I caught these two frisky little alligator lizards necking, literally it would appear, out in the backyard this afternoon. They survived the John Deere's twin mower blades, somehow, and scurried away unscathed. I whipped out my trusty camera phone and sent a picture to my a herpiphiliac friend of mine, inquiring as the nature of this seemingly antisocial behavior. He said not to worry, that I didn't have some sort of cannabilistic maniacal lizard stalking our weed garden, nothing so exciting as that. It's simply that a male alligator lizard, once latched on, would sooner commit hari-kari in the talons of a red-tailed hawk, or a roaring John Deere, than loose its grip on a nubile female. These two lovebirds, so to speak in specio-morphic similes, are simply in the throes of passion. I covered them up with a pile of weeds and let them consumate their love, hopefully, so that the seeds of next year's crop of alligator lizards might be planted.

MM (the accidental naturalist)