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In other news, I'm still sick, and a sudden deluge forced me to avoid the highway (at the last moment, when I was about to get on the on-ramp and saw traffic was hardly moving), take an alternate route that changed several times as I encountered flooded streets, people who couldn't drive (no amount of changing streets will solve that totally, alas), and a traffic light that wasn't working (flashing red my way, yellow the other way).
The story of the day, however, is Izzy's story. We're in Florida. We get these cute little lizards outside: brown anoles, if my Google research serves. Occasionally, they get inside. We try to catch them and throw them back outside before the cats catch them and do something else (although when our elder cat caught one in her mouth, she was so surprised that it actually moved that she dropped it and jumped back).
Izzy was a small female with almost no tail that got into our daughter's room. That's already a feat, because it's not next to any outside doors, but she wasn't the first to do so. She was, however, the first to stay. She defeated Brilliant Husband's attempts to catch her, and he gave up, hoping the cats wouldn't get her.
She moved from there into the bathroom next to our daughter's room. That was an excellent place. We sometimes get ants and even the occasional roach in there, and I didn't see any the whole time she was there. She found enough water to stay alive. Husband tried again to catch her, and she ran behind the toilet tank every time. Husband gave up again. She lived there for days.
Our bathroom is clear on the other side of the house. I don't know how she made it through dry, cat-infested territory, but I found her on the top of the bathroom door one night when BH (Brilliant Husband) wasn't home and I was about to shower. I tried to catch her, but I must admit, I didn't try very hard. I think lizards are cute. We had pet newts when I was a kid. But I didn't want one freaking out and running up my bathrobe sleeve and then running all over me under my robe.
So dear Izzy spent a few days in our bathroom. I saw no ants, spiders, or roaches in our bathroom. One day BH picked up a washcloth next to the sink and a startled lizard jumped right off the counter--onto his foot. She then panicked, attempted to hide under the cats' litterbox, and, when that didn't work, ran behind it. Another time, he found her in the bag of cotton balls. (I must consider them all contaminated now, unfortunately.) Her tail grew back slowly.
Right before lunch today, I saw our younger cat playing with something in our bedroom. You know what's coming because you're reading this narrative, but I didn't know what was coming. At first I thought he had a really big spider. I turned on a light. Then I saw poor Izzy. He got off her, she moved, he pounced. Idiot cat must weigh fifteen pounds. I know, I know, he was just doing what comes naturally. But I held him off while BH took poor Izzy out the front door and put her in a shady, damp place by the door. I checked on her a few minutes later. She still had all her limbs (and her stubby little tail), but she looked a bit green (no, seriously), and she wasn't moving much. An hour later she was gone, so I hope she has recovered from her daze and gone on to live a happy, healthy (probably short) lizard life.
Of course, it just occurred to me that she may have run right back in one of those times I checked on her. Perhaps we haven't seen the last of Iz.
The story of the day, however, is Izzy's story. We're in Florida. We get these cute little lizards outside: brown anoles, if my Google research serves. Occasionally, they get inside. We try to catch them and throw them back outside before the cats catch them and do something else (although when our elder cat caught one in her mouth, she was so surprised that it actually moved that she dropped it and jumped back).
Izzy was a small female with almost no tail that got into our daughter's room. That's already a feat, because it's not next to any outside doors, but she wasn't the first to do so. She was, however, the first to stay. She defeated Brilliant Husband's attempts to catch her, and he gave up, hoping the cats wouldn't get her.
She moved from there into the bathroom next to our daughter's room. That was an excellent place. We sometimes get ants and even the occasional roach in there, and I didn't see any the whole time she was there. She found enough water to stay alive. Husband tried again to catch her, and she ran behind the toilet tank every time. Husband gave up again. She lived there for days.
Our bathroom is clear on the other side of the house. I don't know how she made it through dry, cat-infested territory, but I found her on the top of the bathroom door one night when BH (Brilliant Husband) wasn't home and I was about to shower. I tried to catch her, but I must admit, I didn't try very hard. I think lizards are cute. We had pet newts when I was a kid. But I didn't want one freaking out and running up my bathrobe sleeve and then running all over me under my robe.
So dear Izzy spent a few days in our bathroom. I saw no ants, spiders, or roaches in our bathroom. One day BH picked up a washcloth next to the sink and a startled lizard jumped right off the counter--onto his foot. She then panicked, attempted to hide under the cats' litterbox, and, when that didn't work, ran behind it. Another time, he found her in the bag of cotton balls. (I must consider them all contaminated now, unfortunately.) Her tail grew back slowly.
Right before lunch today, I saw our younger cat playing with something in our bedroom. You know what's coming because you're reading this narrative, but I didn't know what was coming. At first I thought he had a really big spider. I turned on a light. Then I saw poor Izzy. He got off her, she moved, he pounced. Idiot cat must weigh fifteen pounds. I know, I know, he was just doing what comes naturally. But I held him off while BH took poor Izzy out the front door and put her in a shady, damp place by the door. I checked on her a few minutes later. She still had all her limbs (and her stubby little tail), but she looked a bit green (no, seriously), and she wasn't moving much. An hour later she was gone, so I hope she has recovered from her daze and gone on to live a happy, healthy (probably short) lizard life.
Of course, it just occurred to me that she may have run right back in one of those times I checked on her. Perhaps we haven't seen the last of Iz.