Kepler Tells Turtle Tales

(4 Minute Read. 31Jan2024)

Snapping Turtle

Woof! Woof!
This is Kepler, Master’s Jack Russell terrier, writing another article for Master’s Bible-Science Guy Blog.

Last week in Kepler Meets a Snapper, I wrote about finding a snapping turtle on a hike at one of our favorite campgrounds like the one pictured here. Snappers are the second most common turtle after painted turtles. My excitement over this find prompted Master to tell me about some of the many times he has crossed paths with turtles.

I Woofed out loud when Master said, “crossed paths.” It reminded me of Master’s and my good friend Det. Lt. Clif who has a series of books called Paths Crossed about his adventures as a Michigan State Police officer and a National Park Service Enforcement Ranger. Our paths usually cross every summer at a campground. I wrote about our last “paths crossed” in Kepler Hounds Cop. Our paths have crossed at campgrounds in Indiana and Florida and at campgrounds all over Michigan.

Turtles have been a special interest of Master’s ever since he got a small painted turtle as a pet when he was four years old. When I asked Master its name, he told me it was Fartheron.

“Where in the world did that come from?” I asked. Then Master started to explain, and I saw Missus smiling — she loves his stories, even those she’s heard before. Master said that on a family outing, his father asked directions at a tollbooth, and the man used the phrase “farther on.” This terminology was new to the little boy and caught his fancy, so he named his turtle Fartheron.

Here is a Painted Turtle like Fartheron.
It is the state reptile of Michigan.

Fartheron was very active and lively. Master enjoyed playing with Fartheron for months until his younger brother tried to remove Fartheron’s shell while Master was taking a nap.

The turtle bowl was on Master’s dresser, and Master awoke during his brother’s operation. Master stopped his brother’s efforts. Master’s father tried to restore the partially removed shell, but he was unable to save Fartheron. Master had a succession of pet turtles after that, but none was as much fun as Fartheron.

Master said the smallest event, even what happened to Fartheron, is known to the Great Creator.
Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. (Matthew 10:29)

I like to think of the Great Creator’s empathy and compassion extending even to a little boy’s grief over his small injured pet.
The Lord is good to all, and his mercies are over all his works. (Psalm 145:9)

Later on when Master’s own children were young, he planned many outings to bring them up close to the genius of the Great Creator’s designs. Turtles are such a cool thing God made, so Master would take his boys to rivers to catch turtles for pets. Even with nets on long poles, they were unsuccessful because the turtles would slide into the water as the boys approached.

But Master’s friend Gordon was a naturalist at a nearby nature center. One spring Gordon collected a clutch of snapping turtle eggs from along the river that ran through the nature center preserve. After they hatched, Gordon gave Master six of the little turtles.

Master’s boys fed the turtles with worms from the backyard. Master’s children picked names for five of the turtles. But Master named the other one . . . you’re not going to believe this . . . Logarithm. Missus thought it was a great name. But I think that’s a really strange name, weirder even than Fartheron. I’m glad Master named me Kepler — a much better name.

Three of Master’s slide rules.
Made by Keuffel & Esser Co, NY.
Top is a log log duplex decitrig rule.
(Click to enlarge.)

Master tried to explain a logarithm to me, but I had no idea what he was talking about. Seems as though it was some mathy thing that he taught about when he was a math professor. All I remember is that logarithms change multiplication into addition, and they are the basis for the slide rule, a computing device predating calculators. Master said he used slide rules in high school and college.

Proverbs 12:10 says, A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal. The tiny snappers did not seem to thrive in their tank, so eventually Master and the boys released the little turtles in a nearby creek. He was hoping Logarithm found a suitable base and that his life would improve exponentially. Anyway, in retrospect Logarithm turned out to be an edifying pet name because he always made us think of a Higher Power. (Master says there are three logarithmic math puns here.)

Master told me that turtles have continued to cross his path throughout life. On a two-hour trip in his youth to visit his girlfriend, whom I know as Missus, he counted over 20 box turtles crossing the highway. All of them were trudging from south to north.

