bgrose, I am deleting the pics, so they should be gone in a few days. I thought if I showed you my cute lizard you would stop being afraid of them, but I can see my idea did not help at all. I have to say that I am glad that I have lizards, and we let the garden spider stay most of one summer so our ten year old could watch a spider spin its web, catch bugs, and then spin a cocoon and lay its eggs in the fall. We watched the baby spiders leave the next spring. I don't want her to be afraid of spiders and lizards or snakes, either, for that matter. I want her to know the dangers of some snakes and to appreciate the other critters for the jobs they play in the garden and in the soil. I am sorry you have such a deep fear of these animals and hope that you have success in removing your lizard, if that will help you. Sincerely, Gean

An "old husbands's tale" huh, rhizo? Well, well, well....I guess the "old wives" have finally earned that right! ;-D (I am sure, however, that you are NOT an "old" wife). I started out with 12 adopted cats and virtually zero lizards, frogs, etc. Now that I'm down to 4 seniors, the population of anoles has increased and five-lined skinks are showing up in large numbers. The water garden attracts spring peepers, tree, leopard & bull frogs. All of the above has brought in rat, king and corn snakes, and just last week I spotted (briefly) a black racer in the back yard. But in 17+ years of living here, I have spotted a total of TWO toads, probably my favorite amphibian. That is very puzzling. Oh well, I'll just have to be content with the rest of "Ellie Mae's critters". Hope everyone is having a great summer. In 55 years I've never seen it this hot & dry. I hope we get some relief soon. The armadillos have noticed the moist soil in my yard and have shown back up, destroying everything in their path. On a lighter note... First-year-cutting of brugmansia 'Dolas Rosenresli' from Jesse, a GW trader from Californ-I-A

They do pushups I think to warn other male fence lizards to git. The last two years they have really taken off at my house. The other day,I had to unclog a sewer line. I took the clean out cover off...and that smell drew a few flys as I got my tools. I come back in time to see one fly land. A fence lizard sooooo smoothly and I might add gracefully,darted out and caught the fly perfectly. How can they ever be foes? btw,I caught a jillion Alligator lizards as a kid. I never could get one to bite me.

Oh they sneak in here all the time especially from the atrium when I leave the door cracked for my little dog to go out there and sun. The ones here are almost clear they are cute and stay small. They hang out at night under the outside lights to catch the bugs. I have seen some so tiny you could barely see them the size of my little finger nail and at that age they are very clear you can see inside of them. We had the green ones in Oklahoma and the Horney Toads. I love those things I would catch them and lay them on their backs and rub their belly and it hypnotizes them they just go slack and will lay there for hours in la la land. Cats like to chase them and pull their tails off and some cats will eat them too. I have something living in my atrium right now that makes the loudest weird sound, I can't find it though, it is either some kind of frog or lizard or katydid I guess but it scares the heck out of me when it starts that, I can hear it all over the house. I think it must live in my big giant fern or I would be able to see it. I am hoping it is a lizard I don't mind them at all. These are the kind around here that are almost clear they are called (Hemidactylus turcicus). Mediterranean Geckos