Snap!

The Frau took these picture the other day of a humongous female snapping turtle.  A common snapping turtle.

 click on the images to enlarge

Our best guess is that this is a female because they've been around this time of year before to lay eggs in the leafy litter around the shop building, the apple trees or the ancient lilacs.  No respectable snapper would have anything else to do with the joint this time of year. 
Snappers will travel great distances to lay their eggs.

Predictably, there will be silver dollar-sized turtles before too long running all over the place.

Chelydra serpentina.  These reptiles are omnivores, consuming invertebrates, small birds and animals, snakes, other turtles and anything else they can scavenge.   They are know for their belligerent attitude too.  

I wouldn't grab a snapper for anything.  And what was creepy about this snapper was that it had moss growing on top of its shell.  Gross.

Go figure...