On Tue, 22 May 2007 01:56:33 CST, ~ jan wrote:

Very nice, looks like a good place to hang out. But gators? Have you ever
got one before? What did you do? ~ jan

Yes gators. I had one in the back pond a couple summers ago. I was
out bush hogging on a tractor when I saw the tail of one sticking out
of the weeds by the back pond. Took me most of the day to screw up
enough courage to go back there again. It was still there. After a
few more hours I got brave enough to poke it with a long stick. It
didn't move. So after a few more pokes it dawned on me that the gator
was quite dead. I finally dragged the gator out of the weeds and
into an open area by its tail. Man, it was heavy. It was "only"
about 4 1/2 feet long, hardly a giant but big enough to really spoil
your day if it got ahold of you. Those suckers can move fast when
they want to. You usually see them basking in the sun, barely moving,
and they look like they must be some of the slowest and laziest
creatures on earth, but being a kayaker, I've seen them in the water
chasing food, swimming around, that kind of stuff, and they can be
incredibly nimble. They never seemed to bother kayaks, but I have to
admit I wondered if they would discover that kayaks were kind of
tasty, once you got past the crunchy part. Anyway, I live only a
few miles from the Suwannee River, and there are oodles of alligators
there. When it gets dry alligators show up in people's swimming
pools, ponds, golf courses, etc. There's a whole (small) industry
here devoted to removing (you can't kill them legally) "nuisance"
gators. I don't know what I'd do if a gator got into the pond by the
house. I'd probably give it a few days, and if it didn't leave on its
own I guess I'd have to call someone. If a gator moved into one of
the two larger ponds, I'd probably leave it there.
--
Galen Hekhuis
"Mistakes were made"