Odd Balls

Three quickies today. Out of the ordinary stuff. Odd balls:

When the covid hoarding started, the most noted shortage was toilet paper. It's back on the shelves now, and my pessimism is leading me to pick up a pack with nearly shopping trip. I've never run short, but back when it started looking like a close call, I turned to the internet. Prices were terrible, shipping times worse. High demand anyway meant that by the time I put my order in, the last of the supply had already been sold. Finally, I scored. My experiences pushed me to order two bundles.

 When the order finally arrived, it was a surprise. Surely the sender goofed up? Checking the order, I determined I hadn't quite read the description completely. Sure, there were twelve rolls, but they were the kind that had no center cardboard spool, with the resulting size something I could wrap my fingers around or even put in my pocket. Oh well, it would pack easily for bathroom stops where paranoia for conditions was overruled by necessity.

We're using it now, and the biggest surprise is that it's the thickest, most luxurious TP any of us have ever used. Two sheets - two! - are plenty for all but the most - uh, well, nevermind about that.

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We got another surprise last night. Rich discovered it. A baby lizard was in the hallway, eventually scurrying away into a dark room. (Probably an anole?) We find these a welcome sight. They eat bugs. For a couple years after we moved in, there was the resident we saw when we opened the cupboard doors over the stove. It'd look at us for perhaps 5 seconds before running up the stove exhaust pipe until next time. Another time, I was watering plants by the front of the house. Water was splashing on the sidewalk, when suddenly a full size lizard scooted out from under the siding, lapped up a few mouthfuls, noticed me moving, and escaped back under the siding.

They broke out hearts the first fall we returned to the house after being up north. In order to get rid of pests which had free access to the house due to a pet door in the workroom which was falling apart, we set out sticky traps. We couldn't afford to replace it until a couple years later - the whole door, that is. Too many other repairs needed more attention.

When we returned, we expected we might have a mouse, as that's what my parents used to have in theirs. Instead, there were the tiny skeletons of 5 baby lizards. That's when we stopped with the sticky traps and switched to No Pest Strips. We figure any lizard which can get in can also find its way out when it diacovers all the bugs are already dead. No meals here, folks.

Once this one scurried away, I recalled that half an hour earlier I'd squished a cricket in the bathroom. It had been missing one of its jumping legs. We've not heard any yet this summer, and wonder if our lizard and/or its parents have been keeping them in check. I also hoped this baby had gotten a nice hefty meal out of that missing back leg. Maybe I should set out a teeny bit of water for it?

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Interesting new insults are entering the language lately. They seem to all be aimed at our strangely orange-tinted president* and his followers. Cheetolini. Mango Mussolini. Commander In Thief. Covidiots. And all those deluded folks who think wearing a mask interferes with their FREEDUMB!
What Trumpanzees!

I'm sure more will pop up.

Happy tax day!