After almost two months, Sheldon the turtle found his way home.

Rick Bulechowsky posted on social media on July 3 that his turtle Sheldon had gone missing.

“I take him out on nice days and let him swim about in my pond. A buddy came over to go golfing, and I took off,” he said. “Around 11 o’clock at night, I was going to bed and I thought, I forgot my turtle out there. I went out and he had slid out of the pond.”

Sheldon is a Reeve’s turtle and about four inches long. Bulechowsky bought him at the local pet store about a year ago.

“I bought him for when the grandchildren come over, so they have something to play with,” he said.

The next day Sheldon was nowhere to be found.

“I looked for him for about a week and put out on Facebook to see if someone in the neighborhood had found him,” said Bulechowsky.

With no luck, days turned to weeks and after 50 days, he saw another post on Facebook looking for someone who had lost a turtle.

“50 days later he was seen crossing the street,” said Bulechowsky.

He explains that his turtle was spotted on 2nd Street in the Bankview area.  He said Mark Olbrich had found the turtle. A friend of Olbrich knew of Bulechowsky’s post and eventually, he was reunited with his pet.

“He never made it more than a block away,” said Bulechowsky. “He was pretty dusty and dirty. I had to scrub him to get him clean.”

He adds the turtle was in good shape and must have been able to find food to survive for so long.

The story of Sheldon spread on Facebook and he says even a visit to the local dealership had people identifying him.

“'Hey, you’re the guy that lost his turtle,'” he laughs.

Despite a rainy construction season, natural gas line replacement projects undertaken by AltaGas in Drumheller are proceeding on schedule.

All summer, crews have been on the ground replacing older metal gas line infrastructure with modern poly lines. President of AltaGas Greg Johnston explains that it has been a busy summer in the valley.

“We are still on track for an October completion,” he says. “There five projects going on in Drumheller right now.”

Johnston explains that Area 1: North of 3rd Ave East and East of 1st Street, Area 2: Between 2nd Street East and 3rd Street East and North of Railway Ave West and Area 4: Between 9th Street Northwest and 5th Street West and North of 3rd Ave West are complete with the exception of clean up and  addressing deficiencies. 

Area 3: Between 3rd Street Southwest and 1st Street Southwest and between 8th Ave Southwest and Railway Ave West slated to be completed in mid-September.  Area 5 Railway Ave East and Riverside Ave East and between 3rd Ave East and 10th Ave East is slated for the end of October.

“It has to be done, and you have to try and do it in measured amounts. We have been working with the town to identify where they are doing paving and we know what roads we can work on what time periods,” he said.  “As much as I would like to snap my fingers and have it all done in one year, we would have the whole town torn apart.”

“We have been at it in Drumheller for a number of years, but I think this year wraps it up.”

Johnston says the project is simply to replace old and aging infrastructure that dates back to the 1950s. AltaGas is not alone in needing to complete these kinds of projects.

‘It’s not just natural gas infrastructure either. This is something municipalities face challenges with water and sewer lines, sidewalk and roads, they all age. For the most part gas and sewer and water line go unnoticed and no one worries much about them until they have to be replaced or repaired. We have done similar work in most of the communities we serve throughout the province.”