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Total entries in this category: Published On: Nov 04, 2008 10:52 AM |
Mon - March 17, 2008Sun - November 12, 2006Related?It's been bugging me ever since I saw that
beautiful green lizard with red spots that was indulging in Leona's chocolate
candy (see entry below) while we indulged ourselves in the Pinot Grigio I
brought over.
I've never seen one like that, and I'm jealous. All I have are those oogly-ish dinosaurs that have taken over our yard (fodder for many pictures on this blog because they're display STRANGE behavior), but they're definitely not beautiful. I miss our lovely, sleek, green anole lizards that they killed off, and when I saw Leona's new kind of lizard, I got all excited. I had to find out what it was, and closest I can find is this one who was spotted in parts of our islands, on the left below. He's gotta be a relative of "Liz", but perhaps he's a male and she's a smaller, more delicate-looking, and less-decorated female. The guy on the left can grow up to 12" long, though. Kind of big to be munching on your chocolates. 
Day gecko Leona's Liz Posted at 04:22 PM | Sat - November 11, 2006Thu - July 20, 2006HissssOne of the hardest parts about returning from a
trip is looking through the hundreds of pictures I've taken. I was in Portland
and Los Angeles the past couple of weeks and got to take some pretty cool shots,
but decided to sort out only my favorite ones tonight.
Some of you might know how I love to play with snakes and have been deprived of the pleasure because Hawaii has none, with the exception of a sad little legless worm. I haven't had the chance to handle them in years, so this was definitely the highlight of the whole trip. 
view slideshow Posted at 11:11 PM | Sat - May 13, 2006Don't swat that!Hawaiian picture-wing
flies
HONOLULU — Twelve species of rare flies
known for their elaborate courtship displays and found only in the Hawaiian
Islands are now protected under the Endangered Species
Act.
Photo by Kevin T. Kaneshiro/AP Wide World At least they're two to three times larger than the common housefly so they won't be mistaken for them. But I suppose it could still happen. 
Posted at 06:39 PM | Sun - October 23, 2005Naughty little dinosaursThey really don't care who's watching -
or taking pictures
Last two pics are of Mr. Big showing off and waiting for his next date. Posted at 10:15 PM | Mon - June 27, 2005Look out....they're watching
us!
Both the tail and head of this dinosaur were
sticking out of the pipe as it watched me the whole time I hung the laundry
yesterday. By the time I got my camera, it had retreated, but peeked its head
out a little while later.
Notice the poopies on the outside of the pipe? Posted at 06:02 PM | Tue - June 21, 2005Our dinosaur population is out of controlEnough, already
Again, as I exited through the washroom door this
afternoon, a couple of dinosaurs scampered away in a panic. They were trying to
stealthily squeeze their way in through the space between the door and the
threshold (the house is old and that area is pretty shabby) and I surprised
them.
Then as I went for the garden hose so I could rinse Rocky's litter box, I noticed several dinosaurs in the nearby bush, and one was actually a rarely-seen green anole lizard! I don't know if it was being mugged by the others, but part of its tail was missing, and not in the way gecko and dinosaur tails naturally break off. It was dark at the injured end, so I think he was beaten up. I never knew the anoles to have break-away tails, but was happy to see this guy alive. After shooing the others away, I lifted the hose, which had water running through it, only to find a huge dinosaur hanging on the end! It couldn't walk off without getting in the water stream, so headed up toward my hand, which it also didn't care for, so was trapped :) He held on as I proceeded to rinse Rocky's litter box until I guess he had enough and leaped off sideways. I love critters of all kinds, including lizards, but these green anole-killling dinosaurs (see March 26's post) are really too much. Never before have I seen any that traveled in packs, were so bold and curious, and so damn populous. Fr*cken frequent-fornicating (see April 7th's post), freakazoids. I expect to trip over them the next time I go into the back yard. Or get mugged. Posted at 07:56 PM | Thu - June 16, 2005We're infestedIs this guy smiling??
Kinda looks like the GEICO gecko, eh? Took a stroll in the yard to take pictures of veggies and plants this morning, but everywhere I turned yard dinosaurs were scampering about! I was struck by how many babies there were, but they were teenie and skittish so wasn't able to get decent pictures of them. One had a beautiful long tail, unproportional to its little body. One of the dinosaurs in the slideshow below appears to be pregnant. These guys are weird. The larger ones seem particularly bold and curious. One guy kept hanging around as I hung clothes the other day. Another keeps trying to sneak into the washroom. I tossed a small rock toward a huge one this afternoon, and he didn't flinch, but actually leaned toward to inspect the rock as it landed. The babies are so cute, and even the littlest males try to do the head nod thing to show they're tough, but their red dewlaps under their throats haven't developed yet. (See March 26's blog with slideshow) 
click to view slideshow I never let Rocky out anymore, poor guy. It could've been just a coincidence, but after he caught a couple (see earlier entries), he had the wetsh*ts, so maybe they're toxic to him. Posted at 09:26 PM | Sat - May 14, 2005Put a bunch of teacher types together......and they will end up trying on each
others' shoes
Well, that's what happened to some of us last
night. 'Course, that was well into the evening as we helped our hostess clean
out her liquor cabinet because she'll be moving soon. (Mmm, Grand Marnier..)
