I wrote this for a journal essay entry on Faith for one of my classes yesterday. I figured I'd post it here.

Kala died tonight a little before eleven. I won't go into her last moments in life, because that's not who she was, aside from the fact that she was a fighter battling enormous odds. She lived long enough to see us again and to let us say goodbye. Kala got to get lots of neck and shoulder rubs and died with her head resting on her favorite towel.

Kala lives! Though if she was a cat I'd be seriously wondering how many lives she blew on that one!

Kala went to the vet today, being egg-bound. Sean took her and went off to our vet in Dubuque, staying there to work this afternoon, but really we were both basically worthless at our respective works today. Kala got to the vet around one in the afternoon, and she was in bad shape. She paced in the car for nearly the entire two hour drive, and by the time they got there she had used up basically all her energy. She was still curious, though, looking around and especially at the bird they have there, who was regarding her with the same curiosity.

It feels like spring outside! That makes me so happy! And the temperature has risen not just to above freezing, but back up above Antarctica's temperature- and has stayed like that for a while not. I know we'll probably have a few more weeks of cold coming, but I'm enjoying the warm weather and how I only need to wear my fleece outside now!

This is just a quick Kala update here first: On Saturday she laid one egg, and today so far she's laid two. That's a total now of 9 eggs (out of a possible 15-50 or so). Sean built her a nice nest with a spare box and potting soil, and Kala's been digging in that, so hopefully she'll lay the rest of her eggs soon! I'm getting anxious- I really really don't want her to get egg-bound. It doesn't help that a lot of the literature basically says if your iguana doesn't lay all her eggs in one night, you should take her to the vet straightaway. However, there are other people who've had their iguana space out laying over a few days without any trouble.

Today when I went in to say hi to Kala before leaving for school, I saw something on her basking shelf behind her that looked kind of like a white and yellow carrot bit. I asked Sean if he'd given her any tuber-like foods that might be rotting, but he said he hadn't. Although I then began wondering if it might be an egg, I had to leave for class, so I just put it in a baggy and headed off while Sean did some research. Yep, he said when he called me on my way to school- it was an egg.