Tragedy Strikes!

Yeah. That's right. We started off the weekend with the first tragedy. On Friday morning, Kendall got dressed for school, came down for breakfast, and as usual, went to feed Scout and Sam. Everything went A-OK with feeding Scout. Too bad it couldn't have gone as well with Sam! Poor little guy was belly-up in his aquarium. Now, for those of you who personally know Kendall, you know how emotional she can be, especially about things like this. She was hysterical, and we did NOT have time for hysterics. I told her that maybe he was just sleeping and I would check on him as soon as I got home from taking her to school...but I had every intention of getting on the phone the MINUTE I got home and calling the grow-a-frog hotline and having them send me a new one! Which is exactly what I did. Then that evening, Barry and Kendall buried Sam and made a little grave marker for him. He said she did really well with it, so that was good. So, yesterday, the new "froglet" came in the mail and now we are happy again. And for the record, she did not name the new froglet Sam II, which I though was a sure thing. She named him Hoppy, even though he will never live out of the water, therefore never hopping...but whatever!
Then on Sunday, Barry was out mowing down the sides of the lane when he spotted a little turtle making his way across the drive. Barry stopped, scooped him up, and brought him home. Kendall was ecstatic! And it certainly took her mind off of Sam! Normally, we let her observe the creatures she finds for a few hours, and then we let them go back to their homes. But she begged and begged until we relented and told her she could keep him overnight until her friends got here on Monday. But after everyone left, he needed to go home. She agreed and all was well. Here he is in the "habitat" she built for him in the baby pool...The afternoon was going along swimmingly...Mom and Joe stopped down for a visit and we were all sitting out on the deck, having a snack and catching up. Kendall went down to check on her turtle and all at once we heard gut-wrenching screaming. The only words I heard were "SCOUT KILLED MY TURTLE!!" among all the wailing and screaming. I took off down the stairs and sure enough, Scout had killed it. It was not a pretty sight, I must admit. He was chewing on it and there was blood everywhere. I grabbed a sand bucket and scooped it up ASAP and took it to the trash can. Scout didn't know what the hell was going on. Kendall was screaming bloody murder, yelling at Scout that she hated him....you get the picture. It was horrible. It took me a while to get her calmed down, but even longer for her to forgive Scout...in fact, I'm not sure she has yet. So I guess we now know that we shouldn't have a turtle... Live and learn, I guess.

But after the tragedy of the weekend, everything is back to normal here, I'm happy to report. Calm has been restored to the cabin. Thank goodness!