Surprise Visitor

Several days ago we experienced something very unusual for here in western Washington. I was standing in the kitchen when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my cat running after something. My first thought was that it was a bug of some sort, but when I turned to investigate much to my surprise I saw a lizard! Yes, a lizard! It was probably six or seven inches long. Calvin chased it under a chair which had Kevin's jacket hanging on it. The lizard tried to climb up the jacket to get away from the cat. At this point, I started hollering, "Lizard, lizard!" (yes, I am a wimp when it comes to all things creepy, crawly or scaly =). My mom was in the living room playing with Abby and talking on her cell phone. She flat-out ignored me. My husband was down the hallway and it seemed to me that he was taking FOREVER to come. Abby was the only one who would pay attention to me and crawled right into the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about. I tried to get the cat away from the lizard, but he wouldn't budge. By this point, I was getting frustrated. I begged my mom to come get Abby out of the kitchen before she got too close to the lizard and the cat (who knows how protective Calvin would have been of his prey and I couldn't take my eye off the lizard to deal with Abby in case it would get away!). Finally, my mom starting paying attention to me. And finally Kevin came into the kitchen to see what all my fussing was about and caught a glimpse of the lizard's tail sticking out of his jacket. He suggested it was a snake. I insisted that it was certainly a lizard - it had four legs! He still didn't really believe me until he got a look at the whole lizard himself. Kevin caught the lizard in a bowl and I finally began to calm down. When I asked Kevin why he had practically ignored me, he told me that he didn't believe me and thought I was out of my mind or something. =) He had never seen a lizard in western Washington before and didn't know they were native here (I've only seen one other here before in my lifetime). Anyway, with the crisis over, we enjoyed watching Abby and Calvin check the lizard out in the safety of the enclosed bowl. Calvin was so cute as he kept trying to get the lizard through the bowl, pushing the bowl around on the floor with his head. Abby wasn't quite sure what to think about the lizard, but thought all the excitement over the situation was fun. =) A little while later, we walked over to the park and set the lizard free....hopefully, he will enjoy the park and not try to come visiting again.

Calvin keeping a close watch on his prey.

The lizard set free!