Master used to take his sons on boys-only camping trips, while Missus and the girls did other adventurous things at home. On one trip in the Fall of 2000, they found a box turtle at a Georgia campground. They put it in a sturdy cardboard box under the camper and left for an all-day-long hike. Eagerly checking the box when they returned, they found it empty. The turtle was long gone, and they never figured out how it escaped. This was the same hike where the boys found baby copperhead snakes, but their father would not let them keep the poisonous little vipers despite impassioned pleas.

Blog author Kepler loves Master’s
stories, but buddy Ref gets sleepy.

Some 10 years later they were hiking in a Michigan state park and came across a large snapping turtle in the middle of the trail. It was twice the size of the one I found pictured in last week’s article Kepler Meets a Snapper. It was aggressive and hissing, so Master and his boys detoured around it.

What does the Bible say about pets? My cockapoo buddy Ref said the Bible doesn’t talk about pets, but I was pretty sure it would have something to say on the subject. So I asked Master and he gave me this verse which certainly covers pets — even unusual pets.
For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one among mankind can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way. (James 3:7-10)

Anyway, that’s how things look from the Kepler Dog House!

Till next time, this is Kepler signing off. Woof! Woof!

Questions to Ponder

1. What unusual pets have joined your household?
2. Is your pet tamed or unruly? Is your tongue tamed or unruly?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

For Christ and His Kingdom.
Alere Flammam Veritatis.
Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the 60th article in a series of blog posts on a precocious Jack Russell terrier named Kepler. Numbers 1-8 are by Kepler’s master, the BibleScienceGuy. Numbers 9-60 are by Kepler himself.
Read the prequels:
1. Why I Named Our Puppy “Kepler”
2. Kepler’s Kind
3. Kepler’s Lopsided Trade
4. Kepler’s Amazing Nose
5. Kepler’s Business Card
6. Kepler & the Psycho Squirrel (with video)
7. Taunting Kepler
8. Adam and Puppies

The following posts are by Kepler:
9. Who Taught Kepler?
10. Kepler Gets a Buddy (with video)
11. Kepler Chases a Squirrel (with video)
12. Kepler’s Complaint
13. Kepler’s To-Do List
14. Kepler and the Football Weekend
15. Kepler’s Favorite Store
16. Kepler at a Truck Stop
17. Kepler & Henry Catch a Squirrel
18. Kepler Finds Killdeer Eggs
19. Kepler Finds Robin Eggs
20. Kepler Lives to Tell the Tale
21. Kepler, Bears, & Raccoons
22. Kepler Mentors Henry
23. Kepler Gets a Bear
24. Kepler Finds Strange Eggs
25. Kepler Finds Duck Eggs
26. Kepler Gives Thanks
27. Kepler’s Newest Enemy
28. Kepler Loves Bulldogs
29. Kepler Ponders Snow
30. Kepler Wants to Move to Australia
31. Kepler’s Dating Profile
32. Kepler Meets Skunk
33. Kepler Wants to Be Good
34. Kepler on Guard
35. Kepler Chews On Grammar
36. Kepler for President
37. Kepler for President: Grins & Growls #1
38. Kepler for President: Grins & Growls #2
39. Kepler’s Water Guns
40. Kepler Remembers Henry (with video)
41. Kepler Gives a Virus Briefing
42. Kepler’s Campaign Advice
43. Kepler Ponders Senescence
44. Kepler’s AK-47
45. Kepler Talks Turkey
46. Kepler Versus the Squirrel
47. Kepler Hates This Word
48. Kepler and the FRIB
49. Kepler Finds Strange Creature
50. Kepler on Dawgs & Frogs
51. Kepler the Snow Commando
52. Kepler Babysits
53. Kepler Gets a Chipmunk
54. Kepler Spies Meat-Eaters
55. Kepler and the Lost Girl
56. Kepler Hounds Cop
57. Kepler’s Survival Tips
58. Kepler Leads a Hike
59. Kepler Meets a Snapper

Read the sequel:
61. Kepler ??? coming soon . . .

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday, January 31, 2024 A.D.

But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind? (Job 12:7-10)

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