Little Mike
I don't know if I've ever mentioned my pet lizard on this blog, so I thought I ought to dedicate a post to him.
Back in May, Jenn and Mike got me two green anole lizards as a graduation present. I named the lizards Mike and Jenn in honor of the gift-givers, since one was a male and the other a female. The initial habitat for the lizards was a bit small, and since I read that anoles prefer lots of space, I sought out the old aquarium from my late pet salamander and filled the space with an extra climbing log and some artificial greenery. I transferred the lizards into their new home, and once the initial shock of being handled was over, they seemed to adapt pretty well. Unfortunately, time showed that while Mike-lizard was thriving in his new home, Jenn-lizard was lethargic and wasn't eating. I was worried about her, and since it was still within the 15-day limit to bring her back to the pet store, I decided she would be better off there.
Since then, Mike's had his own terrarium, which he doesn't seem to mind. In the Boulder apartment he was brown most of the time (anoles can change colors), which I think was due to the temperature being to cold. Now that I've moved him down to Denver and bought him a heat lamp, he seems to be greener in general, which is a good thing in this case.
He looks something like this (this is not actually him):
I'll try to snap some real pictures of him, but he's pretty shy of people so I don't know how close-up I'll be able to get.
Back in the Saddle
If it's been exceedingly long since I posted on this blog, it's because very little of note has happened this summer. I've been looking here and there for a job, but lacking the need for immediate steady income, I saw no need to take a job I didn't like. No one seemed to want a short-term volunteer, either, so I ended up filling my days with cooking, housework, spicy fiction, and aerobics videos from the public library.
By the time move-out was finally approaching, a job landed unexpectedly in my lap; my mother informed me that Ten Thousand Villages (non-profit fair-trade store for which she's on the board of directors) needed extra help immediately. The position was temporary, so there was no pressure, just extra cash to be made and retail experience to gain.
The job has turned out to be a productive, if sometimes tiring, use of my time. I work 3 days a week, and soon they may raise my hours so it's more like 4 days, although I'm not sure I want to give up the better part of my week to paid labor yet.
I moved out of the apartment Friday the 11th (more like Wednesday the 9th, since Friday was when the new girl moved in). The past week has been a flurry of packing and unpacking with me moving into the Denver house and my sister moving out. She left Monday night on a train to Chicago. She called me from Omaha on her cell phone, then sent out an email to let us know she arrived safely.
It's been quiet without her, especially since Misha, Erik and Brian are all out of town for a while. Erik and Brian will be back just before labor day for a final goodbye party, then they're off to Europe for who knows how long. I took them to Lakeside as a going-away present of sorts.
So basically, I came back to write because everything is changing...
