Soaking Up The Sunshine!

  So winter in the Deep South is doing its fickle best to keep us confused.  For the past few days, it has been feeling a lot more like summer than winter.  Two days of sunshine and temperatures in the high 70s makes me feel like doing yard work!  I pulled all of the plants out of the greenhouse and let them feel "spring" only to shove them back inside so they would not have to feel "winter" again tonight.  I am not the only one dealing with the moody Old Man Winter.  The critters of the Bayou are baffled, as well.  

  This afternoon's walk to the pier brought me face to face with a lovely, little lizard.  The little critter was sunning itself on the warm pier boards and had no intentions of vacating its comfy spot because I wanted to pass.  This lizard seems to live on the pier and has done little to protect itself from winter save going beneath the boards and down into the marsh.  There, it can burrow under some of the dead reeds and be quite snug.  Unlike its "landlubber" cousins up the hill, this little lizard can take full advantage of the warm sunshine.  The open area around the pier allows the sun to warm the place much faster than the mulch-filled areas of the shady woods.  There, the ground is still rather cold and the lizards are all still snug in their dens.  Several times, I have been cleaning the yard only to uncover a poor, cold lizard.  Whatever I moved is gently returned to its resting spot on top of the lizard that chose that place as its overwintering spot.  In contrast, my friend on the pier has been active almost all winter.

  One has to wonder if the pier-dwelling lizard had any idea how brilliant it was to choose the marsh as its habitat.  Other than an occasional high tide, this smart, little guy can live the good life.  There is plenty to eat, nice snug places to sleep and its on "tanning bed" also known as the pier.  Smart critter!