What a wonderful place to live and for your grandsons to visit ) 20 years ago, our younger daughter was 3 yrs old, and our older daughter was 7yrs old…and a son on the way… Now, we are SOOO looking forward to future grandbabies ) I am sure your grandson is a very good egg gatherer and seller )

Blessings & Aloha!

I didn’t know that y’all had such great wildlife stories…I sure would’a loved to be a fly on the wall when TL got a eyeball on them snakes! LOL It’s a wonder she went to full-term.

I really didn’t think y’all would’a had raccoons where you lived in Memphis! Wow….

Is the pic the one you posted on FB?

Are you close enough to come to MOMS on Thrusdays at Bellevue. I teach MOMS at Bellevue in Cordova every Thursday Starting up in Sept. 17. It is such great fun to get togehter with other MOMS and share. If you can come we would love to have you and hear about your life and adventures! Blessings.

A couple of weeks ago, I was riding my bike down the West Orange Trail — a Rails-to-Trails jogging/biking trail that follows an old railway line between the Lake/Orange County Line at Highway 50 up to Apopka, FL, roughly 16 miles. As I was making my way through Winter Garden back toward County Line Station (the end of the trail), an oncoming cyclist warned me of “Alligator Ahead” rather matter-of-factly.

The alligator, as it turned out, was resting beside a retention (drainage) pond, behind the neighborhood situated next to the trail. It was probably 40 feet away from the edge of the trail, but it was also about 6 feet long. As I stopped to take a picture (no sudden moves), I reminded myself that these beasties are actually very quick on dry land (faster than a man over short distances) and left my right cycling shoe clipped in to the pedal in case I needed to effect a quick get away. After taking my pictures, I apparently startled him putting my cell phone back up, since he suddenly pushed off into the water of the pond, leaving nothing to prove his existence except widening circles of ripples from his entry point and a barely perceptible trail of bubbles.

I sent the picture to a friend who runs the Winter Garden Branch Library, less than 1000 yards away, so his staff could be made aware of the dangers that could await them if they thought a brisk walk was the best way to finish off their lunch break.

TL has found two rats snakes in our pool, one while she was pregnant and both time after already getting into the water with them. Young ones seem to be the only thing that can get under our screen door. I have found one that came in our front door (5-year-olds leave these things open….) and had to get the county to remove him, since he was so riled that he was continuously striking at the side of the ZipLoc bowl that I trapped him under any time I entered the dining room where he was trapped.

In Memphis, I would grill out on the back porch and if I left the grill on and went back in for something, would find pairs of raccoon eyes peering at me from the surrounding darkness.

Still, I would prefer the wildlife of the country (and semi-country) to the rats and homeless that city dwellers endure. I’ll see if I can forward that picture….