Come see, Mommy!

This evening I was working some magic at the grill when Nolan came over and said, "There's a lizard up there. Come see, Mommy." He didn't seem all that enthusiastic but I thought I would help him get a close look. I asked him where it was and he continued to point to the side of the house. I still wasn't seeing anything... I figured it was a little baby that had already run away. We walked the length of the home and he finally said, "It's right there!"

Whoa!!! Lizard? More like a freaky wild dragon!!! Here is what he showed me:
I could hardly believe I was seeing this in my yard. It had to be just over a foot long with the tail and probably 3.5 inches wide at the belly. And Nolan didn't seem to think it was anything out of the ordinary. I ran to get Justin and the camera and headed back out. We thought it might be dead, but suddenly he jumped onto his feet in an aggressive charging position. I began screaming and yelling for the boys to get back. Later I said, "Justin, you know that was scary when he got up on his haunches like that." and Justin said, "The only scary thing was your screaming." Nolan just had this look of "What is going on?"
We made a few calls and the sheriff said he'd come help. We have no animal control here so he was the next best thing. He actually didn't know what to do with it at first. We figure that it is a bearded dragon that got loose from it's owner. He called a local pet shop and they said they'd take it. That way it will live and they'll give the owner a while to claim it. I'm pretty sure Sheriff Mott was not pleased about picking him up. I have a feeling he's more comfortable with handling criminals. But he did well. What an adventure!
Justin called a few of our immediate neighbors to ask if they had a missing pet. When they came out to have a look Justin later confided, "I figured you guys didn't have a pet lizard but I didn't want you to think this was a domestic abuse case." Nope - no wife beating tonight.