Looking up to find a 5 lined skink stuck to the screen on the outside of the kitchen window, makes my day. For those who may not know, a 5 lined skink is a lizard. They have a bright neon blue tail and if caught by their tail, will snap it off to escape. This particular skink was bigger than most of the ones I have seen around the house, being approximately 6-7 inches long.
The other day, while looking out the back door, another, smaller skink crawled up between the deck boards. Not knowing just what a skink does to entertain itself, I watched as it made its way to a patch of sunshine. To my delight, it flattened out on the deck board and then placed its front legs behind its back and held its feet together. It did the same with its hind legs although they did not touch like the front legs.
Discussing some of my lizard 'tails' the other day, brought up a few memories of animal strangeness I have witnessed over the years. Staying with the lizard theme for now, there was a time I was driving a school bus out through what I always called Old Blue. This is east of the Pittsfield Lake towards the Detroit cut through. There is a deep valley before reaching the Detroit blacktop and it has always looked like it could be the 'land of the lost'. It always felt old when I would drive through it. As I was heading east and starting down the west side of the valley, I observed a lizard emerge from the right side of the road at the bottom of the hill, a good distance away. As it crossed to the other side and was completely visible in the road, it must have been at least nearly two feet long. I clearly remember thinking, land of the lost and there goes a dinosaur.
On another bus route, I was delivering a couple of youngsters to their home in the country. The lane to there house was one lane when it left the main gravel and before we reached the house, we passed a hay shed that sits on the left side of the road. As we approached the shed, again from the right side of the road, a snake crawled out of the grass heading for the hay shed. I'm not sure, but I believe this particular reptile is known as a bull snake. When it reached the other side of the road, its tail was just coming out of the grass on the other side. I calculated it must have been 10 feet long, maybe twelve and although I have no argument with snakes, I was glad I did not have to gather any hay.
Perhaps one of my favorite wildlife stories is what I witnessed one morning after delivering a student to a neighboring district. Driving north down Blue Creek hill, I watch two deer come down the bank on the left side of the road. This was happening at the bottom of the hill, just past the bridge. The car that was in that space at the same time saw them and ended up coming to a complete stop as they were waiting for the deer to cross the highway. I'm still making my descent behind them and begin to slow down too. Suddenly, one of the deer jumped straight up and landed on the roof of this car, stood there for a few seconds and then jumped off the other side and continued on its way. This happened just before Christmas break and I thought that those people had proof to show the kids that Santa might be coming early or was at least checking to make sure they were being good.
Now that I'm living a country life, there is probably many more wildlife tails to be experienced in the future. But, if you have one, I'd love to hear it! Email them to me at ruthiereevs@hotmail.com and maybe they can be put in a future story!
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