Living with Nature's creatures

Every year my wife rings the bell for the Salvation Army, and she takes a folding chair with her to sit on. She did this last Thursday and as she was driving home this little guy (a Geico who'd been on the chair) came out of the defroster vent on the dash and sat looking at her. We couldn't catch it until last night coming home from a rodeo (it must have been cold) as it jumped from the back seat onto the side of the door to get near the marker light.

So the little guy was rescued.
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James
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This is a Gopher Turtle.

They are protected and make huge holes all over the lawn that lead to 30 foot burrows. Actually a Gopher Turtle is a tortoise, but no one calls them a Gopher Tortoise - we call them Gopher Turtles. All tortoises are turtles - but not all turtles are tortoises, that's because a tortoise is a land turtle
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James
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Quote :

a Geico who'd been on the chair

Yes, that's what it looks like -the cartoon gecko in the Geico ads! lol

Quote :

Yes, that's what it looks like -the cartoon gecko in the Geico ads! lol

Yep! You're right but he fit the scene.

That's not my wife's car either. But I didn't have a picture looking out the windshield. So I took a little bit of this and a little bit of that and Presto!
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My wife drives a Chrysler LeBaron convertible.
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James
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I took a green lizard to the Catholic school in Port Richey where I read from Wooffer to the children. The story I read was Camille The Chameleon .

Here is a picture of her on some red fountain grass.
[img][/img]https://servimg.com/view/15899630/1

Well, I tried to post the picture. . . Here is the story.

CAMILLE THE CHAMELEON
The green lizard, Camille, that Wooffer rescued from Amber Jack was an American Chameleon and what she loved to do best was change colors. If she could, she would be a different color every day of the week! The day Amber Jack had caught her, she had found a leaf that was the perfect shade of green and was THINKING GREEN while she was standing on it, which is how chameleons can change their color. First they have to stand on something that is the color they want to be and then THINK of the color very hard. Eventually, they will turn that color. Well, almost every chameleon can change their color from the brown they usually are to green. Almost every thing IS green. Leaves are green, grass is green, moss is green. weeds are green, and a lot of other stuff too.
Camille had been thinking green so hard that she had not noticed the cat creeping up on her. She was very lucky that Wooffer had been watching just at that moment! Anyway, she had escaped.
One day, Camille was talking to Wooffer and complaining that she wanted more than just green. She wanted to be red, yellow, and even blue! But she needed some things that were red, yellow or blue to stand on so she could change her color. All she could see everywhere was green.
Wooffer took Camille to the flower garden by the side of the house. It was a long trip for Camille (who is a very small lizard), but Wooffer told her it was just what she was looking for. When they finally got to the flower garden, Camille could not believe her lizard eyes — RED flowers, YELLOW flowers, PINK flowers! All just the right size for her to stand on. Camille clapped her hands and leaped with glee. She leaped right onto a big red zinnia and began to THINK RED. In no time she had changed her color to a very bright red. She was so happy!
Every day for a week, when Wooffer met Camille, she was a different color. One day she was bright red and the next day she was a beautiful lemon yellow. She would sometimes be orange or pink. All the other lizards, who were still just green, begged Camille to tell them her secret. She would not. No, No, No. She kept her secret all to herself. She had a good reason.
One day, Camille noticed a small patch of cloth that was hanging from one of the tall thorny bushes that grew near the zinnia garden. Her heart leaped for joy! If she knew anything about color, THAT was BLUE! None of the zinnias were blue. She ran to find Wooffer.
Wooffer leaped up and got the patch of cloth in his teeth and gave it to Camille. It was not only blue, but red, yellow and green! It had one square of each color. Camille took it home and the next day, Camille was blue. It caused quite a stir among the green lizards, you can bet!
Every year, at the end of summer, the chameleons have a festival. It is called “The Changing of the Colors,” and all the chameleons go and have a contest of changing colors. The winner gets a beautiful rainbow trophy to take home. Camille meant to be the winner and surprise them all. She practiced all summer on thinking red or thinking blue or thinking yellow. She was sure she did not need a lot of practice on thinking green. Everyone could turn green.
It was finally the end of August and time for the Festival of the Changing of the Colors. All the chameleons had brought a green leaf or a bit of moss or something else to stand on to demonstrate their color changing skills. Camille brought her patch of cloth. They all had to start out brown and so all the lizards were in a roped off area of brown earth and were instructed to THINK BROWN. At last everyone was a nice shade of brown and the contest began. Each lizard took what they were to stand on into the middle of the arena where they stood upon it and thought GREEN. There were some beautiful colors of green, too! From bright apple green to olive. It was a sight to see!
When it was Camille’s turn, she took her patch of cloth and spread it out neatly on the ground. A great gasp came from the rest of the lizards. It was RED, YELLOW, BLUE and GREEN! What lizard could do that many colors at once? It was never heard of before! They all held their breath and watched very closely.
Camille walked gracefully onto the patch of cloth. One foot was on yellow, one foot was on red, one foot was on blue and one foot was on green. Camille took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She THOUGHT YELLOW with all her might. One foot and leg and half of her head turned a beautiful shade of yellow. Then she started to THINK RED. Her other front leg and the other side of her head turned a very bright shade of red. She THOUGHT BLUE as hard as she could and one of her hind legs and half her tail turned a royal blue. All she had to do now was the easy part, THINK GREEN. She thought green. All of a sudden she heard “Oh My, Oh My, Oh My Word!” “Did you see that?” “Yes, I saw it, but I don’t believe it!”
Camille opened her eyes and looked at her self. She was BLACK! SHE HAD TURNED BLACK! ALL OVER!
Poor Camille! It was not what she had expected at all. She did not know that if you mix all the colors together you get black. BLACK! She was sure that, after all her training, she had lost, and made a fool of herself in the bargain.
But then, there arose from the other lizards, such a loud cheer and clapping that she stood there dumbfounded. One of the judges came up to Camille and put his arm around her. He said, “My dear, we have not seen such a display since Carmen of the Many Colors in 1954. You are the winner!”
Camille finally got the message and smiled from lizard ear to lizard ear. She was making her acceptance speech and all she could think of to say was, “I want to thank my friend, Wooffer. Without his help, I could not have done it.”

Love,Betty

CAMILLE THE CHAMELEON - That was pretty cute.

Thank you, James.

Love,
Betty

I ain't living with no creepy crawlies.