Animal Adventures!

Day 16 -- Painted Turtle

It was rainy. We were wet and not feeling very lucky. Then we landed on shore and found a painted turtle laying her eggs in the sand. Stretched above her in the sky was a bright double rainbow! The scene was so unbelievable. We were speechless. Good thing we brought poetry hats along. We can explain the whole thing better with a haiku.

A double rainbow

Over a painted turtle

A TRIPLE rainbow!

She laid 15 eggs (that we witnessed) and covered the eggs with sand. Then we watched her slide back into the river, and there she was…gone. We started feeling a lot more lucky after that.

Day 17 – Pelican Island

Ten miles north of Clinton, Iowa, there is a hidden place inhabited by birds--many, many birds. The trees on the island look like the Truffula Trees of Dr. Seuss. From the water we saw them—blue herons, egrets, and pelicans. There were birds of all shapes and sizes. Thousands and thousands of birds! Good thing we brought our poetry hats along, for it was just that moment I realized--

What a wonderful bird, the pelican

For its beak can hold more than its belly can

Day 18 – Thousand Pound Catfish

At one of our campsites we met a big family. They were spending their weekend camping and catching catfish on the river. We ended up making friends with these kind folks. They were all so much fun and super creative. We stayed up late playing music together and just makin' up songs around the fire.

Then they started tellin’ us tall tales about the river. There were a bunch, but our favorite one was the Thousand Pound Catfish.

The story goes that there is a catfish living in the Mississippi weighing over 1000 lbs. It is so big it can swallow a school bus whole. Mere minnows will not satisfy the hunger of this great swimming beast. It lives off the tons of corn spilled by passing river barges. Legend has it that he’s over 100 years old! It’s a good thing we brought our poetry hats along because...

…

…hmmm

I can’t think of anything poetical. I guess my hat must have fallen off into the river. Shucks!