THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507280215
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
It's early evening at Beth McPherson's house in Pine Meadows and she takes you to the picture window in her breakfast nook and asks if you can see the turtles.
You see the lawn leading down to the neighborhood lake. A pretty vista, you think, but turtles? Not a one.
Keep looking, McPherson says, as she chops up cooked chicken into small pieces. And sure enough, if you focus hard enough and with McPherson's help, your eyes will begin to pick up dark little forms sticking above the water. Floating sticks, maybe?
No, turtles, McPherson assures me. Then it becomes clear what is happening. Like little submarines with only their conning towers showing, the turtles are slowly moving toward shore. They come from all directions, maybe a dozen of them.
McPherson goes out to the lake with her bowl of chicken and begins to put the food out on the flat rocks along the shoreline. Seven o'clock is turtle feeding time every evening at the McPherson house.
And the turtles know it as well as anyone. Small wonder. With cooked chicken or hot dogs served up on the rocks every night, what sane turtle would want to hunt around for food in the lake?
The turtles keep coming. They appear to be as slow in the water as on land. You wonder if these turtles really know what they're doing. But they do, McPherson says.
``They're just taking their time,'' she explains. ``They're slow, but I have a lot of patience.''
One by one, the turtles come to the rocks, stretch their necks up out of the water and grab a tasty morsel of chicken. They appear to know McPherson, and one will eat right from her fork.
``This is my relaxation,'' says the owner of Ladies Workout Express at Cypress Point. ``I just love my animals.''
McPherson has loved wildlife since she was 13 and had 17 pet squirrels along with a nuthatch that would eat out of her hand. Now in addition to her wildlife, McPherson has a chow and a bunny as pets and she has a collection of more than 300 decorative rabbits made from ceramics, cloth and other materials.
``I love turtles and rabbits,'' she says.
McPherson has been feeding the turtles since 1993 soon after she and husband Tom moved into their house. At first, she fed them vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers.
``I pretty much went out there every day,'' McPherson says. ``Now when they see me, they come on up.''
When McPherson is away, her husband feeds the turtles, but he just leaves food on the rocks. He says they don't know him like they do her and don't come for him.
She purchases about six packs of hot dogs and three packs of chicken legs and thighs a week. ``My grocery bill's getting higher and higher,'' she says.
The turtles are not the only lucky ones on the lake. McPherson also feeds bread and corn to the mallards and muscovy ducks and she feeds the fish in the lake every evening, too.
McPherson buys 52 loaves of day-old bread for $2.50 and stores it in the trunk of her car. The catfish eat five or more loaves a night. And talk about eating! A catfish feeding frenzy begins on the lake when McPherson starts tossing out rolls. The water boils and fish bodies break the surface as they grab bites of bread.
McPherson estimates one catfish to be 2 1/2 feet long with a mouth a least six inches across when it's open. ``I throw him a whole roll and he swallows it.'' she says.
A muskrat gets in on the deal, slipping up on a rock and nabbing a piece of chicken and a slice of bread or two. A female mallard and several young glide up to eat. Three lone young muscovy ducks take advantage of the feast, too. McPherson keeps tossing bread in the water and rolls are bobbing everywhere.
But before too long there's not a roll in sight. McPherson's charges have gobbled them all up.
``I wouldn't sell my house for $400,000,'' McPherson says. ``I couldn't leave it.''
P.S. SEA CREATURE sun catchers is the topic of a craft night for kids 6 to 10 at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Virginia Marine Science Museum. The fee is $6 for museum members and $8 for non-members. Call 437-6003.
FLAX TO LINEN is the topic of a continuous program from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Francis Land House. The program is free with admission to the house.
THE ORGANIC GARDENING CLUB is holding its annual harvest party at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Fire Station No. 3, International Parkway and Central Drive. ``Anyone is welcome,'' said member Karen Green. ``Just bring something to share.'' To find out more, call Green at 486-0230. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: ``This is my relaxation. I just love my animals,'' says Beth
McPherson as she feeds a turtle with a fork in the lake behind her
Pine Meadows house.
Photos by
MARY REID BARROW
by CNB