Things you don't see in the midwest

K decided to clean the garage in preparation for the Bug Assassain's visit.  Mice leapt out at her, chased her around the garage, snarling and gnashing their teeth, trying to jump up and take her by the jugular, the way I heard it.  She turned SnapDog loose on them.  He's useless.  She turned to me.  "I'll organize and put everything back," she said, "but you have to get the stuff out of the corners and edges."

Keeping a keen eye peeled for the fearsome creatures, and their accomplice ants, I ran across this little multicolored lizard about the size of my long finger who was so disoriented he wouldn't run, wouldn't be shooed, wanted to run under my shoes or whatever I was dragging out into the harsh sunlight.  I dropped a soft cloth over him, to gather him up and take him outside.  To my horror, as I turned the cloth over to close it up, his tail falls out, onto the garage floor, and shakes violently with its own life for almost four minutes. Heeeewwwwww!  Put the little guy out under a bush.  He didn't move much for a long time, but when I checked back an hour or so later, he was gone.  That would throw a guy's swagger off till you got used to it.