Leaping Lizards!

My dog is laying on her white over sized dog rug and is staring intently at my husband's shoe. Typically this amount of concentration is focused on a treat of telling one of us that it is time for a walk. Acceptable objects to stare at: said treat, leash, open door, any person controlling those items. Unacceptable: brown shoe. Especially after the lessons of the week.

One of the perks of living in Texas are all of the fun critters that hang around in and outside of the house. Infestations rotate with the seasons. Most would probably say that their least favorite event is cricket season. For me, it's the junebugs, followed closely by the web worms. I guess I'm not a fan of insects that are or were white worms that eat the leaves off my trees and the roots of my grass. Ugh! How could I have forgotten about the mosquitoes?

However, I am a big fan of hummingbirds, mockingbirds, egrets, blue herons, butterflies, ladybugs, frogs, grass snakes and lizards. There is a little pink house gecko that particularly likes our house. They blend in very well with the mottled red and pink colored brick. Leave the porch light on and you have provided a banquet for them. They are there every night during the summer and I still get a thrill when I spot one of those little guys.

Recently they have gotten a little too comfortable around the house. 2 nights in a row now they have run inside when I opened up the back door. 3 in total have graced our walls. 2 left with their tails. I have always felt a bit bad when they drop their tails. We're not going to eat them and they might have just given up their escape route from a real predator. The wiggling tail did provide much entertainment for Coco. Ugh.

All 3 were caught by my husband and released into the backyard. I thought one of them might have been a repeat visitor, but it was hard to tell. Small and pink is really all you see as they speed acoss the walls.

I guess I have to see what Jane is staring at. I really hope it's a ladybug.

Nope. Giant hairy spider.

When I moved the shoe to see what was there, the spider jumped out onto Jane's bed. The spider jumped, Jane jumped, I jumped and Coco ran out of the room. I was hopeful that maybe the spider could catch a junebug, so I dragged the bed out to the deck and ran back into the house. I really did not think it was necessary for the spider to charge up towards me. At least it didn't jump again.