immure \ih-MYUR\,

verb:
1. To enclose within walls, or as if within walls; hence, to shut up; to imprison; to incarcerate.

The photo for today's word of the day shows a real life prison for my turtle, Rob. Now, before you go jumping down my throat for naming a turtle after myself, let me give you just a little background.

Rob was one of three turtles that Josh and I bought in China Town in New York a few summers ago. Josh named his turtle Rob. Naturally, I named mine Josh. And the third, sadly, never had a set name because we always thought he was on the brink of death. (What can you expect with pint-sized turtles you bought in China Town?)

Unfortunately, two of our young turtle friends didn't make it. Rob is the only one left. He now shares a (very, very dirty) tank with three baby catfish named Peter and two snails named Bryan. There used to be a frog named Grace, but we're pretty sure Rob devoured her.

In any case, I'm sure the tank is a lovely place for Rob and his friends to hang out and get fed. It's definitely better than the way we found him, but it's still not quite the same as being in the wild.

Also, did anyone think of this other photo when this word of the day came up? I sure did.

If you've got any photos for immure, send them along to me in an email and I'll put it up with my portrait of Rob the turtle!

Update: Thanks again to Jessi for sending this photo of Smith along. "Sorry for all of the the photos of Smith," she said. "He's an easy test subject." Don't apologize! Send photos!



Update #2: Alison sent this cool photo: "I took this picture in San Gimignano, Italy a couple summers ago. Not the worst place to be immured, but hey." (Way to use the word of the day in your description!)



Update #3: Thanks to Jeff for sending this excellent photo along. Check out his blog for work from UW-Madison's Badger Herald.