Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Yep, That Happened

So this one time last night I sat in bed with the TV on, a giant bag of school work sitting on the side of the bed, the computer on my lap, and the dog sprawled out next to me.  When out of the corner of my eye I noticed SOMETHING running along the bedroom wall.  At first I thought it was a spider or some kind of insect.  "Oh my god!" I shouted when I focused and realized there was a small lizard IN MY HOUSE.  It scurried underneath the armoire.  I jumped out of bed, my stomach in knots, wondering what I was going to do.  After waiting for a bit to see if it came out from the other side of the dresser, I secretly hoped it wouldn't because I had no idea how I was going to capture it.  The dresser stands on legs about 6 inches tall so I lay down on the floor and nervously peeked under the dresser.  That lizard was right smack in the middle of the back of it.  After a few seconds Rigby woke up and joined me down on the floor.  I thought about pointing it out to her but didn't really want a dead or partially dead lizard in my house either.
I scrunched my face up and whined knowing that I had to figure something out and not wanting to.  But I couldn't just leave it there.  So the sides of the dresser were barricade in case it tried to come out, it would have to use the front.  Armed with a trashcan, I made a lot of noise and smacked a flip flop on the ground trying to get it to move.  The lizard moved in between the base board and the carpet.  I think it might have been trying to crawl under the carpet.  So that wasn't working.  Rigby was left in charge of guarding the lizard as I ran downstairs and grabbed a broom and large, handled dustpan.  Things were getting serious!
Panic set in when, while running back up the stairs, Rigby met me halfway.  "You're supposed to be watching the lizard!" I told her, worried that now it was running loose in the house and I'd never find it until it was grown and tried to crawl into bed with me.  (shivers)  The lizard was still under the armoire. Thankfully?
After a few pokes with the broom and screams when it moved, it tried to run out the side (I had to unblock it because it was too dark to see).  I stopped and regrouped, trying to logically solve this problem.  There were a few whimpers about the situation, and then I pulled it together.  The dustpan JUST fit between the side of the dresser and the wall so I held it there while lying on the floor with the broom in the other hand.  I tapped the area right behind the lizard with the broom, gradually moving it towards the side where the dustpan was.  When it was finally was in plain sight, the broom brought it forward and into the dustpan.  There were a few dicey moments with the thing trying to crawl out of the pan, but with a lot of quick movements (and screaming), I kept the lizard inside.  I ran back down the stairs, shaking that thing to keep the lizard at the bottom and still whining.  But, in the end, I made it outside and dumped it over the fence.  My heart was beating so fast I thought I might have a heart heart attack.  It took me a minute to calm back down, tell myself that there weren't anymore (fingers crossed there isn't a family living under the bed) and resume the work that I was doing before the lizard sighting.  And that was just the beginning of the night.
A few minutes later, Rigby came to me like she does when she needs to go outside.  I got back out of bed, walked out of the bedroom with her, and on the landing that's where I saw it.  Rigby must have been channeling my nervous energy because in the time it took me to go back to work and her to come to me, she had diarrhea all over the 2nd floor landing.  All I wanted to do was get the school work done and go to bed, but instead I let her outside and then went spent the next 30+ minutes cleaning the landing.  Yuck!
I thought maybe I had just freaked her out with all my screaming and shaking the dustpan and broom around.  But no, she was sick.  I had to get up and let her out about five times during the night before around 2:00am when I just left her outside.
Poor baby.  I felt bad,  but she didn't have to get up and go to work in the morning.  Needless to say, today was a LONG day.  Now, I'm back in bed, with another bag full of work.  Rigby is by my side again (so far things seem to be ok intestinally) snoring loudly.  She didn't get much sleep last night either.

10 comments:

  1. Maybe she was sick because she had eaten a lizard? Just kidding.

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    1. I thought about that, but it went on a lot longer than I would expect that to be? But I really don't know. I don't feed her people food really and hadn't changed her dog food or anything like that. She's out back "exploring" most days when I'm at work so she may have caught something she shouldn't have. Since yesterday afternoon she seems ok though, so that makes me feel like it was something she ate versus something wrong. Which is good. Still gross, but good. :)

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  2. I was thinking like Banker Chick too. Maybe the lizard secretes something through the skin. Some of them do. And looking at the spread of such wildlife on the web, it seems you are smack dab in the middle of the home range of everything under the darn sun of the cold blooded variety.
    It seems though there's only two that are dangerous.
    I'm glad both of you are OK. Rigby more than you if I'm honest. :-)

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    1. No, I got ya. While she was literally sick I was just mentally sick, or really just being a big baby, :) But we're both fine now, although when I think about I still get the willies.
      Other than the sea turtles, I'm not a fan of the reptiles. Lizards are just below snakes in my book, and we DO have a load of them. But I didn't realize there were as many kinds as this says there are. And if I ever encounter one of those legless lizards, I think I might die.
      This morning while bringing the kids in from recess the yard supervisor told me about one of my kids who had stepped on a baby lizard which freaked out the rest of the class. In mid conversation about it, the door of the classroom next door to mine swung open and two kids came running out with one of my colleagues behind them. I asked her what was wrong, and she said they had a baby lizard in the classroom and they were dumping it outside. That's a lot of baby lizards...So I'm wondering if maybe it came from school. Maybe it was in my school papers and got stuffed in the bag and brought home. Because there are a few who live in my front and back yards I'm really careful coming in and out of the doors to not let something in, but maybe it didn't come from my yard. Who knows.

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    2. Why would the school be more prone to getting wildlife. I thought you -at home- were up a hill next to a sort of garigue.
      I was intrigued as to why they'd go inside given they need the sun. Seems they can get too hot. But when they go under a rock they cool, and sleep the sleep of the hungover into the night. Then awaken and go hunting for they see in a different spectrum of light which shows up the atomic radiation formed when an insect forms their carapace.
      Anywhoos. It's a wonder you didn't reach for a camera. ( I just thought of that) :-)

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    3. Oh I don't think it's more prone to get them than my house. I see lizards in my yard all the time, so it's very possible that it did come in from outside my door. I just thought it was coincidental that within a 24 hour period 3 baby lizards had crossed my path and two were from school. It's certainly possible that a lizard came in from outside and came upstairs, but the one I had came from the back of my bedroom (near where my school bag was) forward. So it was just speculation. I have no idea really.
      I was too stressed out to even think of the camera. :)

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  3. You know how screechy I get when wild life invades my premises. I'm glad you and Rigby survived! You are very brave. I hope Rigby continues to feel better and that you get some rest. XO

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    1. Yah, I was having a hard time describing my reaction to this creature in my house, but wasn't able to do it justice. I'm just glad that there wasn't a video camera in my house. And at one point, while crawling under the dresser on my stomach waving a flip flop I thought, "Is this really what my life has come to?' :) I was only brave because no one else was there to do it for me and I knew I couldn't go to bed until the thing was OUT OF MY HOUSE!

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  4. OMG...at least the neighbors didn't call the police this time! Glad you got it but sorry about the dog...ghak!

    I have been in classes all week...and I officially go back on Monday. No rest for the teacher...even at home!

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    1. Right!?!? I thought about that too as I yelped my way around the house, carrying on as I ran outside to dump it. It wasn't quite as late as the last time which probably gelled. :)

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