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A Couple of Buddies - One Leaves the
Garden, the Other Is a Wait and See Anyhow we looked at the cats that were up for adoption. While my wife spent her time looking at the cute and cuddly kittens I spotted an older, large orange haired guy that no one seemed to be paying attention to. It seemed someone turned him into the Humane Society when they decided he'd grown up and they were now allergic to his hair. As for me, I liked the way he looked at me and my wife said, "It's your cat, get the one you want."
He'd already been neutered so we were able t take him home the same day. When I set him free to roam the house, he squeezed under a bed and stayed there for the rest of the day and didn't come out again until he got hungry. After eating some cat food he slinked off to return to his hiding place under the bed. Let's just say it took a couple years before he really warmed up to his new owners. And I use the term owners somewhat reluctantly. We may have fed, doctored and housed the cat but I don't think we owned him. Since my neighborhood has wildlife such as coyotes and bobcats he was considered a housecat. If he was given the opportunity to go outside he was always attached to a long leash that he could drag behind him with someone, usually my wife, close behind keeping an eye on him. The Big Guy really liked being outside where he could roll in the dirt, wander the premises and watch the wildlife. Besides eating and sleeping it was by far his favorite activity. And when the weekends came around he was usually the first one to stand next to the door waiting to go outside for a few hours before his nap. He really liked the vegetable garden where he could hop up on the compost bin, stretch out, and soak up some sunshine while he watched the birds, lizards and anything else that moved. He and I became darn good friends and he became pretty vocal when he saw me. If I was working in the garden and my wife brought him outside he'd see me and run across the yard before he'd drop to the ground at my feet and wait to be petted before he'd move on to his next outdoor activity. It was September, 2009 when we noticed he was scratching his ears making them bleed and shaking his head more often than he should. The vet said it was possibly an allergic reaction to something and we tried a bland food, shots, blood tests and made him look like a blue tulip when he wore a protective collar to keep him from scratching his face and ears. Unfortunately nothing seemed to help his condition and The Guy began to show odd behavior hanging out in strange places in the house, having trouble getting comfortable and losing weight. More trips to the vet didn't help. And I spent a lot of late nights staying up with him to make sure he was okay, had company and was as comfortable as he could be under the circumstances. It was a Tuesday in early January when I took him for a walk around the property without his leash letting him go where ever he wanted. He didn't move very fast and I had to lift him so he could stretch out on the compost bin. It was to be our last walk together in the garden. By Tuesday night he couldn't seem to lay down and he had trouble breathing as he sat next to me on the sofa. It was time to say our good byes. My wife and I took him to a veterinary emergency room where we ended his suffering. He was a great cat as far as we were concerned and we both will miss him for a long time to come. The house seems quite a bit emptier and the garden will never be the same without him. Tripod, The Spiny Lizard Has Seen Better Days Way back in June 2002 I did a short story on a young spiny lizard that had been hanging out in the greenhouse for nearly a year. He was easy to indentify because he was missing a leg and I called him Tripod. It wasn't long after the story that I opened the greenhouse door and Tripod moved to an area near the compost bin where I fed him juicy grubs harvested from the compost. He got in the habit of coming out to see me in the warm months so that I would toss him a grub or two. Each winter he'd go into hibernation and I figured I wouldn't see him again. But he always seemed to show up every spring getting a bit larger every time I saw him and he kept looking for a handout of grubs or the occasional earth worm from the compost. The next time I saw him he'd moved over to the potting shed and spent quite a bit of time under the potting bench.
From there he relocated to the back yard and started moving further and further away always making sure I'd see him when he wanted a handout. For a guy with three legs he was pretty good at watching out for danger and moving around the yard to find ants or jump and eat flowers from the different salvias I had planted next to the porch. The last couple of years he'd basically hung around the edge of the porch where he could hide out under the vinca major or under a small foot bridge. In late summer of 2009 he came up to see me and looked darn healthy with his vibrant color. If it was Tripod and I can't be sure except he had only three legs and still wanted a grub or two if I was willing to toss them his way. Frankly I'm surprised lizards live that long because there always seems to be something chasing them whether its a stray cat, roadrunner or even a hungry coyote. And one with three legs wasn't the fleetest of foot. This February, 2010, a large, three-legged spiny lizard once again came up to see me, but this time he didn't look very healthy and I was surprised he was out so early in the season. And he didn't eat the worms or grubs I tossed his way. If it was Tripod there was no doubt in my mind he wasn't going to make it to summer. Thin, lacking much color, and slow to move it looked like my garden lizard was finally on his last legs. I saw him once or twice more and tried to feed him but he didn't have much of an appetite. I had to assume the worse. A nature loving photographer friend contacted a retired herpetologist on Tripod's and my behalf. He emailed a response that said, "typically a lizard will become darker during cool weather as dark pigment tends to absorb heat. As temperatures warm the lizards will become lighter and as Spring breeding approaches, the males develop their bright courting colors. Some color change may occur in females as well. Desert spiny females develop patches of red coloration on the head and body when they are gravid. As for your friend's yard lizard, hopefully it is just showing the signs of a long winter and it will start looking more normal soon." Boy I hoped so. The weather was still cool and I managed to see Tripod again and he did look a bit better and managed to gulp down the two offered grubs. It was a wait and see what happens as the weather warmed. Warmer weather didn't help. Tripod continued his decline and two weeks later I found him sitting in the middle of the ramada one afternoon. I picked him up and moved him to the edge of a nearby shrub where he could get a bit of sunshine thinking he needed a bit of warmth. When I went to check on him the next day, the life was gone from his eyes. He was an interesting addition to the garden and I'll miss tossing him the occasional grub. (2010) (Editor's Note: Seven years for a lizard seems like a long life span. I can't be positive all the sightings were the original Tripod from the greenhouse although this lizard always seemed to show a familiarity and was always looking for the easy meal I tossed his way. Personally, I'd like to think Tripod is still going strong and has created quite the family because I sure do seem to have a lot of spiny lizards in my yard each summer.) |
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