Saturday, November 22, 2008

Work-related: Lizard

I was down on my hands and knees a couple days ago, weeding the greenhouse floor (This has to be done occasionally, and although everybody tells me that I could do it a lot faster if I used a tool to dislodge the roots and a rake to pull up the weeds, and although it actually is really uncomfortable, I prefer doing it by hand. I figure at the very least I'm not just turning them under the soil to re-root and grow again.), when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. Turned out to be this little guy, who sat surprisingly still while I took his picture. I was prepared to decline if he tried to sell me car insurance, but luckily, I never had to.


I assume he probably arrived on the last order of tropicals from Florida, which was two weeks ago. We've sprayed pesticide twice since then, so either this guy is very very sick now (which might explain the lack of car insurance pitches) or is able to withstand doses of insecticides that would drop average lizards. If it's the latter, I hope our superlizard is hungry for fungus gnats.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha!!! Classic post, Mr. S.! I love lizards, and have contemplated buying anoles every year for my own (organic, never-sprayed) greenhouse in the hope that they'd eat any flies, whiteflies, aphids, or other greeblies that wandered in. To think, you got a lizard for free! (I'd go for a plant pitch that included a free lizard with every purchase!) Hope the little fellow holds up (and you, too, having to be around all that spraying).

Plowing Through Life (Martha) said...

Oh, how cute. I love these little guys. I hope he makes it...poor fella.

Don said...

Sounds as if you're on the way to starting Biosphere 3.

As to weeding, have you ever considered using a weed flamer? I've found it's a highly cost-effective alternative to hand weeding, goes much faster and saves a lot of wear and tear on the body. Once you have the perennial roots out, regular use of the flamer takes care of the seedlings.

Anonymous said...

Man, I hope the little guy can make it in your climate. I don't think Iowa and Florida are in the same zone, are they? :) I'd be tempted to catch him, thus giving me the excuse to set up a habitat for him at home - a large terrarium!