The turtles are laying.  This mother was obviously earning her living.   Having gone into labor a couple of times  myself, I felt a little bond with her as I witnessed.   Only she was alone, and she had to dig for herself.  Can you imagine?  

She must have been mighty uncomfortable, enough to drive her up onto the beach where Caleb and I stopped to watch for awhile.  We really really wanted to see her actually lay an egg, but we were too close.    Then she had to stop and make a break for it, and halt the labor process.  Ooof.  I felt a little sorry about that..

The next night, Denali discovered another mother up on the driveway.   This one didn’t even make it to the squat position, because when Denali is investigating, she is patient and curious for long periods of time.  She stood absolutely still, and eventually discovered that the turtle only came out if she waited silently behind the turtle tail.  Eventually the turtle’s head would emerge, and Denali would POUNCE.  But turtle neck reflexes are much speedier than a black lab pounce.   So Denali would waaaaaiiit and waaaaaiiiiiit…and then pounce again.  

The other morning, we couldn’t resist an early  paddle, and we quietly slipped out to Round Lake near the Yogi rock when a witchy raven broke the silence with rude squawking directed right at us.   She was loud and harsh, and she might well have been swearing she was so testy  about it all.  I wanted to recite the BWCAW rules video and tell her “keep the noise to a minimum, you might even see more wildlife that way.”  I was looking up at her wondering what she was so angry about when we floated into a smelly smattering of feathers.    Denali had to investigate that one too.  What happened?  Did the ravens get a gull or an eagle?  I haven’t seen any gulls lately, and we couldn’t find any dead body.  Did the raven put the spell on another bird?   I have no idea what kind of bird even.  Some were big, some were little and fluffy in clumps.   She was squawking so fiercely, we never figured out what happened, but I agree with Denali when she chases the teasing ravens down the road.  I don’t call her back, I say “Get the evil ravens girl.”

The fishy feathers went on and on for a while, and we never got to the bottom of that mystery.