all the while it's hissing like a feral cat. Bending over him from behind (shame on you, Dad), he grabs each side of the shell to avoid getting scratched.

The next part was something neither of us had ever seen before, with our limited turtle experience. That turtle stood up on his front legs and his heat came shooting out in a flash, bending backwards over the shell with a giant snap, narrowly missing my dad's jaw/face/neck. To this day, I cannot imagine the ridiculosity of nearly watching my father get his throat ripped out my a turtle. After that, Dad came back to the truck in a hurry, his heart pounding. Still in the game, he decides to grab a mop that he spotted in the truck bed and gave that turtle the bait. Snap. Pulls him off the road for the win.

 

[CoastRange57]

Those western pond turtles will just take off cross country sometimes to move from one body of water to another. We have had two of them we saw come across our property, between a river and pond to another pond. We took them over to the destination pond.

Props to you for helping the turtle out, they need all the help they can get with the declining habitat. I help a friend with rehabing raptors, and I am telling you when a red tail hawks decides to bite your finger even with a welding glove on , it hurts like hell.

 

[jim97701]

You did good! For you it was a rough ending to the day but for the turtle it was life or death. In the end he lives and you get to drink some well deserved beers. I'm sure he appreciates you in his little turtle heart, YOU ROCK

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Those Raptors are wicked quick!
The Fourth of July, 2002 I was walking my Rottweiler in the nearby park. Noticed a bunch of dogs harassing something and went over to investigate! Turns out it was an injured Coopers Hawk! I grabbed the bird, but now I'm faced with getting the dog home safely! Stopped a runner and had him leash up Tonya (yes, she was named after Tonya Harding) and we got us all home, no problem! Till I put the hawk in the box, bird flipped over and laid my finger open to the tune of four stitches, with his talon! Bled like a can of ripe tomatoes!
Got the bird to the Audubon Society, he lived and was released back into my neighborhood!

 

[Stomper]

Perhaps next time... try making turtle soup!



I'M KIDDING!!!








No I'm not!










OK, yes I am!

 

[salmonriverjohn]

Poor old turtle, that ride down the slope, the crash and burn- the grunting noises coming from the strange creature that had it in its grips,, only to end up right back at the bottom of that steep slippery treacherous muddy slope where he had started
Just kidding buddy, good job!