The Kitten Bracelet

   Just about every pet that has called the Little Bayou House a home has been a "throwaway" pet.  By some means, an unwanted animal has found its way here and has never left.  After losing four beloved pets in the past few years, it felt strange not having any furry friends around the place.  Well, that all changed today.   My son-in-law called late this afternoon with a plea.  "Hey Mom, I found a kitten and, well, was wondering if you could keep it for a few days while I try to find a home for it."  It seems that, once again, someone tossed their unwanted pet out to fend for itself.  This lucky one made it to Robbie's studio just at the right time.  The kitten was scooped up and brought inside the dance studio to keep it out of the rain then was brought here to the Little Bayou House.  The intentions were good.  He would search for a home and I would only have the tiny critter for a couple of days.  Yeah...like that was going to happen.

  As I write this, the wee one is wrapped around my arm with its tiny paws closed around my wrist.  It is sound asleep.  I am wearing a kitten bracelet!   With those little kitten snuggles, that rascal has already wormed its way into my heart.  I suppose the thing is staying.  Oh, and I think my son-in-law knew exactly what he was doing.  He knew I needed this as much as the kitten did!

Ms. Toady and the Old King

  One good thing that has come from my being confined to the outdoor space of the Small Gardens.  It has made me aware of all the special things that are often hidden in plain sight.  In just the past four weeks of my realm being greatly diminished from the entire eight acres to a mere garden plot, I have discovered many interesting things.  Perhaps it is more the idea that I am appreciating things that I overlooked.  Small things are now stupendous.  There is not a day that goes by that I am not spellbound by an otherwise "normal" thing.

  Today, I found a toad.  While that may not seem to be earthshaking to others, the toad kept me fully entertained for nigh on a half hour.  Some may find that a tad ridiculous but, since my time is plentiful, the half hour was well spent.  I pondered the life of a toad...this toad...Ms. Toady.  The critter lives in the roots of an old oak tree that stands just outside the pergola that surrounds the french doors.  The tree is dying so many of its large roots are hollow.  In fact, the entire tree is hollow which makes for perfect dwelling places for so many critters.  The toad shares its root "cave" with a lovely old skink.  The skink was, at one time, the "King Skink" but he has been ousted by an upstart.  So, the toad very kindly let the Old King share her abode.  The two get along divinely and seem to have a great working partnership.  The toad, being younger, ventures further to hunt for prey allowing the Old King to stay near the doorway to their root home.  Also, the toad is active at night and wishes to settle in for rest during the heat of the day.  The skink is diurnal so vacates the root except when an escape is necessary.  It seems to be a win/win situation for the pair.

  Early this morning, I sat on the little foot bridge crossing the Pebble Creek.  The creek empties into the Puddle Pond with a delightful sound of water dripping over the ledge.  As I sat there enjoying life, I noticed the toad hippity-hopping from the Pebble Creek.  She was heading back to the root home for the day.  I thought of how her night had been busy catching the night bugs..many of which linger around the gardens.  Her belly was fat so pickings must have been good.  It gave me a sense of satisfaction knowing that the little toad was well fed and had a cool place to spend the heat of the day.  She and the Old King have an unusual friendship but it works.  I wish them both well.

I am here to help with my eight legs!

  The day consisted of a bit more preparations for the tropical storm that is supposed to visit the Bayou during the middle of the night.  We ran the tie-downs for the dormer windows, latched gates to prevent them from banging and secured the last pieces of lawn furniture.  Since there was not much left to do, I busied myself cleaning up a few odds and ends in the yard.  We have one of those hose reels that is supposed to make life easier but, for me, it is a nuisance.  Quality workmanship is obviously a thing of the past as the reel is shoddily made.  It is far too light to be of much use as it wobbles around like a drunk sailor whenever you wind the hose.  Yes, I do put my foot on the hold but that does little good.  The crank is weak, as well, making it feel as if it will break with the least bit of stress.  So...I pull the hose with my hands, turn the crank for a few rounds, pull more hose, turn again and so on until the hose is at least somewhat neater.  Then as soon as I let go, the reel turns freely releasing about six feet of hose!  Alas!  All that work was for naught!

  It was while I was struggling with the hose that I met a new friend!  I guess I startled the poor soul by fighting an inanimate object (the reel) so a nice sized garden spider ventured onto my shoulder.  Perhaps the kind critter was offering help!  Not wanting to squish the beauty, work was halted while I let her crawl onto my hand.  Yes, ma'am!  I appreciate the offer but you need to stay up here on the wall so I will not hurt you by accident!  The spider left my hand and crawled back to her web.  (Yes, I really did talk with a spider.  No, she did not respond verbally.)

  I am one of these weird people who try to avoid harming any creature.  I figure this is their world just as much as it is mine.  Like this spider today, a bit of gentle encouragement to scoot out of the way is met with cooperation.  Hopefully, she will make it through the storm ok.  I am assuming she will take refuge under the edge of the roof and then rebuild her web in the morning.  She is definitely a  beauty!

It has eyelids...Not a snake!

  Ok, folks.  It is NOT a snake!  Yesterday evening, I decided to head to the pier to haul in all of the fishing gear.  Once again, we were in the line of  some pretty bad weather and there was no need in letting the gear get ruined.  After everything was toted ashore, I figured that I may as well hike around the property edge before the storms set in for the evening.  Down along the east side near the marsh, I rounded a corner in the path to come nigh on stepping on a critter.  At first glance, I did, indeed, think this was a snake but, then, a closer look and I realized that I had made a mistake.  The critter blinked.  Snakes do not blink!  In fact, snakes do not have the ability to blink as they have no eyelids.  Snakes have a clear scale covering each eye (it is part of their skin).  This critter definitely blinked!  Well, if it was not a snake and not venomous, I needed to investigate.  Actually, at that point its identity was already clear to me but I still wanted to  check out my new found friend.  

  The critter was about two feet in length, light brown with a dark longitudinal stripe down each side and dark speckled markings near the face.  It also had ear holes!  Those ear holes were the definitive factors in identifying this as a lizard!  Yep. I had just stumbled upon a Slender Glass Lizard which is also known as a legless lizard.  To say I was ecstatic would be putting it mildly.  I have long wanted to find a glass lizard since I have not seen one in years.  What a beauty this one was, too!  It still had its original tail!  True to its name, Slender Glass Lizards are pretty fragile things when it comes to their tails.  Like most lizards, when they feel threatened, the lizards have the ability to drop their tails as decoys.  This tail-dropping is called shattering.  A detached tail will continue to thrash about so a predator is distracted allowing the lizard to escape.  

  I was amazed at how docile (almost tame) the lizard was.  I knelt near it to get photographs and then had the bright idea to use the macro lens to get a nice up-close and personal photo.  The lizard did not mind that I was literally shoving the camera to two inches from its face!  Well, if it was that tame, I may as well try to pet it!  Yep!  I did.  The lizard had no qualms about being stroked on its head as I admired its beauty.  Oh, my goodness!  I so wanted to hold this beauty but, using my better judgement, I refrained.  There was no need to cause our meeting to be traumatic for the critter.  (I did not want to be responsible for its tail breaking!).  After about ten minutes, the Slender Glass Lizard eased its way to the nearby pile of oyster shells.  It turned once to look at me as if to say, "Thanks for not being mean!  See you next time!" or at least I hope that is what it was thinking!