Snapping the Snapper

On the way to work this morning I encountered a rather talkative old lady. It seemed like a good idea at first to talk back to her once she struck up the conversation, but then I realised how much difficulty I had understanding her. She had no teeth whatsoever, and traffic was making so much noise. So I did what I do, I smiled sweetly, nodded politely where I though a nod was needed, and made encouraging sounds. The woman was talking about swans being killed by snapper turtles, I think, and then I caught the word ' raccoon'. I nodded extra vigorously, because I like raccoons, and smiled broadly.
And as I was doing that my brain finally made sense of what she was saying, namely that raccoons taste good, if you know how to make them.
*gulp*
Such a splendid subject for non-meat eating, animal loving me. I said: Oh, I'm almost late for work! and tried to get away. Which was not at all easy. I bet I made her day though, and she looked like she needed it.

I caught myself singing out loud a few times today - mostly on the way back from work and while skipping around the Fish Hatchery. It's still a good feeling though; having a subconscious good mood. I was singing a happy 'who wants to pose for me?' song to the swallows - and they didn't. I sang it to the red-winged blackbirds, the ducks, the heron - and they all refused. But then I saw something moving slowly across the path and knew it was a turtle. And then when I came closer I saw it was this marvelous snapping beastie. His shell was at least a foot long, and his tail was about the same - I've never seen such a big turtle before. So, I talked, he listened (as is obvious here), and then I said 'thank you!', curtsied and went back to the car.

Sometimes I'm so happy when I don't encounter other people there, because quite frankly, I'm pretty sure they'd think I was mad.