Last night's adventure

While many of you were sitting in your homes last night without electricity, I was settling down in Tim's condo to watch the Steelers/Browns game. I was unpacking a few things (I took a bookcase and some books and photo frames to the condo) and saw something out of the corner of my eye.

It was dark. It was quick. It was small.

But it was alive.

I jumped up on a chair and grabbed the cordless phone. I called Tim and told him he had to come right home. (He was at work and didn't even take a dinner break). Still, I needed him home, I told him, because there was a cockroach or lizard in my picture frames. Plus I couldn't stand on the chair for the whole game - I couldn't see the TV, and I'll be darned if I was going to move and let that thing hide any more. I continued shrieking and jumping up and down and started poking the photo frames. The creature scampered again and I saw what it was:



An anole. Or as I call them, lizards.

They're all over Florida. People have to jump out of the way as they dart across the sidewalk in front of the Times' building. They crawl all over my patio, taunting the cats on a daily basis. They lose color at night, turning in to freaky albino critters.

But this one was inside. And I was going to do anything I had to to make sure it wasn't staying.

Over the course of about 10-15 minutes, I stalked the lizard. I tried to get all of the obstacles out of his potential path so that I could just capture him from my perch atop the chair. I finally had him cornered in a roll of cellophane. I could see his tail, and I tried to get him out ... but he wouldn't budge. I finally took a deep breath, pulled the roll up and dropped a plastic storage container on him. I cheered as he ran around frantically.

But then I had to figure out what to do next.

I took a box that was reachable from the chair and slid it slowly under the plastic container. Then I scooted it to the door, unlocked the door and flung the lizard out on the pavement. I could have cared less if it made it out alive. I was just afraid it would get messier if it died or escaped again. (I have a friend at work who vacuumed a baby lizard - on purpose. Tim's vacuum doesn't work well - but don't think I didn't consider it.)

I called Tim to tell him about my hysterical victory.

Then I watched the rest of the game. From the couch. With my legs crossed up on the cushions. Stupid lizard.