Insects and other forms of low life (pun intended) are always present. Usually we take everything in stride since they were there first and we are just visitors in their world.
On warm nights we leave the windows open in the motorhome and enjoy the fresh air. This presents a problem at times because of the insects. Swarms of small flying insects will gather around any light source. These insects do not bite but sure are an annoyance – they are small enough to come right through the screens. Many was the night when I took out the battery powered hand vacuum and vacuumed the bugs off the ceiling and light fixtures. All the while back home in Wisconsin the wind chill factor would dip to -40*. I’ll take the bugs any time.
Another creature that we learn to live with are small lizards. They are everywhere. They are kind of cute little fellows that remind me of the Geico Gecko. These harmless little guys are usually only 3 – 4 inches long. They will hide in any vegetation and are very quick and hard to catch.
Irene got a staghorn fern at Wal-Mart garden center. We hung it in the orange tree that we planted a couple of years ago which seemed like the perfect spot and the fern did well.
Time to pack up and head back home to frigid Wisconsin. Of course we would take the staghorn fern back home.
On the way home we stopped in Tennessee for several days to visit friends. It got quite cold a couple of nights with the outside temperature plunging below freezing, all the way to +19*. We were warm enough in the motorhome although we used a lot of propane for the furnace.
We were parked facing southwest and the staghorn fern was hanging above the driver’s seat. One afternoon it g
ot quite warm from the sun and I noticed Pudge, the cat, looking intently at the fern. Upon closer inspection, I found that we had a hitch hiker that came along from Florida, a lizard.
The next day Pudge started batting the fern back and forth and the hitch hiker jumped off, landed on the floor, and hid under a piece of trim – the cat in hot pursuit…… That lizard was never seen again.
When we got home we hung the fern in a southern facing window. About a week later Irene put it in the kitchen sink to give it a good watering. Ahhh….. out comes another lizard. What were we to do?
We hung the fern up again and put a small piece of banana in the basket. This was to provide fruit flies for the lizard to eat. We were hoping that we could keep it alive until we go to Florida again in the fall.
This morning Irene found what looked like a twig on the dining room floor. Upon closer examination it proved to be the dehydrated carcass of our ill fated lizard…… Irene wrapped it in a burial shawl (piece of paper towel) and we gave it a proper send off into the garbage can.
I wonder if we will ever find the carcass of the first lizard that jumped off in Tennessee.....
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