TNT: Turtles and Terrapins

2006 is also Year of the Turtle.

Dash's family menagerie used to include the cousins of the turtle.

During the daytime, our two red-ear terrapins used to roam along the perimeters in Dash's family flat. And when the terrapins hit a road block, usually in form of my family dog trying to take a snooze, they wld wait patiently for the road block to remove himself from their paths. Strangely enough, our family dog often has the keen intuition and generous spirit to uproot himself from the pleasant sun-baked spot, to allow the terrapins to cross!

Well, the Chinese has a saying, "好狗不挡路", loosely translated as "A good dog does not hinder the paths of others". Dash guess that our family dog's behaviour wld qualify him as a good dog then! : )

On the other end of the spectrum, we hv Mew Mew (an all-black and our first family cat) who often played "leap frog" with the terrapins during their daily Long March. In the game "leap frog" or in this case "leap cat", Mew Mew wld pounce lightly on the terrapins' shells before launching himself ahead.

Dash observed that this game often resulted in a psychological and geographical setback for the terrapins. Shocked at the sudden load on top, the terrapins wld snuck into their shells and hide-out; and later when all things are quiet, the terrapins wld hv to recover the same length of distance they were forcefully pushed back due to Mew Mew's use of their shells as a launch pad.

And of cos the game of "leap frog" or "leap cat" wld continue until Mew Mew deems it timely for his cat nap. Definitely not a model of good cat behaviour. Ah well. No GEMS ("Go an Extra Mile Service") card for Mew Mew!