About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

For the Love of a Lizard

The following story is courtesy of Daughter #2.

If you have raised kids (or been one), and gone through the pet syndrome, including toilet flush burials for deadgoldfish, the story below will have you laughing out LOUD!


Overview: I had to take my son's lizard to the vet. Here's what happened:

Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell methere was "something wrong" with one of the twolizards he holds prisoner in his room.

"He's just lying there looking sick," he told me. "I'm serious, Dad. Can you help?"

I put my best lizard-healer expression on my face andfollowed him into his bedroom. One of the little lizardswas indeed lying on his back, looking stressed. Immediately, I knew what to do."

Honey," I called, "come look at the lizard!"

"Oh, my gosh!" my wife exclaimed. "She's havingbabies."

"What?" my son demanded. "But their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom!"

I was equally outraged. "Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to reproduce," I said accusingly to my wife.

"Well, what do you want me to do, post a sign in their cage?" she inquired (I think she actually said this sarcastically!)

"No, but you were supposed to get two boys!" I reminded her, (in my most loving, calm, sweet voice, while gritting my teeth).

"Yeah, Bert and Ernie!" my son agreed.

"Well, it's just a little hard to tell on some guys, you know," she informed me (Again with the sarcasm!).

By now the rest of the family had gathered to see what was going on. I shrugged, deciding to make the best of it.

"Kids, this is going to be a wondrous experience,"I announced. "We're about to witness the miracle of birth."

"Oh, gross!" they shrieked.

"Well, isn't THAT just great? What are we going to do with a litter of tiny little lizard babies?" my wife wanted to know.

We peered at the patient. After much struggling, what looked like a tiny foot would appear briefly, vanishing a scant second later.

"We don't appear to be making much progress," I noted.

"It's breech," my wife whispered, horrified.

"Do something, Dad!" my son urged.

"Okay, okay."

Squeamishly, I reached in and grabbed the foot when it next appeared, giving it a gentle tug. It disappeared. I tried several more times with the same results.


"Should I call 911?" my eldest daughter wanted to know. "Maybe they could talk us through the trauma." (You see a pattern here with the females in my house?)

"Let's get Ernie to the vet," I said grimly. We drove tothe vet with my son holding the cage in his lap.

"Breathe, Ernie, breathe," he urged.

"I don't think lizards do Lamaze," his mother noted to him. (Women can be so cruel to their own young. I mean what she does to me is one thing, but this boy is of her womb, for G~d's sake.).


The vet took Ernie back to the examining room and peered at the little animal through a magnifying glass.

"What do you think, Doc, a C-section?" I suggested scientifically.

"Oh, very interesting," he murmured. "Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, may I speak to you privately for a moment?"

I gulped, nodding for my son to step outside.

"Is Ernie going to be okay?" my wife asked.

"Oh, perfectly," the vet assured us. "This lizard is not in labor. In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen. Ernie is a boy. You see, Ernie is a young male. And occasionally, as they come into maturity, like most male species, they um . . um . . . masturbate. Justthe way he did, lying on his back."

He blushed, glancing at my wife. We were silent, absorbing this.

"So, Ernie's just just . . . excited," my wife offered.

"Exactly," the vet replied, relieved that we understood. More silence. Then my vicious, cruel wife started to giggle. And giggle. And then even laugh loudly.

"What's so funny?" I demanded, knowing, but not believing that the woman I married would commit the upcoming affront to my flawless manliness. Tears were now running down her face.

"It's just .that . .I'm picturing you pulling on its . . . its. . . teeny little . . " She gasped for more air to bellow in laughter once more.

"That's enough," I warned.

We thanked the vet and hurriedly bundled the lizard and our son back into the car. He was glad everything was going to be okay.

"I know Ernie's really thankful for what you did, Dad," he told me.

"Oh, you have NO idea," my wife agreed, collapsing with laughter.

Two lizards: $140.

One cage: $50.

Trip to the vet: $30.

Memory of your husband pulling on a lizard's winkie: Priceless!



Moral of the story: Pay attention in biology class. Lizards lay eggs!

11 comments:

Daryl said...

Too funny, I share it with Husband ... and now I must go spend time w/him... he thinks I spent altogether too much time at my computer..even tho I share the funny stuff .. BTW, Leslie, those grandchildren are gorgeous! Daryl

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Wonderful! I'll be giggling about this for days....

Lilli & Nevada said...

Oh my gosh Leslie this is hilarious, how cute and i love the photo of the lizard

Claudia said...

What a story, thanks for the laugh.
I knew about the eggs, so at first I didn't know where the story was going!

Jo said...

Leslie, where in Heaven's name did you get that picture? It suits the story just perfectly. What a hoot!

Too funny!

Cedar said...

I hope the guy doesn't leave his wife and run away with Ernie after all of that.

Gypsy at heart said...

I cried & cried about the dog, and I laughed & laughrd about the lizard. We have lizards that frquently rest on the sliding glass doors, probably waiting for lunch to arrive. One day the grandchildren excitedly called me over and pointed to two lizards.
"Look! They are hugging and kissing!"
Sure enough.

Thanks for your visit. I enjoy your posts so much that I have added you to my blog roll. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

haha - now that was funny... And your lizard does pose for pics?

Pam said...

Yes... re your comment: reading your last few posts, I can see you're a dog person. Maybe it's just the blogs I read, but I've noticed a lot of cat lovers among them - though some dog people too. I quite like dogs - as long as they're not big and barky - but prefer furry and purry chaps on the whole.

Sienna said...

THIS is the funniest thing I have read since you had the PMT thing up!!!

I am in fits here, so funny-can't type.

Pam

Country Girl said...

Oh, my gosh! That's funny.