It's lizard country up at the barn, where dozens of the tiny reptiles set up fiefdoms, then defend them to the death. The wood pile, the rock pile, the straw bale in the garden, the tractor wheels, the shovels and rakes leaned up against the fence, they're all meticulously mapped out in Lizardworld.

A few feet from my office door there's this little guy, who has laid claim to a rock and a drain pipe in the spot where the nastrutriums grow. He's athletic and vigilant and fearless, and he's very, very good at catching bugs.