Skeletons in the Walls

  Forget having "skeletons in the closet", I have them in the walls!  As the renovations on the Little Bayou House continue, Mark and I spent the past few days ripping down siding.  With that, we have found that nothing surprises us.  As the walls to the laundry room came tumbling down, a few skeletons came tumbling out.  Geez!  I am beginning to think that I should write some horror story here.  Skeletons hiding in the walls?  Alrighty, then!

  Yep, living on the Bayou affords us the opportunity to interact with any number of critters.  Some are friendly, others...not so much.  We find snakes, frogs, squirrels, flying squirrels and alligators in the most unusual places but I never expected to find things inside the walls.  At first glance, I recognized the tiny skeletons as geckos.  The perfectly preserved rack of bones was just over an inch in length so I knew these were just hatchlings.  Nearby was a cluster of empty egg shells. Obviously, the tiny lizards hatched and died almost immediately.  While that seems sad in some ways, it makes me wonder why they died?  I am wondering if the termite spray also kills geckos.

  There are a ton of lizards of all sorts on the Bayou and, needless to say, near and even in the house.  They do not bother me much.  I figure that I would rather have a fat lizard on my wall than a thousand termites eating that same wall.  The lizards are pest control in a natural way.  Now I am a bit worried.  As we are changing out the siding, we are, of course, spraying for future termites.  Are we killing our geckos at the same time? 

  Ask anyone on the Gulf Coast and you will hear disgusting tales of the swarms of termites that come each spring.  Great clouds of the critters envelop the houses, street lights are completely shrouded and driving becomes nigh on impossible.  There is a ready cry of "Lights out! Termites!" that can be heard being passed from neighbor to neighbor. We need all the help we can get so killing the lizards is not an option! We may have to do a rethinking of this project just so we do not find anymore skeletons in our walls!

Gecko Talk!

As I am sitting here listening to the thunder off in the distance, by chance I hear another sound.  A different noise..a little high-pitched chirp.  Short and oft repeated, I know immediately what is making the sound...geckos!  There are geckos in my living room!  Most folks would immediately call for the exterminator but personally, I have no problem with the little guys slipping around behind the pictures on the walls and books on the shelves.  They are exterminators.  Here on the Bayou, there is a never-ending barrage of bugs.  I tell everyone, "If you do not like critters, don't live on a Bayou."  Some I do not mind...they mind their business and I mind mine..we get along fine.  A few, I can do without and that is where the geckos come in handy.  Roaches,  a few of the spiders, termites, mosquitoes, gnats and ants could all be eradicated from the hillside and you would not hear one whimper from me!  And while I am not so keen on having random critters scoot about inside my house, the geckos at least do a good job of eliminating any of the unwanted bugs.

A gecko like the ones in my living room tonight!

When I heard the first gecko call this evening, I thought of my dear sister.  Had she been here, she would have not stepped foot in that living room.  Unless things have changed drastically in the last few years, she is not one that likes these little reptiles.  Oh..they are ok as long as they keep their distance, of say, thirty feet or so...and are outside!  This all started as far back as we were kids.  Her siblings..me included..used to torment her by chasing her with the poor things.  The lizards..mostly green anoles..would be dangled by their tails as we taunted her.  Looking back on this, we were pretty mean!  Still it was great fun..for us..not her!  There was also the time (Sis..please do not be angry with the telling of this story!) when I was at her house years ago.  We were out clearing an area for a flower garden when all of a sudden she let out a yell!  "Something is stinging me!  I think I have a wasp in my pants!"  She had ahold to something in the lower part of her pants..just below the knee.  "Get it out!"  I reached over to squish the poor bee that by this time was probably already half dead anyway.  When I grabbed onto the britches, I knew that this was no bee.  Something else was up that pants leg!  I carefully twisted the fabric around only to spy the tail of a lizard swishing back and forth.  "Ummm..Sis..I think perhaps this....is...a....ummmm...liz........! I never got to even finish the word!  How she managed to do it, I will never know!  Without my ever letting go of the pants leg and lizard, she was out of those britches and into the house.  I was in a fit of giggles as I could hear her squeals coming from inside the house!  Oh..the things sisters do!  I was tempted to bring her "friend" into the house but decided I liked my health a lot better than the few minutes of tormenting I was to give her.  Poor Sis!  It took quite some time to calm her enough to come back in the garden!  If I remember rightly, she wore bands around her pants legs for the rest of that day!

The geckos are everywhere!  This one was on the window screen!

Recalling that story was enough to bring a smile to my face tonight as I sat trying to spy the ghost-like figures of the geckos as they scooted around on the wall.  I am supposing that before she comes to visit the Little Bayou House again, I will have to catch all of the geckos and return them to the outside.  I would not want her to be squeamish about sitting in my living room!  Although...if they kept their mouths shut, she might not even know they were peering out from behind the mirror at her!

Gators and Geckos!

Last night the light from the lamp was attracting all sorts of moths, mosquitoes, gnats, midges and other insects to my window screen. My first thought was to hurry and close the window. I did not want all of these critters to find some minute hole in the screen and come buzzing around inside. To me, there is nothing more aggravating than to hear a mosquito buzzing around my ear when I am trying to sleep. I wait for the inevitable bite..I know it is coming but the bug has to aggravate me to no end before it dives in for the bite. I got up to close the window even though I was thoroughly enjoying the cool night air..what a shame! These screens are supposed to keep unwanted pests from entering the house! As I neared the window, two small heroes entered the picture! Two geckos started scooping up bug after bug! The lamplight that attracted the bugs also provided supper for these lizards.

Actually as far as geckos go, these were two rather large ones. Each was about five or six inches in length and quite chubby. I suppose living on the Bayou, they had plenty to eat! There are always some sort or another of bugs swarming around here! These are Mediterranean House Geckos and as their name suggests, they live in or around the home. Geckos have a voracious appetite for insects, especially moths and roaches! I am all for anything that will eat a roach since with all of the Oak trees on the hill, roaches abound! Go, geckos, eat those roaches! On the Bayou, too, there are occasional swarms of midges. About every three or for years, the swarms are so thick that they literally cover the house! There have been times when the midges were so thick that we could hardly see out the windows! It is nice to know that the lizards will feast upon such pests! Since they are usually nocturnal, most people will not even realize that the geckos are residing in their homes! I do! I know I have geckos, not just because of these two, but because I can hear them "talk"! And before you think I am slap nuts..I do not mean they actually speak but more chirp! Mediterranean House Geckos communicate with a series of birdlike chirps. This could be merely a territorial thing or perhaps a mating call but the sound is quite distinct and quite loud in the middle of the night! Gecko talk! I watched these two for a while and was happy that I could leave the window open for the evening.

While we are on the subject of lizards on the Bayou...the alligator came back! I know it is not really a lizard but, well, they sort of resemble a bit! I have not seen my friendly Bayou alligator since last year. This evening when I went to the pier, my brother and his sweet girlfriend were on his pier. They pointed out onto the Bay and sure enough, there was Gator! It elated me to no end to see the gator lolling about out there. I was almost to the point of believing that someone had taken a notion to get rid of our friend. There are those who would rather cause the demise of an innocent creature simply because of misguided fear. This gator keeps his distance from humans. It has caused no harm and should be able to live its life in peace. As long as it stays on my side of the Bayou, I can rest assured that it will be safe. Welcome back, Gator!