A Small Bright Spot

Just look at that face! Young Painted Turtle, probably thinking it was handling crossing the road like a big girl/boy just find, LADY. 7 April 2026.

I took our pups up to the vet today for their 3-year rabies, distemper, and Lyme vaccinations. It feels good to have them immunized – especially against rabies, which of course is often carried by those who frequent our land: skunks, bats, and raccoons especially.

I was especially glad they had their appointment today after watching a segment on the Rachel Maddow show Monday night. Apparently the federal government under the current very stable, very cost-conscious regime has determined that testing for rabies is no longer a service that will be provided by the CDC. This, when the incidence of rabies is growing nationwide as a result of habitat stress caused by climate change.

And it’s not just rabies that won’t be tracked anymore, either. Lots of other infectious diseases, viruses, etc. will no longer be tracked either. (Kind of reminds me of a certain Dear Leader complaining that people on cruise ships shouldn’t be tested for Covid, because if you don’t test, then there aren’t more cases…)

So, yeah – that was upsetting to learn. It’s almost like this regime really is doing its level best to kill us one way or another. You wonder how that would serve them? Don’t they need us around for income generation? You know, capitalism? To buy stuff?

But this is a digression from the quick little tale I wanted to tell about an encounter I had as the pups and I were returning from our visit with the vet.

I took a detour and instead of taking the highway to head toward our home, we decided to take a back road, which is also fairly heavily traveled, although mostly by locals.

There are a couple of ponds I pass when I take that route. Today, as I was moving along at a decent clip, I noticed something in the middle of the road that looked at first glance like a palm-sized flat rock. There are construction trucks that frequent this road a lot, so I didn’t give it a second thought. But just as I went by, I had a feeling it was a turtle.

Painted Turtle’s pristine, unscathed shell. While I would ordinarily crop this photo to get rid of my massive-looking palm, I’m leaving it so you can appreciate the small size of this little one. 7 April 2026. Photo: L. Weikel Also, I’m not sure if this is an Eastern Painted Turtle or a Midland Painted Turtle.

Pacha, Brutus, and I did a quick 3-point turn and returned to see. Sure enough! What I’d seen was no small flat rock. It was a young Painted Turtle, heading toward the pond just a stone’s throw away from the cartway of the road.

I pulled to the side of the road and threw my 4-ways on. Thank goodness, the little one was unscathed. It was headed in the direction of the pond, so I didn’t feel as though I was interfering with its intention to cross the road in that place. I placed it on a small dirt patch surrounded by a bunch of grass at the pond’s edge.

This beautiful creature (just look at its gorgeous red-orange stripes on its legs and neck ruff!), while retracted into its shell, did not look a bit worried about being held in my hand.

With all the edginess felt by the whole world today (which had only worsened exponentially since last night via his ‘civilization destruction’ bleat this morning), I was filled with gratitude for the opportunity to give this small creature a boost across the road.

A small bright spot in an otherwise anxious day.

Painted Turtle, 7 April 2026.