A Visitor

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Guess what Misha found in our house tonight? This little guy! We were sitting here watching T.V. when Misha went running in between the sliding glass door and behind the blinds. He doesn't usually do that. Then I saw something dart out and under the end table away from Misha. I told Tim to look because he was closest to the action. Misha was still very interested when Tim said,"what's that?" He shined his flashlight, he always has one at his fingertips, and reached down to touch whatever it was and it squirmed away at the speed of light and Tim let out a SCREECH!

A LIZARD IS IN THE HOUSE!!!!

When I was on the phone earlier with my mom, I thought I saw something dart across the floor but I chalked it up to a reflection from my reading glasses. But no, here he was, the poor little tiny Geico spokes person's California cousin, in my house.

Tim was on one side of the table and I was on the other. "I"ll scoot him towards you" he said to me. "What am I supposed to do with him when he comes at me like a bat out of hell". So I went and got some tupperware and a lid. One minute the little guy would scoot towards me, then he would scoot towards Tim, EEEEK! Finally the lizard made a break for it and ran towards Tim. He screamed, I yelled, "You big baby!" Now the lizard was under the stairs where the computer is. I wiggled a few things and poof, there he was right in front of me. I carefully moved a few things and trapped him under the tupperware. Then I had to get the top on without him jumping out at me. I went and got one of those stiff thin plastic cutting boards and slid it under. I had him!

Tim was already to release the little guy but I told him no, we need to take a picture of him.

So there he is, our little visitor in a tupperware. He had his photo shoot and I let him go in the bushes outside. Misha is still sitting post near the blinds just in case the lizard reappears.

I Blame the Wasp

It's the worst storm in October since 1960 something. It has rained all day long which is unusual around here. Today I worried about Emily driving to school in the torrential rain in Santa Cruz . I worried about Elizabeth taking Jim's class to Alcatraz for a field trip.

Emily came home early from school because of a power outage and Elizabeth and the kids got soaked but they had a wonderful time.

I was home just about to put Graham Cracker Brownies in the oven when my neighbor Brenda came to the door. I was talking to her when suddenly a wasp flew from behind me, past my head and was on the door. EEEK! Clever me decided to open the screen and pull the other door almost closed so the wasp would just fly away to the outside world and bother someone else. I pulled the door a bit to fast and it shut. CLICK....I was locked OUT. No one else was home, Emily has a key but she is in Santa Cruz. Elizabeth has a key but she is probably not back from Alcatraz yet. I was locked out. I started to freak out a little bit. I had changed my clothes when I got home and had flannel PJ bottoms on and a long sleeved t-shirt. I had Judy's knitted socks on and no shoes. No way back inside and it is raining, nay shall I say...POURING outside. The other thing that had me worried was the oven was on in the kitchen. My only hope for getting back in was my bedroom window on the other side of the house and on the second floor. Brenda went to get me some shoes at her house for me to wear and asked a neighbor if he had a ladder.

Brenda is little and has equally little feet. I, on the other hand, am tall and have huge feet. She brought me some of those Nike slip on sandals and they quit at about half way through the arch of my foot. The neighbor had a ladder but it wasn't tall enough. Another neighbor, Gary, had a big ladder but we needed to get it in the back patio. I couldn't open the gate because it was also locked. You have to understand that the whole time I am shuffling around because it is so hard for me to walk in the teeny tiny Nike sandals.

My neighbors put one ladder on the outside of the fence and another on the inside of the fence. Brenda climbed over and into the back patio. Then they put the big ladder up to the window and "Presto" she was in. She came downstairs and let me in through the sliding glass door to the patio. I was going to go in to get the key for the gate to make removing the ladders easier. The back patio had a HUGE puddle that stretched the whole length of the cement. I stepped in it and Gary said, "Watch out Peggy, your foot is going to get all wet!" I turned to him and said, "Look at me, do you really think it matters now if my foot gets wet? My hair is dripping like I just got out of the shower!" He laughed and said," Yeah, you're right!"

Tomorrow I am going to get a spare key made for Brenda to keep.