It’s been a few days, so we wanted to put this up picture to remember the Leatherback Sea Turtle.

Image via Wikipedia article about leatherback sea turtles.

Interesting Leatherback Seaturtle Facts from TurtleGirl:
- Largest species of turtle
- Has a thick leathery coating instead of a shell. That is why they are called leatherbacks.
- Have seven long ridges going down their shell
- Eat jellyfish and are immune to their stings

I remember when I was a kid and got my first Spirograph(c). It was so cool to be able to make those squigly lines into circle and oval drawings. This past weekend, we opened the new Spirograph(c) that we got during the cupcake party. The little artists at our house are a lot more creative than I ever was, coming up with these cool spirograph turtles. Check them out!

turtles rock

Originally uploaded by TurtleDude

Turtles Rock!

‘Nuff Said

“Infant Boys Turtle Costume at
The Childrens Place”

If you can’t make it to Obon, Japan to play in the tortoise shell tunnel, you’re little one can still satisfy his inner turtle.

This year, The Children’s Place is offering a pear colored infant turtle costume. This four piece polyester glacier fleece with cotton jersey lining has a hat, onesie and set of booties, and retails for $22.50USD. The picture here doesn’t do it justice, so head on over to the Children’s Place website. Click on ‘Halloween’, then ‘Baby Boy’ to find the costume.

turtle magnet,

originally uploaded by
meeellla.

Artist Camille Young must surely love her Grandpa. You can tell by this turtle-riffic magnet that she made for him.

What can you say? The magnet is truly a work of art. Just look at all of the detail, not to mention the colors. It was sculpted in polymer clay and painted using the faux ceramic painting techniques that MossyOwl documented on PolymerClayWeb.

Check out more of Camille’s work on her website and in her Flickr stream.

Two Turtle Tango,
on Crayola.com

Did you catch “Dancing with the Stars” this week? I was sad to hear that Misty May Treanor, our “dancing turtle“, had to drop out of the show for the rest of the season because she ruptured her left Achilles tendon at rehearsal last Friday. During her appearance on Monday’s show, Misty reported was scheduled to have surgery today.

My entire family was sad that she will be off the show; in fact, my daughter was worried that she might not be able to play volleyball anymore, either. We will remember her in our prayers, so that hopefully she can recover quickly, become stronger from the experience and continue on with full and happy life.

While Misty heals, you can still enjoy a dancing turtle. Crayola has a website full of arts and craft project ideas. One recent project that debuted on the site was the “Two Turtle Tango“, two turtles decked out in traditional black and red costumes, sculpted in clay and dancing the Tango.

Stroll on over Crayola.com for step by step instructions on how to boleo these two tango-ing terrapins out of Crayola’s Model Magic (r) clay. Even though they’re no replacement for that mirror ball trophy, I am sure that they would bring a smile to Misty’s face.

Punk Rock Turtle with Green Mohawk,
Copyright: Chris Van Wyk
.

Have you seen this guy yet? ‘Punk Rock’ turtle is making waves with his green mohawk. He and Elvis Turtle could really get down!

This endangered Australian Mary River (Elusor macrurus) turtle was photographed in shallow water by Chris Van Wyk sporting a green mohawk. The mohawk, as it turns out, is algea which commonly grows on the back of most aquatic turtles.

Chris got some amazing photos of this bodacious rocker, so check them out. While you’re at it, sign the petition to save the Mary River turtle, or stop by the Australian Freshwater Turtle Conservation and Research Association (AFTCRA) to found out what else you can do to help our turtle friends.

baguette’s face,
originally uploaded
by Zari ( justZHM).

It’s that time of year again. Leaves start changing colors and falling from the trees; our turtle friends start having a hankering to hibernate, and we humans start eating more warm comfort foods, such as hot soup and a warm, crusty baguette. Just as a we’re looking ahead to the cold days of Winter , Mr. Turtle, the baguette, is looking back to summer and enjoying a last bite of crunchy lettuce.

Thanks to Zari for this shot, which came to the TurtleDude via the Faces In Places blog.

I was searching Twitter for the key word ‘turtle‘ and I kept seeing references to President Bush and Sarah Palin being post turtles. According to the Urban Dictionary, when you see a ‘post turtle‘, you don’t know how it got there, know it has no business being there and you just want to help get it down. Since my politics tend toward the right, I don’t think these guys are “post turtles”; however, in my searching, I came across one who would be a good candidate for that designation. Check him out!

Toilet Kitty,
originally uploaded by dmansouri.

The China Daily reported today that a woman got her hand caught in the toilet while trying to rescue her pet turtle. Apparently, she was cleaning the turtle’s bowl, dumping the water down the toilet, when Yertel accidentally slipped down the pipes. She reached her hand in after it and got stuck.

Now, I have to say, I love my turtle, but I don’t think I would risk getting my hand stuck in the toilet to rescue it. What about you?

Turtle Elvis MA

Originally uploaded by Zari ( justZHM)

Have you ever considered Elvis as a turtle? A turtle’s shell would have given Elvis even more “shake, rattle and roll“. If he were a turtle, Elvis would have been “Raised on a Rock” out “Beyond the Reef“. He wouldn’t have had to stay in the “Heartbreak Hotel” because he would have his house on his back. Likewise, he wouldn’t have had to worry about the cold “Kentucky Rain“, though he would still have to watch out for those “Hound Dogs”

Zarifi HM shared this drawing that she did for the Monday Artday weekly chalenge. You can find more of Zari’s work at on her blog.

