I haven’t updated the website in a while, but I have started tweeting. Follow me and read my regular updates (more frequent than on the website) on Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/somanyturtles.

Adam Bowman is a very talented programmer from Hallowell, Maine who created several fun Google widgets. Among his widgets, Adam has a goldfish pond, a hamster wheel, a tree frog, a spider, penguins and a Netwon’s cradle. Of course, our favorite is Adam’s turtle gadget. On Adam’s site, you can customize the number of turtles, the amount of water, and the colors used. Here is our family’s turtle pond.

Click on the water to drop pellets of food to feed the little turtles and watch them gobble it up. If you would like to make your own turtle pond, click on the ‘AB’ in the upper left hand corner.

Turtles are everywhere! It’s amazing the reach of these little, unassuming creatures.

Tonight, our little hard shelled friends played prominently in a rerun episode of the Fox cartoon “King of the Hill”. The episode was entitled “Peggy’s Turtle Song.” In the show, Mrs. Peggy Hill becomes a stay at home mom to take care of her son Bobby who was mis-diagnosed as having A.D.D. Peggy discovers the guitar and decides to take lessons from a Bohemian musician. The guitar instructor, named Emily, encourages Peggy to write, and eventually perform, her own composition.

You’ll have to watch the episode to get the full effect, but here, in short, are the lyrics to Peggy’s song:

“There once was a turtle who lived in her shell. The shell was her home, and her prison as well.” “The turtle got frightened and wanted to hide, so she tucked her head into the safety inside.” “Then came a moment of terrible doubt. She could not find any head holes to poke out her head out, but a miracle saved her before her heart sank; the magical love of a turtle named Hank”

Be sure to check your local FOX station listings, and watch ‘King of the Hill.’ If you are lucky, ‘Peggy’s Turtle Song’ will show for you soon.

“Turtles are wonderfully complex…” - Peggy Hill

Please note: ‘Hank Hill’, ‘Peggy Hill’, ‘Bobby Hill’, ‘Emily the Bohemian’, ‘FOX’, and ‘King of the Hill’ are the intellectual property of FOX and its related entities. Used under the Fair Use clause of the United States copyright code. FOX retains all rights to these properties.

People who have seen the blog have said that I am obsessed with turtles. I didn’t believe them…until now!

This weekend, I was sitting at the dinner table, waiting for everyone to finish their sushi and fruit when I looked down at my plate and saw a turtle shell. He didn’t have a head, so I took my chopstick (it was a skewer actually, but that’s another story) and moved a bit of the meat over to make the head. The kids were on to me, but I didn’t stop. I wasn’t done with the dinner guest yet. I pushed the turtle over to one of the polka dots, making it more presentable. My kids were in stitches that I was playing with my food, and my wife gave me a funny look, but what can I say? When a true turtle lover sees a turtle, he just cant pass him by.

Do you think I’m obsessed with turtles? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
(Click on the thumbnails to see the larger picture.)

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Zentangle Turtle

Originally uploaded by ceinwyn13

Zetangle is a black and white drawing technique using controlled patterns and doodles. Here is a perfect example of a zetangle drawing of a turtle created by Ingrid (ceinwyn13) for a Zetangle ATC swap on Swap-bot.com.

Many thanks to Ingrid for the kind words and for allowing me to share this. See more of her work on her Flickr stream.

Greek Philosopher Aischylos,
originally uploaded
by Wikipedia.

Strange Turtle Fact:

According to legend, as recounted in Wikipedia, the Greek philosopher Aeschylus was killed in 456 B.C. when an eagle mistook his bald head for a stone and dropped a live tortoise on him.

Tough break Dude.

Red Eared Slider Turtle,
originally uploaded
by Yvonne Ricard
under CC
ShareAlike3.0.

Those Americans have some nerve. They think they own the place. Even their turtles come and go as they please, throwing regulation to the wind.

According to the ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, wildlife officials in Perth have discovered a mature Red Eared slider turtle in Hyde Park. It is illegal to import red eared sliders into Australia. Officials are going to check the area for eggs. Eventually, the turtle will be offered to any local zoo willing to give it a permanent home.

Chef Boyardee© has released a new pasta product, ‘Sea Life Forkables’ pasta. It has lobster, sea horse, sea shell, and of course, sea turtle shaped pasta. The pasta, especially the sea turtle shapes, get rave reviews at our house.

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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.