We’ve been heading out to do the chores earlier than usual, to avoid the summer thunderstorms that always pop up out of nowhere every afternoon.  And so we’ve been seeing some of our neighbors that we don’t usually run into in the evenings.  This was a teeny tiny 2-inch long baby gopher tortoise.  Once it got over being photographed (they are very shy), it crawled away shockingly fast.

Only a few minutes later I saw the big gopher tortoise (mama maybe?) who lives in the burrow that the dumb dog dug out.  I said hello, but she hissed at me and ran down her burrow.  I got to see her climb in and turn a corner.  It seems as if the dog couldn’t dig around the corner, so she was perfectly safe.

Although she wasn’t terribly friendly, I love seeing these old, wise creatures out at the farm.  We don’t often see them, but their burrows are easy to see and they leave little clipped paths in front.  They have very long lives – this one could be as old as I am.