The Newest Pennington girl…

Last weekend, McCanless decided to save all of the baby turtles in Hartsville.  She wanted to go to PetSmart and purchase a huge aquarium, capture as many baby turtles as she could find and save them before they had to cross the dangerous road.  (Unfortunately, every year about this time, we find way too many baby turtles who don’t make it into the lake.  The mommy turtles love to lay eggs in our front yard, and McCanless hates to find the flattened little turtles in the road in front of our house who don’t make it across the road and into the lake.)  Last week, she made it her mission to save as many as she could.

That was until we spoke to Jake, a turtle expert at PetSmart, who told us that once in captivity, the turtles would never learn how to live on their own.  Mommy refused to capture a baby turtle and keep it indefinitely, so that was out of the question.  McCanless’ dream squashed, much like the poor baby turtles, she cried.  And cried.  Until we hit the Betta Isle and before us stood a tower of  pretty, fluorescent, flowing and girlish fish.  Perfect for McCanless.  Low maintenance, no huge aquarium, no bubbles, no worries.  Perfect for Mommy.  Jake even told me that these fish sometimes live in mud puddles, which means no burial services in the near future for us.  And so, my little turtle conservationist has turned into an aquatic fanatic.   For now.

Meet Natalie, the newest Pennington girl.  (Well, we’re assuming “she” is a girl, because that’s what McCanless says she is.)  Have you ever met a fish named Natalie?  Me either.

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