Just Another Typical Sunday at Our Wildlife Sanctuary

In previous posts you may have heard me mention that I live in the country.  With the cows and the roosters that I can hear from neighboring properties, many would say that we do in fact live in the middle of nowhere.  Well today I am here to change that description of our homestead to wildlife sanctuary.  I will now state my case in pictures.

Almost a year ago I backed my car out and looked to my left to find this alligator.  HOLY CRAP I started hyperventilating.  No joke!  I still look both ways when I walk out the front door.

Then we had another alligator take up residence in the lake behind our house in May.  Great, just great.

On Sunday I opened the back door to let the Team Leader out and this is what I see.  Some of the other residents had been talking about seeing this, but honestly I thought they were smoking crack.  Now who's the one smoking crack?

The bald eagle was very majestic and HUGE.  It was sitting across the lake eating a fish, but by the time I got my camera and the correct lens it was flying away.

And then there is this rare blue bear in our house.

I am told it is very rare to be able to get this close.

Let alone capture a smile.

Ok maybe this one is a lot less harmful than the other animals roaming our wildlife refuge.

Have a great week!

Un Baguette versus Une Baguette

So as many of you know if you live in my neighborhood your HOA dues encompass an array of wildlife that would make some small zoos jealous.  I recently wrote about a close encounter with a 9.5 alligator here and his new succcessor, Francis.  It was nothing short of terrifying, and now I diligently check the front and back before I go outside.  You can imagine my dismay when Francis appeared. 

 Note: If you did not already know you can click on the pics and they will get bigger, which you may want to do since I was not getting closer!

Here is Francis with his/her head facing the shore and tail towards the lake.

He/She seems to be just chillin in the lake not bothering anyone.  I can be ok with this as long as he stays in the lake.

Did I tell you that I am reading a book called Bringing Up Bebe about the differences between French and American parenting?  It's very enlightening.  In the book the author tells a story about an American lady living in Paris.  The lady could never remember when she went to the bakery whether she was supposed to order un baguette (one loaf of bread) or une baguette (one stick (really thin) loaf) so she just ordered deux (two) baguettes.  (This is why Americans and their obesity stick out like sore thumbs in Paris.)

So I want to know who the idiot was that ordered deux alligators for our lake? Look closely there is one facing the shore and the eyes and snout of the other once swimming the other direction.

Francis number 1 (F1) as seen through the safety of my tele-photo lens from the safety of my back yard.

As I was taking pictures of F1 further down the lake, the other Francis (F2) swam up and watched me.  I was not about to leave the gated safety of my backyard for fear of feeling like I was on the wrong side of the fence at the zoo.

 Then F2 went on his/her merry little way to join F1.

See I told you F2 was going to meet up with F1. 

I did eventually get brave enough to walk down the sidewalk in front of the house to try and get closer pics.  I always wanted to win the lottery, but I guess I should have specified which one, and that I really didn't need multiple alligators in my life.  Maybe now NN will cave to the fact that we really do live in the country!

Did you know that alligators like marshmallows?

As many of you know we recently built a house in a nice master-planned community.  The community is really an awesome place (in the country) to come home to.  It has beautiful creeks and trails coupled with a very nature filled backdrop.  It is super serene and at night it sounds like a camp ground!  We even have a couple of peacocks that run around!

This is the view from one of our upstairs bedrooms.  It is simply beautiful.  Who would not want to have this in their life?  You can't see it, but I am raising my hand.  Please read on.

This is the same lake behind our house on a recent cloudy day.  Do you see anything out of place?  Look closer to see if you see Francis, our new alligator.  Yes I said new, meaning there have been more than one.

Luckily the Team Leader is safe from our latest inhabitant.

Why do we have an alligator in our lake you ask?  Well the lake is similar to the creek  where I walk the Team Leader every day.  One particular Saturday morning the three of us, the Nutrition Nazi, the Team Leader, and myself were out for our morning jog.  I usually let the Team leader stop and look over the edge to see the turtles that swim under the bridge, but this day we see an alligator swimming up.  CRAP!  Right about that time a father and his young daughter come along and say something to the effect of  'Too bad we don't have any marshmallows to feed the alligator.'  EXCUSE ME, Did I hear that right?  Are you morons really feeding an alligator marshmallows?  I guess they don't understand the consequences. 

This is what happens when you feed the wildlife, which is illegal in Texas, by the way.  They walk across your front porch and settle themselves in between your garage door and front door.  You back your car out of the garage and almost have a heart attack because this is one yard decoration you can live without.

For those of you seeing these pics for the first time, this 9.5 alligator decided to take up shop in our flower bed.  The game warden had to be called by the sheriff's department to come out and handle the situation.  The game warden said this is one of the most dangerous situations to be in because the gator felt totally comfortable around humans and that is typically when things go tragically wrong.

So the moral of this story is that no matter how appealing it sounds to feed the wildlife - DON'T DO IT!

This public service announcement has been brought to you by two people and a goldendoodle who don't care if they never see another alligator ever again.