We barely made a dent so there may be a Part II if she and her hubby don't
finish it all off at their block
party.
I did take pictures, but I also promised not to post them on our school's website or on any of my blogs. Aww. When my friend took me back to school to pick up my car we saw (and heard!!) an owl up in a nearby tree. Apparently a family of at least three hang out there at night, but I've never seen them before (try not to be at school that late). The picture is pretty crappy. The owl was waay up high so we aimed my flashlight on it so at least I'd have half a chance finding it with the camera, which is probably why it looks yellow. I don't know how to take distant pictures in the dark; I'm lucky I was able to even find the owl! The original pictures were actually black, but Photoshop's levels helped quite a bit. 
Posted at 11:08 PM | Sat - April 23, 2005Dinosaur Catch & Release ProgramRocky finally caught one
today!
By the time I raced over with my camera, Rocky
already had the dinosaur in his mouth. Luckily for it, Rocky hardly has any
teeth and dropped it when I told him to. The poor dinosaur was stunned and
wasn't moving quickly, so Rocky was able to step on it again until I blocked
him. Eventually it made its getaway when Rocky was distracted by some nearby
grass. He seems to prefer grass over anything else.
view slide show Posted at 06:39 PM | Fri - April 8, 2005Rocky goes on a dinosaur hunt..but fails..for now
Rocky Raccoon was out on one of his
closely-supervised excursions in the yard, and I finally remembered to bring my
camera with me. Spotted several dinosaurs, and Rocky spotted this one as well
-- from way across the yard. By the time he bounded to the tree it scampered
up, with Rocky in semi-lukewarm pursuit. To his credit, Rocky was able to find
his way down the tree without much difficulty, but the dinosaur escaped to live
another day.
Dinosaur Hunt If Rocky had caught it, I would have made him release it. I can't stand when he kills "my" lizards, I don't even like when he flattens the many crickets that manage to find their silly ways into the house. Cockroaches are another story, but those stories are too gross to tell here :P Posted at 09:46 PM | Thu - April 7, 2005I know why we have so many dinosaurs in the yard!They have absolutely no shame -- or
self-control!
This afternoon I almost stepped on one of those
dinosaurs as I was walking out from my parents' home next door (see March 26th's
entry if you don't know what they are). I thought it was a youngster because it
was smooth and didn't have the dark markings like the one I took pictures of.
It didn't seem too afraid of me as I bent to take a closer look. Then I noticed
a larger, uglier one about a foot and a half away, who definitely didn't seem to
be frightened at all, in fact he blew his dewlap thingie and made threatening
head gestures at me.
I thought he didn't like the fact that I was bothering the smooth one and was trying to scare me away. As he took a few steps toward it, I, in my naiveté, thought he was protecting it. Was I wrong! I spent the next few minutes marveling at the absolute lack of shyness and disregard for this human watching them as he proceeded to climb on HER back and take a tiny little nip on the skin of her neck. I broke them up, but he climbed back on and did it again. He stayed on as she took a couple of steps. Nothing seemed to be happening and I couldn't figure out how he was gonna get any action while on her back, when he suddenly thrust (heh) one leg under hers and angled himself so he could..reach ;) I didn't think it was right to break 'em up again, so I tried to get a better look (never saw a lizard's lizard before), but couldn't see anything even tho I was just a couple of inches away from them as they seemed frozen in place. Then, barely after he finally got down to business, they shook themselves loose and went separate ways. I went back in to tell my parents what I'd witnessed, and when I came out, there he was, back at the spot I first saw him. Probably waiting for his next quickie. No wonder we have so many dinosaurs in the yard: they don't care to get a room (or get out of the way) even when some rude human repeatedly tries to shoo them apart. When the urge hits, I guess it doesn't matter who's around, and by the looks on that guy's face as he was waiting for his next date, the urge probably hits often! Posted at 06:30 PM | Sat - March 26, 2005Dinosaurs in the yardHundreds of them
(seemingly)!
I love lizards (and snakes), and I miss our green
anole lizards
we in Hawaii call 'chameleons' because of their ability to change from green to
brown to blackish. They are sleek and beautiful (IMO), and have become an
endangered species, at least in some yards
here.
An uglier anole-like species has invaded the calm and eaten most of them up!! I can't walk through the yard without hearing rustling and seeing them run, climb, jump, and scatter about. I've even witnessed them in gangs, like mini 'raptors from Jurassic Park. The other day one was perched on a vertical pipe about 4.5 feet in height, with its feet and toes together, head held up, as if on alert like a meerkat sentry. That would've made for a great Kodak moment, but by the time I ran back in to get my camera, it had stepped down from its perch, but remained alert (and at an interesting angle, as you'll see in the pictures). These lizards don't have much fear, and this guy stuck around while I snapped pictures of him. He did show his irritation by displaying his red-orange dewlap (flappy-thing under his throat) a few times. They seem pretty bold, and have multiplied so that just about everywhere you turn in the yard you see one. So far they haven't come into our houses like the geckos do, but it's probably just a matter of time until they knock on the door (or knock down the door), demanding to be let in. I think with their numbers and fearlessness, they're bound to take over the yard, if not the world!
Posted at 08:51 PM | |
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