Our two dogs are often a great source of entertainment. Yesterday was a cine example. We had let them out in the early afternoon for some fresh air and exercise. A little while later we heard the two of them barking like mad. They often bark at anyone who passes the house. When that happens they usually quite once the stranger has moved on. Not this time. The noise continued. I glanced out the window and saw them both standing next to the high stone wall that marks the end of our front yard. They were facing each other, with a small space separating them. And they were both looking down into the grass.
Whatever it was that had attracted their attention, it was not going away. It couldn’t be one of the neighborhood cats. They were big enough to be seen through the window. And anyway, the cats would have simply run away. Our dogs can;t scale the stone wall, but the cats can scamper up one of the trees and jump over the top with ease. So what was it? I donned my coat, put on my hat and gloves, and ventured out in the cold (about 10 degrees Centigrade at noon). As I got nearer Maggie, the larger, part Labrador, dog, tried to grab the still unidentified intruder with her teeth. She quickly dropped it and could see that whatever it was, it was colored mottled green and white. I clapped my hands and motioned for the dogs to get back in the house. The little one obeyed immediately. Not Maggie. She made another attempt to bite the trespasser. This time she actually picked it up and tossed it a few feet away.
By now I was close enough to see what it was; a Chameleon! Half of it;s body was dark green, like the grass, the other half was almost white, like the stones in the wall. I was amazed. I always thought cold blooded reptiles found burrows to hide in during the winter. What was this one doing up and about at the end of December? I took Maggie by the collar and forcibly led her to the door. The last I saw of our visitor he was still trying to walk away through the grass. His movements were painfully slow, but that’s the way Chameleons walk even when it’s warm outside.
I played with the dogs for couple of minutes before venturing back outside. By that time the Chameleon was nowhere to be seen. I hope he survived the encounter without too much harm. But he really should know better than to wander about in the grass in the winter.
Wetherhorn 