Tropical trials and tribulations

In the rush to prepare for my month-long escape to the Western world, I forgot to share this little tidbit of tropical life:

I was reluctantly getting ready for work one morning when I heard (a rather high-pitched) scream from the living room.  I sighed and assumed that Ian had spotted an itsy-bitsy spider and was flipping out.

I stuck my head into the front room just to make sure all was well and I spotted Ian, paralysed at the dining table with a look of both fear and disgust on his face. Almost unable to speak, he choked out the words, 'dead, lizard, cereal.'  Sure enough, there was a rather large, dead, shrivelled gecko mixed in with his half-eaten cereal.

The mottled brown colour and bumpy texture of the dead lizard bore an uncanny resemblance to Ian's muesli.  Traumatised, Ian backed away from the table and insisted that I dispose of his breakfast immediately.  I did.

We've grown accustomed to sharing our living space with these tiny creatures (although they've largely disappeared since we acquired the cat) but this was a first.  I don't know if Ian is back on cereal yet, but I will certainly be sifting through all our edible dry goods before eating in the future!

The Lizard King

Well our little lizard has stuck with us and a good little lizard he is.  As far as I can tell he has been very respectful of boundaries.  He seems to stay in the living room sticking the the ceiling and walls and hiding out behind light fixtures and pictures.  He seems to come out mostly at night or when we aren't home - we occassionally see him scampering away as we come in the front door.  Mostly I am pleased that he seems to stick to the living room.  Little as he is, I think he would give me a bit of a scare if I found him in the bath or clinging to the shower curtain or worse on my pillow or something.

More than anything I am to the point where I will welcome with open arms anything that helps keep the mosquitoes under control, I'd quite happily have a dozen little lizards.  I have a stockpiled an arsenal of spray, citronella candles, and coils to get rid of the little buzzing bastards.  I keep the windows closed as much as is practical without having to run the AC full blast all day everyday and spray myself every 5-6 hours. Regardless, I reckon I'm still sustaining 1-3 bites a day and walking around with at least 6 bites at any one time.  One actually got me inside my nose this morning. 

We are probably going to go bankrupt on anti-mosquito contraptions but I suppose that is the price you pay for living in the tropics.  I think a mosquito net for the bedroom may become a necessity in the not too distant future.  We're off up north to Penang this weekend where I'm sure there will be plenty of mosquitoes lying in wait for me.  Beyond that, I'm homeward bound a week today via Dubai and London and just dare any mosquito to follow and survive that journey, if that doesn't do it, I'm sure the Chicago cold will.

Also, I've decided our lizard is worthy of a name. Suggestions?

Creature Comforts

Well we have had our first (uninvited) houseguest.

No, it's not Ian.  He's housebroken and allowed indoors these days.  It's our little lizard friend in the top left corner.  You see these little guys all over the place and they get indoors all the time.  Aside from leaving little poos all over your house they are quite good as they eat all the bugs.  I've reconciled myself to lizard poos over mosquitoes and flies.

We also have a cat that has been paying us a nightly visit.  We can't tell if he's stray or belongs to someone in our complex.  He doesn't have any tags but looks cared for . . . he comes and goes from the neighbours and has seemingly adopted us as well.  He's allowed onto the porch for the moment.