Lizard Life

How've ya been, lady? Have ya seen ladybugs lately?

Unseasonably warm, sunny days during the winter months revive lizards that live with us. When the western sun bakes the brick on the front of the house, they yawn, stretch, and venture out from beneath their bedding for a tanning session. I was delighted to see him yesterday!

A Ground Skink made an appearance in the garage a few weeks ago. It couldn't have been more than two and a half inches long.

I spent most of my life as a city girl up north and never saw lizards in the wild until I visited my daughter at the University of NC at Wilmington eight years ago. Since then, and moving to Charlotte a couple of years ago, I can’t keep my eyes off them.

Skinks and Eastern Fence Lizards spend their days on the south and west side of the house. Oodles of them. Harmless little reptiles that gobble up the bugs. If one of them mistakenly sped up my pants leg, I might feel differently about them.

Here are a few photos I’ve taken since last spring. It’s a pleasure to photograph lizards because they pose for minutes at a time for easy photo shoots, unlike the birds and dogs. My IDs might be incorrect but I’m giving it a try. (Click to enlarge the photos. See the gleam in their eyes.)

Eastern Fence Lizard, male. The most common type here.

Five-lined Skink. Small and plentiful. Love that bright blue tail.

A male Eastern Fence Lizard, raising himself to show his blue metallic underside. He's very cooperative for the camera.

I remember taking this photo. Flat on my driveway, nose-to-nose with him. Was he smiling at me? I had just given him a drink of water. It was probably 103 degrees in July.

Might be a Southeastern Five-lined Skink, one of the largest lizards here at about eight inches in length.

She's rough looking! The female Eastern Fence lizard, grey in color as opposed to the brown male.

She's looks marvelous here. It's one of my favorite photos.

Here's a sweet memory of warm breezes by the pond. Ahhh. Spring. It’s coming.

Hello Black Rat Snake

I greet the Robin and say hello to the Bluebird who arrives regularly for nothing. He's staring at an empty food dish. I feel badly about that. If I had time to snob feed, I would park myself outside and guard the suet and worms for a while every day. For now, and for good reasons, I’m only feeding my backyard birds once or twice a week.

On the weekends, I dance around the yard with camera close by and feel high as a kite on color, blooms, and the most unnoticed living things. I’ll elaborate soon on the three-year drought that has ended.

My wildflower patches are sweet on the northwestern side.

One small flower. So pretty. Some might consider mowing it…

An old acquaintance put an abrupt halt to my tour.

Well, hello again, Black Rat Snake.

Hmmm. I’ll move myself way down here so you don’t get snarky. See? I’m no threat…

We have several species of snakes on our small property. Black Rat Snakes live here and are the ones I see most often. They reside close to the house (probably under it) and make regular appearances from spring to late fall. I don’t mind them as long as I don’t see them take care of chipmunks and other rodents. They’ll take a lizard, too. Oh, dear.

Listen up, Lizzie. Danger awaits ten feet south. Move it! Yes, I’m talking to YOU!

Hundreds of lizards, Eastern Fence Lizards being the most common, scamper across my path every day. If I can try to save a small lizard’s life, I will.

Snake had enough of me and slithered away, finding cover. I’ve never annoyed a snake enough to make them strike. Never will, I hope. If I do, I'll put it on the blog :o)

This one is about five or six feet in length. Good size. And, it's mating season! Oh, boy. Those hatchlings grow fast and appear at my front door - stupid little snakes. I’ll meet them late summer when they’re small and cute.

Black Rat Snake left me so I jogged around the corner and alerted another,

You are way too relaxed, Lizzie. Have a sense of urgency, will ya?

Yes, I said that. I talk to lizards out loud. And snakes.

It’s Okay…

I’m Okay…

About Lizards

Here he is - the first Ruby-throated Hummingbird I saw this year. He stopped by on the evening of April 9th and took his time sampling the nectar in two feeders before exiting around the corner to the front of the house. You bet I ran through the house, swept up my camera, and burst onto the front porch to watch the little guy! I found him resting in a tree clear across the street, in low light. Damn. The one photograph I took was downright horrible but I liked something about it. I played with it a little and turned it into a painting. Ain’t he sweet?

Now, to the lizards.

On a warm winter day, one or two might come out of hiding and rest in the southwestern sun.

Their brief visits lift my spirits and warm me up.

Last weekend we had early summer-like temps. Lizards were out and about, darting to and fro, and scampering over your toes if you let them.

So I decided to have some lizard time. Away with the dogs! Inside they went…

Photo-shoots with lizards are slow and gratifying. Peaceful.

I don’t know much about lizards, but I do believe they become accustomed to having a paparazzo follow them.

How do you get a lizard’s attention?

I wanted eye contact.

Whistle?

Clap your hands or snap your fingers?

