Our House Guests

So a couple nights ago I was in the bath. When I saw a little anole...or gecko...anywho a little house lizard hide behind the shampoo next to me. I yelled to Ryan and he came to look. He was about two inches long including his tail. I joked he wanted to go swimming with me. I picked up the shampoo and the lizard flew through the air into the tub! I squealed and squealed while Ryan couldn't quit laughing. He helped me up (I didn't want to step on the little guy) and we sorted through the bubbles to find him. I found him, got him into my hands and he flipped out jumping right back into the water. The next time I think he realized we were saving him...he stayed still long enough for me to put him on the ledge by the window. He stayed completely still. I bent back down and finished my bath as quickly as I could. When I stood up again...he was gone. Whoosh. So we have one freshly bathed anole...or gecko...or little house lizard running around the house smelling of coconut lime verbena.

A couple days later, it was almost bedtime and Ryan went out back to turn off the sprinkler. As he reached back to shut the sliding glass door he felt something latch onto his hand in three places. Panicked, he said he made a verbal (eeeaghyaaaaa) sound (think karate chop sound) and threw whatever had landed on him across the yard. Heart racing, he turned off the water and came back inside white as a ghost. You see, Squirt, the generic name for the almost dozen larger lizards (about six to eight inches including tails) we have seen out back, many nights will sit on the kitchen window or on the back sliding glass door and eat bugs (light from inside attracts them to the window creating a tiny feast for our little friends). This particular night, he just so happened had decided he wanted Ryan to give him a, uh...lift. To where...somewhere unknown in the yard. Have no fear...I've seen several back eating in the past couple of nights. So we have house guests. At least during the summer. And so long as they keep eating the spiders, that's okay by me.

On a side note, we had a trumpet vine volunteer itself on the trelis...it's been blooming this week. What a pleasant surprise!