Monday, April 04, 2011

Of Lizards and Tar Babies and Stuff . . .

The cathedral was an oak lined canopy of green, the backdrop of our work area, and the stage of birds of all kinds, singing their hearts out to the King of Kings.  The morning air was crisp, and the day lay before us as an unpainted canvas, awaiting the strokes of a brush.

The brush just happened to be in my hand . . . as I was the "tar baby" extraordinaire.



Must. tar. the posts. I repeated to myself, just to maintain the motivation to complete the task.  Having waterproofed countless posts the day before, and myself in the process, well, it just wasn't appealing.  Yet it had to be done.

Brer Rabbit would have been proud!  One by one, those posts were done!  :D

We were just shy of completing the first northern strip of fencing ~ and it was a thrill (outside of the tarring, of course!)  Each post that was planted in the ground became a waymarker for our efforts.  A visible cue to the progress of the task at hand.  With each post planted, I found myself more and more excited ~ we were one step closer to the completion of the 'master plan!'  425 feet down, only 3575 feet to go!  LOL

Here are a few 'in progress' photos:





We had everything lined up, stretched, and ready to attach to the posts with u-nails, when we discovered we had a visitor.

Perhaps it was the Bureau of Fence Managment, sending out one of their men, you ask?

Nah.

How about a disgruntled neighbor, stopping by to stop the show?

Nah.

It was him..

The distant relative of the Geico gecko.

You know ~ him!



He poked his head out to say hello . . . or, rather, HEY!  What are you doing?



I think he was just as surprised to see us as we were to see him!  He captured my attention because he wasn't the run-of-the-mill omni-colored lizards so common around here.



He was a bit pudgy around the waist, with a creative design covering his body.  His eyes were encircled by a starburst of stripes.  He moved just like any other lizard, but I felt like I was looking at a distant relative of an iguana . . . or maybe a gila monster . . .


I was just tickled he hung around long enough to let me get a few photos of his inspection . . .

Gil would later look up his breed.  He is almost as far west as he will go, this Eastern Fence Lizard, isn't found  any further than the southern-most tip of Louisiana.

Wait a minute . . .

EASTERN FENCE LIZARD???

Egads.

Did he show up just because we've been building fences?  Or, has he been living in these oaks so long that he's grandfathered in?  Will we meet the rest of his family?  Does he know the Water Moccasin bunch down stream??

Oh.  So much to think about . . .

Pass me the mineral spirits ~ I've got tar stuck to my arms.  

3 comments:

AZ said...

Looks like a Spiny Lizard to me.

ducky said...
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ducky said...

Good luck with the remaining 3575 feet!

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