Leapin' Lizards! (and other things too)

So I was cleaning up my front yard and trimming my lantana bushes back because it's that time of year and we had a lot that needed trimming back. So when I was done trimming and hauling away the branches I trimmed, I got out the rake to rake up all the dead leaves that had accumulated under where the bushes were. So I was raking up carefully over the rocks to just get the leaves and not the rocks and this little guy pops up in my pile. At first I only saw the back half of him and I thought it was a snake but then I looked closer and it was a lizard. (I'm still getting used to all these strange and prickly Arizona animals. I should be by now, you would think after living here 3 years!)

He wasn't really moving much and I was afraid I had given him internal injuries with my rake or something so I carefully picked him up in my hands (I was wearing thick work gloves). He kind of wrapped his legs and curled up around my fingers so at least I knew he was still alive. So I put him up in the wall so I wouldn't hurt him while I finished raking.

Still no real movement from him but I thought he must be in his protective "hold still and play dead" mode or something. So I began raking again carefully in case there was more of his family lurking in the leaves. I guess I was right because then another little lizard pops up in my pile and I picked him up and put him on the wall too. This guy was a smaller one. He wasn't moving much either.

So I finished raking up my leaves from both bushes I had trimmed and cleaned up all the leaves and branches laying around on the ground and sidewalk. After I was done, both lizards were still sitting on the wall not moving. So I picked them up carefully again, with a little resistance from both lizards-their little claws kind of clung to the cinder blocks, and put them back near the cut bushes. I put my tools away and went back inside the house.

So I came back out a little while later to get the mail and also check to see if the lizards had moved from the spot I left them. The big lizard was no where to be seen (he must have moved to the neighbors over grown and dying lantanas!), and the little one was just on the other side of the bush from where I left him. But then I saw a 3rd lizard sitting right next to the smaller lizard and it was about the same size but just lighter in color.

How crazy is that? We had a little family of lizards in our bush and I feel bad but I just evicted them! I guess the economy is reaching the reptile world too and even they are losing their homes! I must say I am relieved to know what I had been hearing rustling around in my bushes every time I walked by them before! I thought for sure it was a snake or something. You didn't think I could turn a lizard story into a whole blog post did you?

So here is another picture that I didn't want to post all by itself and it is kind of keeping with the animal theme. We went to the zoo on Friday and they had the big turtle shell back out for the kids to climb and play in. It was out for a while and then they put it away for several months and now it is back out. So Brady had a fun time playing in that!

And in an unrelated topic-Brady went #2 on the potty for the first time today! Yay! He goes pee on there all the time but we can never catch him before he is already trying to go #2 in his diaper but we did today. I can't believe he will be 2 years old next month!

OK, so if you're still reading this post, thanks! I looked back over it and realized it was really long and maybe not so interesting.