Texas Spiny Lizard Sceloporus olivaceus April 2004

This doleful specimen was lurking around the deck for a while in the spring, but, like the anoles, appears either to have gone on the lam for the duration of the summer squelch, or wandered off and died. I attribute its glassy eye and dejected countenance to the hideous disfigurement. A propos of which: for a few months I romanticized that this lizard was the adult version of the young gecko I'd accidentally de-tailed in my kitchen sink six months earlier. I imagined that it was hanging around giving me that look specifically to inflict psychological torture. I'm no pharmacologist, but subsequent research has indicated that I was tripping. It turns out that Chuckles McChuckleson is an entirely different varmint.

Below: intact version, August 2004