Now you've got yourself in a fine fix!

  I firmly believe there is something to that old saying of "being in the right place at the right time".  It can also be true when turned around the other direction..."being in the wrong place at any time"!  Before dawn this morning, I turned on the coffee pot, fed the cats and then went to do a load of laundry.  As I headed into the laundry room, I heard the slightest of skittering.  Hmmm?  That did not sound to be something scritching on the wood floor.  It was too melodic..too tinkling to be on wood.  A quick search turned up my critter!  In one of the mason jars that I washed the night before, a tiny gecko was trapped!  Oh, my goodness!  He was so darling!  Around and around in circles, he raced as if trying to escape being seen.  Poor little guy!  His endless race was futile as I could see him no matter how fast or how far he went.  It kind of reminded me of some folks I know.  They race around so fast and so far with so many things that "need to be done" that they never accomplish a single thing.  There can be a lot to learn from one little critter trapped in a mason jar.  Little Guy..you sure got yourself in a fine fix!  Just sit back and relax.  There is no need to get yourself all wound up in a tizzy.  I promise that I will set you free and then you will never have to see me again.

  The geckos have free run of the place around here on the Bayou.  They eat an enormous amount of bugs that would otherwise munch on just about anything edible (and some things that I would deem inedible.)  The lizards do not even bother me if they romp around inside the Little Bayou House.  I know that they are only there to protect my interests.  I am quite sure that this little guy came in while the back door was open yesterday. It was too hot to keep everything all closed up so all of the windows and doors were flung open in hopes a cooling breeze might whip up across the Bay.  Last evening when I went to latch the screen door, two green tree frogs decided to pay me a visit as well.  Ten minutes was spent literally playing leapfrog!  I do not mind the froggies either but both the frogs and lizards would soon die if left indoors...especially those that become trapped in mason jars.  With the lack of water, they dehydrate and I will find little mummy frogs and lizards in the oddest of places.  It saddens me when I find their little corpses so I always try to search out any that might wander inside.

  This fine specimen of a gecko was about two inches long!  Such a tiny little guy to have such a huge adventure!  Can you imagine just what must have been going through his little head?  First, he was in a strange, new place.  Then, while exploring, he found a beautiful clear house that he thought he might claim as his own.  Little did he know that that glass jar might also become his death chamber.  Once inside, he could not escape! Just as he was about to give up trying, a huge monster of a person waltzed into the room and started talking to him.  Now if I had known "gecko-speak", things might have not been quite so terrifying to the little lizard.  (But I am sad to say that I do not.)  

  After a few photographs, the tiny gecko was toted outside to the woodpile and set free.  There, he could find tons of delicious bugs and the daily rainstorm would give him lots of water.  The woodpile, itself, could provide shelter from the noonday heat and from any predators seeking supper.  Be free, Little Gecko, be free!  And DO NOT COME BACK INSIDE!