Good Dog Gone Bad (BeauSpeak)

Beau, sleeping by Daddy's bed June, 8, 2026

Do I look like a bad boy? Mama says after 6 years, I am a Good dog gone Bad..

Sunday morning, Mama came flying in the door, grabbed her cell phone and was outside before

Daddy could finish his sentence, of “ what now?”

She came back with photos of a Gopher Tortoise, so excited she could not talk. Showing the pictures to daddy she was in “chat mode” and making plans to have a pet gopher, named Tommy Turtle, even though she said he/she is a Tortoise not a turtle.

Size about 10 inch by 6 inch wide

I told Mama I needed to go out, and when she opened the door I sprinted to the gopher and batted it with my paw, rolled it over like a basket ball, grabbed it with my teeth, it peed on its shell, I picked it up by putting my teeth inside he hole the head was and mama was yelling no at the top of her lungs and I would not stop until suddenly, I was yanked backwards by my collar and dragged in the house. I have never been yanked before.

She came into the house and called the neighbor behind us, which has a jungle back yard with raccoons and possums and 5 birdbaths and NO dog. She asked if they would keep it in their yard and they were thrilled and Ken and Jo came to the fence and Tommy was handed off to paradise. When mama left the fence, she could hear both of them talking to the turtle. She talks to her birds like Mama does.

 

Mama came inside and sighing with relief it was gone, she asked her cell phone what to feed a gopher tortoise and read to Daddy and Me for hours. 

AI said 

Do NOT feed a gopher tortoise, they are in USA a protected species, 

It is illegal to touch or handle a gopher tortoise in Florida without an official permit. Because they are a state-protected, threatened species, it is against the law to harm, harass, possess, or move them, as well as disturb their burrows. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission | FWC

She called Jo and said we just broke the laFish and Wildlifew and told her the story from Ai.

Imagine Mama’s surprise, when she did further research and found It is a Red Ear Slider and a menace to the entire world because it can survive anything, even crocodiles. Turtle Haven 

This means I am not a bad dog,The turtle is a turtle and was in no danger of me killing him. I did not try to kill an endangered species, and Mama will keep putting it in the neighbors yard. HA 

This is a good thing, because an hour after mama gave Tommy to Ken and Jo, he showed up right back in our yard… he stayed an hour and disappeared.

What this means is mama miss-ID and cause the whole ruckus.

AI says sliders appear in back yards when they are traveling to find a pond. Now we don’t know if he has been swimming in Duckhaven Pond or not. Will he stay? Will Mister and Missy have a new friend? 

She is going to call her today and let her know the FWL will not be serving us with a warrant when they read our blog.

Copy Cat Copy Cat

 

Ann from SnapEditScrap sketches, I do a copy cat inspired by hers. She uses colored pencils, I paint in Procreate on my iPad. https://annssnapeditscrap.blogspot.com/

Yes, I am still drawing and coloring like a child. We are all OK, nothing new.

Beau is doing well, half the year is going fast, I am 3 months from 82, Bob is 4 months from 90 and Beau is 4 months from 13... We have lived a long life already.

My Ducks are still here, Five weeks now, they sleep all night every night in their pond, come and go, during the day, but the pas t4 days have been staying HOME most of the day.

I read that ducks like mud so asked AI to put MY ducks in a barn yard. Not bad.

Missy loves mud, lays by her bowl a lot, grazes and eats mud. 

Miracle Missy N Mister Photo Dump

Missy May 20th at Duck Haven pond. fully healed and beautiful

Miracle Missy and Mister, Photo Dump from 5/20/2026 to 5/25/2026
 

Missy and Mister appeared on April 4th 2026 in our front yard, they greeted us each morning when we returned from walking Beau. They took a few dips in the pool and wandered the yard and since the pool was a mess from lack of care, I let them swim and did not shoo them away.

On April 27th, I found her injured so badly, I thought she would die, on that day the two young ducks, and I bonded. Since that day they have slept all night in Duck Haven Pond, AKA pool except for 1 night.

The daytime hours, they have routines and come and go, several times a day

Missy and Mister spend Siesta Time from 10 to 1, snuggled in the dappled shade next to the water bowl. Don't worry about the dirt in the water, they put it their as soon as I put fresh in it. Root dirt and weeds and drop in the water.

Mister is in the first 3 photo, but hard to see, the second one below you can see his head. Where ever Missy is, he is on guard or sleepy next to her.

In this photo she was looking me straight in the eyes and I was within touching distance, but I restrain myself, I want them to be wild and wise, not everyone loves them

Missy's Bodyguard, Mister, ON DUTY, watching for danger, while she bathed and fluffs and flutters her wings. He love her as much as I do. 

On May 24th I had been watching them out the kitchen window and telling Bob she is 100 percent normal, walking, running, flying, swimming, and she healed in 25 days. All I did for her was be sure they were safe and not harmed, a Safe Haven to heal.

I burst into laughter when I checked out the window and she was in one of her FOUR water bowls, asleep with head under wing, on one leg.I needed these ducks, they needed me, we had the perfect Pond, it has algae, bugs, leaves for them to eat, no human gets in the pond, Beau is one in a million because he doesn't bother them. He only tries to sniff them if they are in his  path, and they run to the pool and wait for him to go back inside.

Our yard is a perfect bird haven. Observing that they take dirt and put in in the water bowls, I googled to find out why ducks eat dirt and found that All birds, from chickens, duck and crows, eat grit. they swallow food whole, it goes to gizzard and they need grit mixed with water and mud to swallow to process their food.

the reason we have 4 bowls, 2 for Birds and 2 For my Babies. I observed a red wing black bird and a crow, sitting on her only bowl of water, dipping dirt in like she did and researched again, and Yes, all birds need access to grit and water.

We are in a 6 year drought! the pool level is not high enough for birds. I added plastic flat containers of water for the birds and now I can watch the birds dip dirt in those. The drought turned out Backyard into weeds, dirt, small rocks, and the pool is green with algae, which makes a perfect Duck Haven Pond.

I do not let other ducks stay, only Missy and Mister. I do not feed them, the yard is a smorgasbord.

I am happy they appear to be to young to have little ducks, because, not for lack of trying, their are still no eggs in a nest. I believe they are juvenile male/female and too young to make me a grandmother. 😁😁😁

Today is May 27, 2026 and five weeks, three days since she was injured and she is my miracle duck. They will leave someday and I am fine with that. I don't want them to have babies here because we have huge raccoons and they eat small birds. Yes, the food chain may get them elsewhere, but I don't want to see or know it. Twice I have held my breathe and prayed as they run across our busy street.