Turtles and Butterflies

We've had several days of rain here in Maryland, but today it mostly stopped raining. Pretty much this means that it is just muggy, with high humidity that just feels like it should still be raining. Despite the humidity, I had a nice surprise this afternoon when I stepped outside to see a customer out the door: I found a wee-sized baby turtle. With the ground wet and steaming, it seems that turtles like to come out of their hiding places to wander around to find things to eat.
Now, most of you know that I already have three box turtles in the back yard (well, there are at least two anyway (Otis and Emily)--I haven't seen Amos for about 6 weeks), but this little guy was a baby water turtle. I think that his species is called a 'slider' turtle, probably an 'eastern painted slider.' His markings were brilliant orange on the bottom, and very detailed greens and yellows on the top and body.
I found this baby turtle right on my doorstep, trying to hide in a corner. My first thought was that I wanted to keep him, but I just don't have the right set-up of a terrarium in the house. I also remember having a water turtle when I was much younger and how if you don't change the water regularly, it begins to stink. Another thought was that he was so cute at this size (slightly larger than a quarter), but he'll grow to possibly 10 or more inches across the shell. I made the decision that all I would do to him was take some pictures and then walk him over to the ponds nearby and let him go. When Kim and I walk the paths around the ponds, we regularly see many turtles sunning themselves and sticking their heads out of the water. I have a feeling that someday, I'll see this little guy again sunning himself on a log in one of the ponds.

Now, I'll let Kim tell of her butterfly adventures this afternoon:

At a park by our house (Black Hills Regional Park) there is a nature center. Annually, they release monarch butterflies to make an annual migration to Mexico. My mom and dad took Kate and I to see the big event. Every ten minutes they tagged the wings of a monarch and let a child hold the butterfly and release it. The Universtiy of Kansas then tracks their migration to Mexico.

Kate fell asleep before we reached the park, so she missed most of the releases. However, she woke up briefly just in time to see one more fly away (and get her picture taken in the funny butterfly frame). It was a fun afternoon for all of us.