The Wonders of Mother Nature: turtle science

I went to the Bonsai Nursery today.  Our temps were in the low 80's  with lots of humidity.    It was wonderful to see friends I haven't seen for a couple of years.  While there, chatting, evaluating pre bonsai trees,  a rather large turtle crawled up to a sunny spot in the lawn.   The turtle began using it's  front flippers to dig, or rather make a trench, in the lawn.  
     After a while, the turtle moved on with the dig.  The back  flippers, pushed dirt back into the trench.  We  realized that th.is was a fresh water turtle (looked a bit like a painted turtle, only it was much bigger.  With careful observation, we realized she was laying eggs, in the sun for incubation, to hatch in the spring time.   Mrs turtle paid no attention to us, was as close as 10 feet away.  We didn't crowd her to get our pictures, but she didn't care very much.  She might have been in a trance as she laid her eggs, for over an hour.  You could see white eggs fall in the trench, the front flippers digging, and and the back flippers fill in the trench.   When she was done, she turned around and headed back to the pond, in the forest.    That was a grand experience that few are privileged to witness.   Nature is absolutely amazing!!!!!