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Re: chimp grins and my reluctance about being photographed. A little info from the San Diego Zoo:

- Chimpanzees don’t like to be in water and usually can’t swim.
- Some observers have noted chimps feeding on medicinal plants when they are ill or injured.
- Research has shown that chimps and humans share 98 percent of their genes.
- Chimps can recognize themselves in a mirror.
- Chimpanzees make a grunting sound when they are happy.
- A toothy “grin” actually indicates fear or anxiety.

I’m not down with submissive gestures. For all of my cultivated equanimity, I’m off the charts on the D of DISC tests.

Anyhow, see the resemblance to my work photo? Really, it’s uncanny.

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Reptile fest!

This morning, right before I stepped on the mat, I heard Daisy barking and barking. Nothing new. She likes to go out in the middle of the yard and bark, in hopes that the neighborhood dogs will bark back. She loves to pick fights. If she’s human in her next life, she’ll be a cage fighter for sure.

Something sounded a little different about the bark, so I looked out and noticed she was barking at something on the ground. When I went to check, I found a little (18 inch) snake coiled up & looking upset. Whoa! I grabbed Daisy, called Waylon, and retreated to the house. Where I got a camera so I could take pictures.

Here’s the picture I took to investigate its markings. You can get an idea of how little this guy is — or else those are some big grass blades.

Then I Googled to try to see if it was a rattlesnake. I figured that if I could make a positive identification, I’d need to go back and kill it. I don’t like killing stuff, but I do make exceptions for black widows and I think I’d feel the same about rattlesnakes. They’re a threat to the dogs, and I don’t think you can relocate them very easily.

Anyhow, from what I can gather, baby rattlers usually have a bud (though very small) on their tails right from the get-go. This snake had a pointy, non-rattler tail. And its marking didn’t look like what I found online. So I left it alone.

Went into the yoga room to practice and as I was pulling the curtains against the sun, I noticed that the huge lizard who hangs out on the top of the block wall was sitting on the ground next to the lawn mower! This is very weird — he ALWAYS stays on the top of the wall.

The reptiles are going berserk around here.

I tried to get a picture of the big lizard, but he took off when I opened the door to try to sneak up on him.

At this point, I am monitoring dog visits to the back yard. In fact, I am at home for lunch right now and wearing my dress along with The Cop’s muddy outdoor sneakers so I can supervise the dogs on their pee runs.

Animal kingdom. Over and out.