Ok. I admit it. I have posted a lot about Misty May-Treanor in the past couple of weeks. (This is a website about all things turtle, and remember, Misty’s nickname is “turtle“.) First there was her win against Cuba, then her gold medal win against China. Now, Misty is in the news again. This time, as a dancer on ABC’s hit show “Dancing with the Stars.” Misty will partner with Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who returns for his fifth season.

Turtles always win, but this time, we will have to do our part. We’ll all have to watch and cheer her on, and more importantly, we will all need to vote for her.

(Here’s one more…just for the fun of it…)

For your inner turtle…Now you can be a tortoise too. Jo found this ‘tortoise shell’ tunnel on a playground in Obon, Japan.

Photo courtesy Jo.

Misty “Turtle” May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh just won their second olympic gold medal after an intense point-for-nail-biting-point match against China.

As we learned from the fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare“, the turtle always wins.

Congratulations Kerri and Misty!

P.S. Misty’s mother passed away in 2002, and as she did when she won her first gold medal in Athens, she sprinkled some of her mother’s ashes on the volleyball court. Also, when Kerri and Misty were being interviewed after the game, Kerri congratulated The President for his support. In an age where it’s “cool” to rip on the leader of the free world, she remembered to acknowledge him, honoring both his office and the country which it represents. Both of these ladies are class acts. Thank you for your examples and the inspiration that you are to our family.

Misty May-Treanor,
Photo Source: Wikipedia.

Turtles love the sand, and so it is with Olympian Misty May-Treanor, a professional volleyball player who makes her living on the AVP tour. According to her bio on the TeamUSA website, Misty’s nickname is Turtle, a fitting name for someone who spends her days drudging around in the sand.

Misty and her partner, Kerri Walsh, who won a gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, are currently favored, as the returning champions, for gold in this year’s Beijing’s games. The dynamic duo won their contest in the rain on Sunday against Japan and are scheduled to play against Cuba today. The game will air on NBC at 9p.m. EDT in the United States.

Good luck Misty and Kerri. Your friends in Texas will be chearing for you. And remember - the Turtle always wins!

Update:8/11/08, 23:00EDT - Misty and Kerri won their match against Cuba. One step closer to the gold.

Update:10/12/2008 I just read in an interview with Misty where she was asked how she got the nickname of “Turtle.” According to Misty, her partner Kerri Walsh’s husband, Casey Jennings, gave it to her, thinking that while she was diving for the ball and doing her magic on the volleyball court that she looked like a turtle. People started calling her by it and it stuck.

Have you heard of the ‘100 Strangers‘ project? It’s where would-be photographers approach 100 total strangers on the street and snap their picture in an effort to practise good portraiture techniques and build their photography and photo-journalism skills. They then post their pictures online in the ‘100 Strangers‘ Flickr group for everyone to see and critique.

One budding photographer named RainiesWorld snapped and posted a picture of Kim. According to the story, Kim was out running and this turtle was trying to cross the road. A car was coming so she ran out in the street to save it! RainesWorld met her as she was putting him/her back near the pond on safe ground! Kudos to RainiesWorld for getting her 12th stranger, and kudos to Kim for saving a turtle.

You can find out more about how to overcome shyness while improving your photography skills by partipating in the ‘100 Strangers‘ project. Find out more about 100strangers.com.

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South Padre Island (SPI), Texas is one of the only nesting sites for the most endangered sea turtle species, the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle. In May of this year, a volunteer for Sea Turtle Inc. (STI), federally santioned partner of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’s conservation efforts, found a Kemp’s Ridley turtle nesting site. In order to increase the success rate, STI’s volunteers dug up the nest and moved the eggs to a protected hatchery. The nest contained around 200 eggs, which were seperated into two batches to order to improve the chance of survival.

Here are pictures of the first group to hatch, some 100 baby turtles in all. They were just a few hours old as STI released them into the Gulf of Mexico at 07:00, the morning of July 16th, 2008 SPI’s public beach #4. (Click on the thumbnail for a larger version, then press the “BACK” button to return to the post.)

MaxVideoPro recorded the release of a batch of sea turtle babies the day before this (7/16/08) and posted it on YouTube. You can watch his videos to get a feel for how amazing this was.

This year, my family choose SPI as our vacation spot, specifically so that we could visit the beach and the turtle rescue ran by Sea Turtle Inc. Imagine our delight when we found out that STI would be releasing these hatchlings during our visit. It was an amazing experience to watch.

It takes 12 years for a turtle to reach maturity, at which point it will return to its beach of birth to nest. Sadly, statistics say that only one-third of one percent will live to maturity. That means that there is strong chance that none of the turtles we saw today will make it to come back to SPI and lay its eggs; nonetheless, we want to come back in 12 years to see if we meet any of these animals on their return trip.

The blog entitled “So Many Turtles, So Little Time”, located at http://www.somanyturtles.com, was registered today, and the blog software was installed. Configuration will go on for a couple of days, but new content will begin soon.