On Sunday I did the Danskin Triathlon again, along with my sister Emily and a thousand other women. Its hot here in Texas, so we start early. I was driving to the event at 5:30 am.
I could see a large, slow animal crossing the road ahead of me. It was a turtle, in my lane, 3/4 of the way across a divided 4 lane road, and there were a couple more cars coming behind me in the lane it was approaching. I slowed to a stop and waited for the cars to pass, then hopped out to help the turtle.
It was a snapping turtle. He was about 18 muddy inches across. I nudged him with my shoe, but he only moved 2 inches. I knew if I picked him up on the sides, he could reach around and bite me. So I picked him up in the back 1/3 of his body and hauled him to the safe grass.
As soon as I hefted him up, he pulled his back legs in and swiftly scratched me. I fairly tossed him into the grass and hurried back to my car. Sure enough, I had a deep bleeding scratch across each of my last 3 fingers. I'm sure he thought I wanted to eat him. Oh well. Hopefully the lake water was cleansing. I finished the Tri at 1:47, 2 minutes faster than my best time ever.
After migas, a beer, and a nap, I had to teach my evening Bollywood class ( I couldn't find a sub). I kept it low impact. After the last student left, I started the lock-up process, and ran into the bathroom before driving home.
The lock stuck, and I couldn't get out. I locked and unlocked, tried again and again, and couldn't get out. I tried not to panic. My phone and all my stuff were still out in the studio, all the students were gone, and there wasn't anyone in the whole shopping center who could even hear me yell. Anthony wouldn't even expect me for another half an hour, probably wouldn't worry for an hour, then might call me and I couldn't answer -- maybe he'd call the police or come looking for me? I kept working at the doorknob, and eventually broke the handle off, cut my hand, wiggled at parts inside - still couldn't get out. Then I found a bobby pin, and was able to laboriously use it to unscrew the long two screws. When I finally got the last one out, the knob fell away, and I was free. I was trapped for about 30 minutes.
I had a nice glass of wine and a good sleep after that.
- Vetmommy
- I love my husband Anthony, my kids Anna and Colin, and my job as a small animal vet. I also love cooking for family and friends, drinking red wine, and jogging around the lake with my dog Francesca.
8 comments:
OMG!! Jenn, what a nightmare, glad you managed to escape you poor thing!!! Much love XXXX
WOAH! I knew you had a busy day, but gosh, I didn't realize how much peril was involved.
You survived! Hope the rest of your week is going much, much more smoothly.
Wow, what a dramatic ending to a dramatic day! I can only imagine how hard it was not to panic when locked in that bathroom - YIKES. Sounds like your surgical skills served you well once again.
Love you, M
Congratulations on your best race time ever! What a day; it was exhausting just to read about it. (And kudos on the MacGyver operation in the restroom!)
Now I feel doubly bad for flaking and not going to Bollywood! So sorry.
This does kinda qualify you for a MacGyver badge, though...
You are a Goddess! That is one incredible day.
Good for you for rescuing yourself.
I'm gonna build a shrine to you. You are Kali, life-giver and destroyer.
Lack of luck with the lock.
Unappreciative turtle.
Reminds me of the bite you got as a nipper from a mouse.
Tough day.
Wow,Jennifer..that was a really scary story you told :( better than the present Book that I'm reading! :)
A.Norma.x
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