Winter Guest

With the warming spring weather we haven't been using our wood stove very much to heat up the house. Yesterday however there was a brisk fog pouring in off the coast and it sure felt like we needed a fire. It was pretty cold by California standards. I grabbed the wheelbarrow and wheeled it out to the woodpile to get some firewood. While grabbing some logs I was startled by an odd shape under one of the logs as I picked it up. It was in the shadows so I couldn't see it very well. There were some short appendages sticking out from it. My first guess was a bat. Pulling away some of the logs around it I was finally able to ascertain that it was a lizard. Further inspection revealed it was a Northern Alligator Lizard. It was all rolled up in a ball overwintering in our woodpile. As chilly out as it was it could barely move. I carried it into the house and placed it into a jar. This morning I photographed it on a mossy piece of bark before releasing it into a sunny spot on top of the woodpile. When I checked on it a little bit ago it was warm enough to crawl away. God's love and blessings upon your day, chris All images were created with a Canon EOS 7D MkII camera and a Canon EF-S60mm F 2.8 USM Macro lens. #TeamCanon