Or mumble HEY YOU?

That works!

Yes, you rock, handsome dude.

Go ahead and raise your eyebrows. I enjoy my one-sided relationships with little creatures, snakes included. They choose to live near me. Isn’t that an honor and something to smile about?

Hey, bunny! Are you gonna clean up those pellets?

Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you.

Holy crap. Did someone already take a bite out of your ear?

BOO!

Happy Easter!

Snail's Pace

Today I’m writing about yesterday, which ranks up there with the top ten or one hundred most unmemorable days of my life. I’m remembering it now because it was so incredibly boring and kind of sad. No one died, got injured, or fell ill, but I could hardly pick my feet up off the floor and was feeling as limp as a wet dishrag. I scuffled throughout the house all day long wearing too big sweats and slippers on the wrong feet. I tried to comb a few cowlicks down on the back my crown but I gave up. I was just so lovely!

The smell of garlic and homemade Italian sauce wafting through the house woke me at 9am as Michael, the robust Italian husband, was busily frying meatballs, pork, and sausage for a two-month supply of pasta dinners. This is the only thing he can cook well, except for breakfast meals. I prefer to stay away while he’s in the kitchen because I can’t stand seeing the sauce splatters and mess. He’ll never learn to “clean as you go” like I do. This led to a lot of work in the kitchen for me throughout the day and I just didn’t have it in me, but I did the best I could do. That Emeril cookware is so darn heavy. Sigh… There was no “kicking it up a notch” for me and no “Emeril essence” on my agenda…

Walking by the family room sofa with a basket of laundry on my hip, I couldn’t help myself but to grab a few minutes in front of the TV show “Meet the Press” (boring) with the basket of soiled laundry sitting beside me. I eventually made it to the washing machine and discovered a damp load in there and a dryer full of wrinkled permanent press. “Ohhhhh….groan.” Do I have to do this? Agony.

It was a glorious day outside but I just gazed through the window watching people walk their dogs and seeing the birds sitting pretty, ready for a photo shoot. By 3pm, I hadn’t even slipped the battery into my camera. A lizard scurried across the porch and I considered running for the camera like I usually do, but thought, “Naaaaa.”

Diagnosis: Night after night, all week long, I defiantly ignored my 10pm bedtime and crashed by 11:30 instead. Five hours of sleep doesn’t cut it for me, and suddenly, on Sunday morning, I was as energetic as a drug induced snail. Seriously lackluster. I wonder if there is a hormonal change that takes place when you are over fifty that makes one turn into a night owl for the first time in your life?

Bella: I’m bored. m-m-Mommy is a drag.

Even Chloe and Bella’s googly eyes became droopy and sad looking, following me from room to room and from chair to sofa. Toward evening hours, Michael took Chloe for a nice walk in the neighborhood and I threw the hula hoop in the yard until Bella couldn’t pound her short and meaty legs anymore. We really need to exercise them or they’ll keep us awake at night and that’s not something I needed, for sure!

Chloe: You are making me tired.

Toward the end of the day, after slopping around the house for eight hours, I wanted to redeem myself in some big way. I desperately wanted to accomplish something noteworthy other than wiping kitchen countertops and folding bath towels at record slow pace. I looked at those comfy slippers that always wind up on the wrong feet. This has been a problem for two years and I thought, “Now it’s time to do something about this.” With a little “harruummph”, I hoisted myself from the chair and pulled open the kitchen junk drawer and found the perfect tool for the job. A permanent marker.

Whoaaa! I’m glad I finally took care of THAT! The day was saved. I did something I've thought about doing for a few years.


After a good, long sleep last night, I was back to chasing the scum of sparrowdom on the parking lot today. This will be a temporary and unusally horrible week at work consisting of a few ten-hour days, as the work is building to a blow-up, burn-out point. If I can post every night, I’ll be happy. If I can’t, I’ll be so bummed, but I need to hit the sack on time.

This is good for a smile: check out Susan at Lake Life. In Florida, she found a baby Osprey in a nest and had fun with toads. Sweet.

Numbers, Numbers, Numbing Numbers

There is "eye candy" at the end of this post. Thank goodness for the natural beauty we need to see every day.

Hurray! It’s budget prep time for the State of NC! There’s some fooling here…I can’t stand numbers. Funds have been frozen on State accounts since March 30 and it’s a killer process. I have five large budgets to monitor and I’ve encumbered funds down to the least cents before the State sweeps it away. It’s not my money and I don’t really care about it. It’s just another job-related function I need to perform, another headache, and another pain in my a...

