he says, she says.

Barrow, Alaska.  America's northernmost town.  That's where Nick flew into and left from on his arctic adventure, and it's where I check the weather in his neck of the woods... because they don't have "Polar ice fields" as an option on the iPhone weather app.  Nick is enjoying a brisk 33 degree day with a high of 40.  He spotted a polar bear and cub.  He also has to run 18 miles on a treadmill today in keeping with his marathon training.

Me?  I'll be enjoying a high of 91.  No, it's cool, I'm excited.  (Shyeah. Right.)  Forget Polar bears.  Animals here you would never see in a zoo, like this skink.

A 4 inch female 5-line skink.  I looked it up.  

It was in the house, no big deal.  Actually, it was a huge deal.  I cried hysterically while standing on the dining room table chair with a tupperware gasping out "Jesus!"  For only He would give me the strength to trap it.

Wild things flew threw my mind.  I thought it might jump on me.  Okay, mostly I just thought about it jumping on me.  I'd like to give a shout out to Twinky for finding it.  While walking by the "dining room" I saw Twinky trying to get at something under the dog bed.  In my naivete I thought it was most likely an earwig (in layman's terms: a pincher bug) however, knowing that I live in my own personal nightmare, I steeled myself for something larger.  A beetle perhaps?

Then I picked up the bed.  There is was.  The skink.  I knew it was a skink because I used to get Wildlife Fact Files in the mail every month.  Anyone?  Of course I ran away screaming.  The temptation to leave it there was paramount, but the vision of it climbing out of the couch cushions as I lay there watching Honey Boo Boo made me cringe.  Enter crying, drooling (yes, I drooled.  I was hysterical), screaming me.  The baby was woken.  Twinky tried to eat it.  Finally it was trapped.  I drug it toward the door and flung it out where it lay stunned.  That actually pissed me off because I thought, "If you have a heart attack and die I'm going to have to sweep you off the porch!"  Not to worry, he came to and ran under the grill cover.  Note to self, NEVER pick up the grill cover ever again.

The moral of the story?  I choose polar bears.