It was not a quiet day at the Smith Nature Preserve today. I had no advance notice that today was The Day the Lizards Came to Die. They were everywhere today, and they did not fare well once they made it into my kitchen. For about three hours, I could get very little accomplished, because I had to stop and play lizard wrangler four times. I nearly stepped on the first one, barefoot, and I screamed like a stereotypical housewife about to jump on a chair when I saw him. I tried to coax him onto an empty plastic carton, but he would have none of that. So I grabbed my oven mitts, and carried him out to the porch without really touching him. He was deep in shock, and clung tightly to my mitt. He wouldn't let go when I tried to brush him off onto a different surface, and eventually I left the oven mitt lying on the porch, and went inside. An hour later, he was still half on, half off of the mitt. He was still close to that spot when last I looked. I hope he recovers.
Lizard number two was a fighter. He was surrounded by three cats, and he could have taken them all on if I had left him alone. He bit Athena on the paw, and clung to her for almost 45 seconds, no matter how much she tried to flip him away, and hissed at him. It was a circus, but eventually I broke it up and got them all back from him. He was harder for me to catch as well. I ended up grabbing a peanut butter jar from the recycling, and I think I might have poked him in the hip with it a little too hard. He was still alive when I shook him loose into a juniper bush, and for all that he gave me an angry glare before I went inside, I don't know what his chances of survival were. The next two lizards created less drama. One was certainly dead, and I didn't mind grabbing him with a paper towel and throwing him in the trash. The fourth was alive, but looking terrible. I had to chase off my big kitty boy for my chance, but I wasn't able to catch him. I think he's currently under the fridge.
I had some beloved friends come over and help me with a project that had run into a major obstacle. Weeks ago, I had tried to use the wrong power tools for the job I needed to do, and it went badly. I couldn't cut what I needed to with a circular saw. It kept grabbing, and seizing, and bucking. I had to wait for help. Today, my friends helped me rip the cuts on the table saw. The same amount of cutting that took me hours, and caused me frustration and fear for life and limb, ended up taking about 15 minutes with three adults and a table saw. I can't express the full extent of how much love I have for my friends, for helping me finally get around that obstacle. Tomorrow is going to be a great day, assembling the pieces we cut today. I'm excited about moving on, after all these weeks.
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