salamander

In the picture you see this salamander on the dog bed! ( not her idea as the story below will tell you)

the day this picture was taken...i was standing in the doorway, shutting the doors early for the evening. suddenly i saw something run past me on the floor. in this house there are a lot of lizards there. so i thought one had fallen from the ceiling. but nikki went running after it. nikki i notice is very sharp in running after moving things- more than all of them. may be her instincts of a retriever. since i had shut all the exit points the poor lizard could not get out. meanwhile all the other dogs had joined this hunt. i shooed them away from the door to allow the poor thing to escape. i did not realise then that it was unable to do so. then next thing was that i saw the dogs climb down the stairs towards the basement. they never do that ever.

then i understood that the animal was going down and they were after it-all three. they went down all the way, the door of the basement was open that day. i let them be, thinking that the lizard would figure her way out on her own. how can dogs catch a lizard, though in my heart of hearts i was apprehensive. as i was standing upstairs and either doing something or reading...ginger came upstairs after my persistent calling...and lo and behold! to my utter horror- dropped this poor little salamander on the dog bed lying there. that was too much of a shock for me. the salamander too was bloodied or seemed red (are they warm blooded?) too dazed to move and on closer examination i felt perhaps one of her legs too was broken.

i shooed all the dogs away finally. raga went and hid under the diwan in my music room, i tied up nikki as she was seeming very interested in the matter and ginger i put behind the baby gate outside the kitchen. with a bit of fear and uncertainty i managed to take the salamander out (while still on the dog mattress) and opened the mattress out dropping it near my pots in the driveway. what a relief to see it crawl away under my car! oh dear...i wonder what all i am going to see in this house...what with nikki pulling down the tassles of my curtains in the guest room. more about that later.