I was pleasantly sleeping this morning when Ryan bursts into my room, saying "Joe, there's something outside you want to see!" I go outside and what to find, there's a large turtle walking around! I went outside and brought it in, figuring I'd let it sit in some water (there isn't any standing water around outside) and give it a meal.

As best as I could tell at first glance, the front claws were short which is the quickest way to tell it's a female. Later on in some online reading I discovered that in some species of turtles a cocave belly means male while a flat belly (Ok, since someone who knows something about turtles may read this, the plastron is the proper name for the bottom of the shell) so it may have been a male. Either way, seeing as how the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie came out today, I figured I should name it April O'Neil and designate it a girl. I've been having some trouble identifying the species, but I think it's an "Eastern Box Turtle." Here's another picture here.

Here's a view of the side of my friend here, from the side before she was confortable enough to come out of her shell.

April, looking around. This is a good shot to see some major charachistics: smooth shell (as opposed to rough or bumpy), orange spots on dark background, orange belly, orange spots on the leg scales, and orange pattern around the beak and on the top of the leg. Also, the plastron has a lot of orange on it.

A paper towel roll, for a size comparison.

Here's the short front claws, I wanted a closeup to see why I thought she was female. Maybe the claw trick only works in map turtles?

More claw.

The top of the shell, she was much more comfortable in the dark for a while so I let her be that way.

The bottom of the shell, notice the distinctive pattern and the large concave area in the center. Also important to note, the front and back of the plastron bend up so that when the turtle wants, the shell is completely closed and the turtle is completely protected. It's important to note Baron's shell can't close, at his most in his whole front and back have nice squishy Baron parts exposed.

Some food. Initially she was crabby about it.

Notice the growth patter, theoretically we could calculate the age but I doubt it.

Here's Baron around April, they really weren't too interested in each other.

More food.

She walked around for a while, look at that funny little tail!

Some more explorin, she was seein what was under the table.

I took one goodbye photo before letting her go, she had pretty brown eyes!

I'm a strange guy and I know this. I often do a lot of weird things for some reasonable goal, for example, fixing the Big Screen TV. Nevertheless, I do a lot of things for no purpose as well, and the best example is the gum wrapper foil ball. I don't really remember how I started, I do know it was my second year of undergrad sometime and that I had one and lost it before working on this second one. I started it by acquiring about 50 de-waxed wrappers and rolling them into a ball, meaning what you see is gum wrapper foil all the way to the core. I like to work on these when watching movies and stuff, just some mindless activity to keep my hands busy which seems to destress me.

This is the current state of the ball, with a nail clipper for a size comparison. It's a little bigger than a raquetball, maybe a little smaller then a tennis ball. It weighs a couple of pounds.

Here's the ball with an un-processed wrapper, once again for size comparison.

I have a process for removing the wax paper from the foil and leaving the foil as a full sheet, which I will now document. Here's a wrapper.

Flatten the wrapper out.

Pinch the end with the foil side in.

Roll the wrapper between your fingers for its entire length.

When you're done, it should still be bent. The rolling causes the wax to curl slower than the foil, seaprating them.

Now the ends should begin coming apart. Find any separation and begin to make it bigger with your finger.

I then slide my finger in which makes the separation bigger.

More separation.

Finally pulling the two layers together, the foil has some tacky glue on it still.

Here's the wrapper, separated.

Put the wrapper on the ball, glue side down.

Fold the wrapper around the ball.

More. . .

Finally, the wrapper is down, though not smooth.

I take the ball and roll it against a smooth table, pushing down. It compresses the foil and makes the surface smooth and shiny.

Come by my room and see it sometime, it's kind of amazing to look at and hold!

  Ok, I've been working on this for a while, and I'm proud to formally announce "Surfrock66 Gallery." There's already links to it all over the website which you may have seen, but I have finished enough to formally announce it. This system links my website to my home server computer where the photos are stored, meaning space isn't really a reasonable limitation. This gallery is a place for me to manage my photos and make them public, while if I choose making albums visible only to certain people. To reach the site, there's four methods: Under the home menu at the top, click on "SR66 Gallery," under the Photos menu at the top click on "Joe's Photo Archive," type the formal address I've created at http://gallery.surfrock66.com or finally, click the eye at the lower right. I hope you enjoy this brand new feature, I've certainly enjoyed putting it together!

  Seems this is the time of short, quick updates. Today, it's about a turtle visitor we had around, and you can read the story here.

  So, I have a strange habit of making a gum wrapper foil ball, I have now documented it here. It's one of the more interesting things I've ever done.