Animals in my Neighborhood

What is the first animal that comes to mind when you think of Florida? Mickey Mouse!! No, he's not an animal..The flamingos with Miami Vice music playing in the background? No...geesh, you guys are a tough crowd...it is the alligator! This beauty was lounging outside in a hotel resort's lake in Orlando much to the dismay of the workers and the joy of the patrons.

There were photographers out every day taking pictures of him/her and for the week we were there, so was he, I don't know why he picked that spot, but I guess he can go where he likes.

I was upstairs in my loft, enjoying a cup of coffee, bowl of cereal, my book, and getting the nice morning sunshine through the window when suddenly I noticed something from the corner of my eye, lumbering, but with determination, in the front yard. This grouchy fellow, who kept insisting on trying to make his way across the yard and into the street! Now, at the speed he was going, I did not want to risk him getting hit by a car, so I tried to do the nice thing and get him to turn around and go back into the yard and through the backyard. Well, he did not like that a bit, he bit my mop I was trying to move him with and took a big chunk out of it. Geesh, don't know what his problem was, but he wanted to go across the street, despite my attempts to get him to change his mind, so, I let nature takes its course, but I did help him along a bit, by nudging him until he was safely across and I let him go on his "unmerry" way.

These cranes decided they wanted to hang out around my house for a couple of weeks, especially since they discovered we always feed the squirrels, much to the dismay of the squirrels because they would eat all their food. These cranes were both beautiful and very friendly. They stood about 4 feet tall! and there was nothing nicer than the loud squawking noise they made in the morning for me to come and open the blinds so they could look in the house while standing on the patio. They also liked to walk around the house and look in my office/studio window while I was working. They did poke a hole in one of the screens at the back of the house

however, I had to go out and try to chase the culprit off so I could put something there to block him from that one particular spot he liked to peck on.

These little guys still like to dash through the yard every once in a while, never staying long.

Do you like my divider? It is tribute to the animal around my neighborhood that I see constantly! Yep, even coming inside every once in a while...the snake!

Snakes in the cable box outside, snakes in the bushes, the AC, the grass (of course) the house, you name a place, there is a snake! Ahh, the joys of nature.