We caught a lizard! (The excitement never dies down in my life, does it?) There have been a few plump, gray lizards that sun themselves on Todd’s parents’ front porch, which is very sunny during the day. Todd and I caught one yesterday but he gave us the slip before I could photograph him. Today, Todd and Brent caught another one and I got him on camera, so when I get back in town later today, I’ll upload the photos to my Flickr account. The little fellow scurried under a planter and then across the wall, leading to a mad chase with Todd in hot pursuit. He finally was able to grab the lizard off the wall and get a sufficient grip on him so I could snap a couple of photos. We released him under the planter again when we were through.

Edit: I got the photos uploaded:

I’ve been a fan of Starbucks’s frappuccinos for a few years now, but I’ve only recently discovered that I can darn near recreate these things myself, and with a much lower cost. I’ve grown accustomed to the taste of coffee, and even fond of it if it’s layered with milk and sugar, but I still can’t stand the heat. That’s the main reason I like frappuccinos: they’re iced. Now I just mix hot coffee with sugar and milk, then stick it in the fridge for a few hours. I don’t understand the appeal in hot drinks because I don’t like any pain associated with eating. Food is sooo wonderful, so I don’t understand the appeal in mixing discomfort with the ritual of eating when it would otherwise bring me such pleasure. It’s the same reason I don’t enjoy overly spicy foods, such as jalapeños or too much wasabi—it hurts. So I cool my coffee down and voila, I get all the nice flavor without any burnt taste buds.

I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Friday night and started on The Half-Blood Prince Saturday morning. I’m now on the chapter titled The House of Gaunt where Dumbledore and Harry go see Morfin, Merope, and their mean father in a memory. It kind of sucks that I’ll finish this way before the seventh book comes out in July, but it should still be fresh enough in my mind. I could’ve gone ahead and read through the entire series if I hadn’t gotten impatient with wanting to reread book five.