Iguana...parte dos

Last night we had a terrific tropical storm. Not so much like one from the movies...this one only produced a few rumblings of thunder but there were spectacular lightning flashes behind and through the swirling clouds, along with many brilliant lightning bolts striking down to the ground. I loved it!! I watched it for awhile from our terrace, standing in the rain, getting nibbled by jejenes, until I figured it may not be the smartest idea to be standing exposed in a thunderstorm.

The wind and the rain rapidly picked up speed and ferocity. Palm branches whipped around as did all the pool toys that I had neglected to gather. 

As the storm was raging outside, Meg's stomach was erupting inside. She had not been feeling 100% all day...listless, achy and feverish. I guess all those positive ions in the air churned up more than just clouds. It was not a fun night for her.

This morning, as I was heading downstairs after performing my Nurse Betty chores (tea and porridge), I decided to peer over the wall to check for a skinny tail protruding from the downspout. Much to my surprise, the tail was not in the drain pipe but on the iguana which was a few feet below me. The iguana was sunning itself on a window ledge. I grabbed my camera and captured a few shots. 

     

iguana peering at drainpipe

 

It did not take too long for the little guy to skedaddle down the wall away from me and disappear amongst the cacti. It's quite remarkable (and a little creepy) how these critters can scale a vertical wall effortlessly. While his attention was diverted from the drainpipe, I quickly covered the hole with some mesh. Although I am sure the pipe is a wonderful home for this iguana, maybe not while we are living in such close proximity. 

Iguana come out ...now!!

Just when we though things were running smoothly in our humble casa, we got a small hiccup! This morning I happened to peer over our wall to one of the large clusters of prickly pear cacti that we have growing in the lot next door. Currently there are yellow and red cactus flowers in bloom which I find very unique considering we have a dearth of flowering cacti around our home in Aldergrove. 

 

A grey and white object immediately caught my eye...a quite large iguana was carefully climbing into a drain discharge pipe which protruded out near the bottom of the wall. I could see that there was an indication of water below the pipe so Meg and I straightaway began to isolate the pipe. After eliminating every water tap throughout the casa we pinpointed the source to be the drain on the roof. This was our channeled downspout. Meg grabbed the ladder, headed up it with the garden hose and began to flood the roof which we thought would flush said iguana out the tube. I was poised with my camera on the hole, ready for my photo op. After five minutes of flushing there was no sign of the critter. It was staying put in the tube, probably enjoying the shower.

I checked over the wall a few minutes ago and noticed about 10 inches of iguana tail hanging out of the pipe. Our next tactic is, firstly, a chunk of lettuce dangled outside the pipe and, if that does not work, banging on the pipe...then the ol' bamboo stick into the pipe. Meg says she will be holding the camera. 

...to be cont'd....