Budget prep for 2007-2008 began today in a 2-1/2 meeting at one of our campuses located very close to the Charlotte-Douglas airport. This is the type of meeting that causes my eyes to glaze over. I yawn. Oh, yes, I participate in the number crunching while I’m dreaming of those US Airways and Southwest planes flying by so close that you could count the number of windows on them. I arrived at the meeting twenty minutes early, with camera around my neck, and explored a beautiful campus. No birds. No flowers. What a waste. But they do have aircraft. After the first hour of the meeting, I wanted to call a break to put my camera to the window to see something in flight!

When we lived near the Dover Air Force Base a few years ago, I had the best view of the largest aircraft in the country – those C-5’s and C-19’s that were large enough to carry 15 eighteen-wheelers. When they flew low over our community, the sound was deafening but you could wave to the pilots (rookies in training…scary, yes!). My next door neighbor was a squadron commander and we waved the American flag to him when he trained pilots. That was cool.

I’m off course here. Perhaps my mind is blown away due to those dang numbers. Allocated budget, deficit, revenue, blah, blah, blah. I arrived home much later than usual. Chloe threw up outside because she knows by the time Oprah Winfrey is over, the local news starts at 5pm and I wasn’t home yet. Yes, I leave the TV on for them during the day. They see Good Morning America, Kelly and Regis, Dr. Phil, and various soap operas before Oprah. I should really switch to a radio instead.

Dorothy from PA calls my photos “eye candy”. I like that adjective. She’s been commenting frequently and she just started a blog of her own while battling the beginning Blogger woes.

When I arrived home after a ten-hour day, I found some eye candy. (Lizards? Eye candy? YES!) With my handbag still on my shoulder, I first noticed a new lizard to add to the other two species I have found at my house. So far we have Five Line Skinks and Eastern Fence Lizards. When I’m not so tired, I’ll try to identify this skittish, tiny creature.

Click to enlarge. It was very curious. See it peeking and holding on to the brick?

REAL eye candy. A butterfly. Something else I need to ID. Later…

I want to be a little closer. Please don’t move… The honey bees rule this patch of blue and purple.

Ahhhh. Just what I needed. I'm delirious and you are medicine for a tired soul.

Directly below the nesting place of the Barn Swallows, I found this. It matches a description of her egg. Did she come by to annoy me? Or, will she arrive again to build a new nest? Time will tell. My heart still aches.

More Backyard Bird Drama

She threw me off guard when I saw her out of the corner of my eye. I was hanging freshly cleaned bird feeders. What are you doing here, Ms. Lizard?

I came out of the shade to grab a spot of sun. Just sitting here, resting on a thorn.

Outside of constant chatter about my crowd of hummingbirds, it’s been a long time since I talked about my backyard birds.

I certainly do have birds at my house. I found some Brown Headed Nuthatches elsewhere. They’re usually oblivious when I’m near and they photograph quite well. Not this time… Will you turn around?

That’s better.

Dozens of birds visit my feeders regularly, even when the feeders are empty. It’s been a challenging spring and summer for someone who doesn’t get out of her backyard often enough. I’ve closed the feeders for weeks at a time that started with the arrival of Grackles and Pigeons. I offered safflower seeds for a while. Then a flock of two dozen hell-raising juvenile Starlings arrived who screamed all…day…long for over a week. I had no choice but to close down the feeders as they were disturbing the peace.

Add twenty-plus of these to the mix of Starlings, Grackles, Pigeons, and Mourning Doves. I knew it would happen when two pairs arrived last winter. House Sparrows rule now. Sweet birds are the minority. That’s no joke.






I still have a few Cardinals, House and Gold Finches. My variety has dwindled compared to this time last year. Sigh... Sometimes I think I'm losing interest.

I just don’t know what to do about the House Sparrows. I see them in swarms and listen to their fighting in the evergreen bushes that line the north side of my house. I’ve noticed them bullying nice birds like Carolina Wrens for safflower or nuts. And, and I’m very concerned about the Mockingbirds I haven’t seen in two weeks.

Backyard birding has been a disappointing affair but I smile whenever I can and talk to the birds I enjoy,

Don’t be shy…I can see you even if you can't see me.

Thank you.

Hold that pose while I zoom a little closer. My Fuji allows me to zoom from afar with no need to sneak up on or stalk the birds for a clearer shot. It’s a nice change. I'm still all thumbs, need to practice with birds more often, and learn the camera! It's been very cloudy and we received another four inches of rain yesterday!

That’s better. Thank you. I know when I hear the happy Chickadee-dee-dee song, sweet birds will rule for a few minutes ;-)

Shall I count on the skills of a Cooper’s Hawk for some crowd control? They’ve returned after being away for a few months. Instead of seeing them perched in their observation tower, high in a pine tree, they fly low over the House Sparrows’ bushes. It’s breathtaking to watch them soar so close to my house with amazing speed!

After publishing, Whoa! No need for a magnifying glass to see these photos! I think I'll try another format next time ;-)