No scorpions today...

.... just lizards.

Deliver me from crawling, slithering, creepy little things that move very fast.

I had planned to be very careful taking the mail out of our friend's mailbox today, just in case there was one last scorpion in there among the envelopes and magazines and catalogs.   Just for the record, there wasn't a scorpion (or anything else) in that mailbox except for whatever had been delivered by the mail carrier.

However...... my husband and I went into town this morning for errands (a case of wasp spray from Home Depot being one of the stops)... so both of us were in the car when we stopped first at our mailbox and then drove further up the road to J&J's mailbox.  My husband reached into our mailbox and was greeted by a lizard... I was in the passenger seat and still I jumped at least three inches off  the seat when I saw that lizard.  They move so fast, and the way their legs swivel, they look like they're going side-ways.  You would think they wouldn't get very far walking that way, but they can race from one end of the driveway to the other and it's even hard for our cats to catch up with them.

How in the world does a lizard or scorpion even get into a sealed and closed mailbox?  Do they travel with partners?..... one who opens up the little door while the other crawls inside, then one outside the box to close that door so when the human comes along to check the box, they get scared out of their wits and start screaming. (For the record, that was me, not my husband.)

For as long as we've lived out here in the wilderness, I've been the one finding all these creatures. My husband says I keep finding these things because I'm always looking for things.  Honestly, that man goes out into the field with 'deck shoes' on his feet and doesn't get assaulted by a colony of ants. I go out in the backyard with boots on and I get stung by bees, bitten by ants, scared by scorpions and spiders, and have even found a snake taking a nap on the porch railing and another one curled up inside the garden hose.

Is it just me?  Do all these blasted things know how scared I get........ are they all out there planning their next 'Let's scare the hell out of that city girl!' moment?!

I wish Mother Nature would give me a blessed break.