Gator Aid...

Yeah, that's an alligator... sitting in the middle of the road in front of the house. He's fine, just out for walkies.

Edward and I were sitting in the front room the other day when we both looked up to see an alligator nonchalantly walking across the front yard. Yes, the front yard. He was about 2.0-2.5 feet long. He must have decided to go for a stroll from the ditch in the back.


Now what? Edward ran to get his shoes on, and I went to get my camera. Someone has a little bit skewed priorities here, but we won't mention her name. We had to do something to get this guy back into the park before someone got hurt.



He bolted toward the street when I opened the front door. Doh. Didn't think about that, the noise spooked him. Believe people when they say that gators can move quick. This one sure did. Then he decided he would lay down and hide... in the middle of the street. I walked around him to the far side. He watched me the whole way. I was hoping that if he spooked again at least he would run toward the park. We didn't want to have to call animal control. They would have taken him away. We just wanted to see him back where he belonged.

I stood in the street ready to block traffic, should there be any, in my socks. Like I said, maybe I wasn't the brightest one here. Edward came out with his shoes on, and two brooms.


We, rather Edward, started herding him back towards the house. He, the gator, wasn't to keen on that idea and hissed the whole way. He wasn't about to be rushed. In fact, he acted like he wasn't going to do anything he, or she(?), didn't want to do. More then once he hunkered down, trying to get an angle on the brooms from which he could defend himself. Once he did get a hold of one of the brooms. Better that then an ankle, or an arm.









Eventually Edward got him to go under the back fence and off toward the ditch. We didn't open the gate, but watched him saunter down the top of the ditch and eventually down the side out of sight, as if he owned the place.



Perhaps he did, who were we to tell him otherwise.