Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Lisa and I wanted to go drop our recycling, which requires a trip either to Reno or Fallon because Lyon County doesn't have proper recycling facilities. We discovered yesterday that the recycling drop-off in Reno closes at 3 PM (I thought it was 5 PM) when we showed up after it had closed, putting the kibosh on our plans because as we couldn't dump the bags filling the back of the minivan, we also couldn't buy the groceries we'd intended to buy. So we went home and tried again today. I managed to get away from Day Jobbe at 1 PM and off we went, dumping the recycling and then going to Raley's, where we got the things we can't get at WinCo foods. We also refueled, using the 50 cents/gallon fuel discount from buying our groceries at Raley's, before heading home. Thanks to the difference in fuel prices between Reno and Fernley, that only nets out to about 15 cents/gallon cheaper than buying in Fernley.

After doing the rest of Day Jobbe stuff that I'd set aside in order to get away from home earlier today, I went looking for Lisa to tell her that I was done for the day. As I walked by a plastic garbage can that we've left out for collecting "lawn" debris (i.e. pulling weeds), I heard movement in the can and discovered that one of the sagebrush lizards (we call them "George") had fallen into the bin.

( Good Thing I Noticed )

Lisa moved the bin to a place that we think is slightly less easy for wayward lizards to get themselves trapped.

The daytime highs around here have been in the 40°-42°C range, which means the actual measured air temperatures on the rear patio (in the shade) have been tending to be a couple of degrees higher. Lisa has been staying under cover, using the travel trailer and its air conditioning. But even with the trailer shelter keeping direct sun off the trailer most of the time, it can still get too hot. So when she was adding water to the trailer's water tank, she also sprayed the whole trailer down with cold water, which helped reduce the overall temperatures and helped the air conditioner keep it tolerable. This did also leave some loose water splashed around the trailer, which caught the attention of at least one of our local wildlife.

( Stubby Takes a Drink )

Eventually, Lisa got too close for comfort and Stubby skittered off, but I wouldn't be surprised if the thirsty little lizard came back for more.

I've tried to leave water for the birds as well, but I've never seen them drink any of it. Maybe they'll sneak around the trailer when nobody is watching them.

Our residential burn permit, which can be used only for burning yard waste, expires at the end of May. (The burn season is October through May. A seasonal burn permit costs $15 from the North Lyon County Fire Protection District.) While we've periodically trimmed brush since last summer, we never had gotten around to actually burning it, and time had run out. We'd planned on doing it several of the past few weekends, but rain (and earlier in the year, snow) put paid to those plans. I had today off (mostly), so after doing a small bit of Day Jobbe from 4-5 AM, we set out to deal with the accumulated brush just after daylight. It was pleasant enough weather for the job.

( Fire Works )

With the brush burned, we put away most of the tools, but left the hose and nozzle out in case a hot spot appeared despite our efforts. We'll put those away this evening. While we waited for this morning's California Zephyr (now restored to daily service, hooray!) to come by, we sat on the porch and admired our work. I then spied a visitor on the porch.

( Porch Lizard )

That's a pretty good day's work done, in our opinion, and I'm glad we did it first thing in the morning before it got hot, because burning brush is hot work even in cold weather. I was sweating it up in my coveralls by the time we got done, and I picked up some mild sunburn on my face and neck even from just a couple of hours of morning exposure.

Yesterday was warm enough that I had the front door open. I started to head outside for something and saw this on the inside of the screen door.

( Hello, Can I Sell You Some Insurance? )

Having lizards on the property seems like a good thing to me. Cats that chase and eat the lizards, not so much.

After work today, Lisa and I went to Broeder's Espresso off main street to put up my larger campaign sign. Broeder's has recently moved in and reopened the drive-through espresso stand on Main Street, and the owner told me after we retrieved the sign (the city took it down because it was on their fence; none of us who had posted there realized it was city property) that I could put the sign there. I ordered a large sugar free mocha from them while Lisa got out rope and zip-ties and tied it to their fence. This time we're sure the fence is part of the private property in question because we watched the fence being built last year after the previous tenant moved out and the owners made improvements.

( On the Fence )

Eventually Lisa got the sign secured and I got my coffee. I'll go get a photo of the sign when it's not pouring with rain.

I have written before of George the Sagebrush Lizard who lives around Fernley House. Yesterday morning, while we were in the living room getting ready for our trip to Reno, Lisa looked over my shoulder and looked (to me) horrified. I jumped; she calmed me down and pointed to the fireplace. Sitting on the little carpet that sits in front of the fireplace (so sparks don't damage the actual carpet) was a very fat-looking George.

"Bad George!" I said. "No lizards in the house!" But how to get him out? The last time this happened I ended up with a lizard bouncing off me.

As I moved toward George, he ran for the front door, but the door was not open, and George went into the corner trying to figure out what to do. I opened the door part way, got a broom, and shooed George back outside. I would have taken a picture, but my camera phone isn't good for this sort of shot and I wasn't going to get the good camera for this.

It's not that these lizards are dangerous: I like having them around the property to eat insects; I just don't want them in the house.