Very large Texas Horned Lizard
We have had several interesting visitors this summer. We did not photograph all of them, but here are a few.
He was an "extra-poky" one!
Almost covered the palm of her hand!
Don't know if they knew one another, but this one is Tiny!!
Isn't it adorable??
When you lay them on their back and stroke their tummies, they appear to go to sleep!
We call Elizabeth "Eagle Eyes" because of moments like this one. She came in with the smallest preying mantis I have ever seen.
This is a tiny little gecko--you can see the stitching in a bar stool cushion.
In addition to these, there was a 4 foot long desert king snake that stayed in the den for a month or so (in an aquarium). He just appeared in the back yard and was immediately captured. Thankfully, Ben decided, after some maternal encouragement, that the snake was probably ready to move on to another location.
Early one morning, the dogs started raising a ruckus on the back porch. A red-eared-slider turtle was the cause. How on earth he made it to our back porch, we have no idea. They are water turtles!! There isn't any water around here!! We kept him for a few days, but then took him to a pond several miles from here. He was SO happy!! The kids could tell by the look on his face. You believe that, right?
During our garage sale, Rebekah, Elizabeth and I were sitting on a bench waiting for more customers and a small bull snake came out of the tall grass next door and slithered across the driveway toward us. It did NOT make me happy. Kregg came and saved us from it.
There have been numerous spiders, including horrible, terrifying tarantulas. I finally convinced the kids that the next one of them who brings a tarantula in the house will not live to see their next birthday.
And then there was the rattlesnake.
The kids were sleeping in the backyard when they were awakened by the dogs barking.They immediately heard the rattlesnake. Josh came screaming into the house and woke us up. That is really NOT my favorite way to be awakened from a sound sleep. I could hear it rattling from the back porch! After biting Elizabeth's dog, it was quickly dispatched by my gallant knight on his white horse.
The children are fine. The husband is fine. The dog is fine. I, however, am eternally scarred.
This last picture documents the most alarming visitors of all:
Oh wait! They live here! I just didn't recognize them for a moment because of the new orthodontia.
They are modeling the lastest edition of "watermelon teeth." Mom used to make them for us when we were little. She would cut them out of the rinds of watermelon slices after we finished eating all the good stuff.
Hopefully, the rest of the summer will bring only welcome visitors like horned toads and things, but NO more rattlesnakes.
Little known fact: This is the first time Kregg has actually been here when a rattlesnake showed up in our yard. The previous three visits, he was OUT OF TOWN!! I know he did it on purpose! (Not really)
Thankfully, Caleb was here each time and "took care of things" after sending me into the house because I was making him nervous.
It is such a blessing to have all my manly men around to protect us from the wildlife!
