Welcome to my new home. This is the apartments where I recently moved to. A really nice place. As you can see in the pic below it has a nice lake view:



Here is what the lake view looks like from my apartment balcony:



Not bad, kinda nice at night. Behind those trees is the main road, its nice not to have all that noise but still having the city life close by. But there's one thing I'd like you guys to notice about this pic.



See that little spot in the red circle? Yea, that little spot just 15 feet away from my balcony, there lives my new little buddy.



Say hello to my good buddy Mr 2 foot gator. Yup, I have a pet gator in my lake. I had been warned by the apartment management not to allow the kids near the lake areas due to gators living in them. It's common here in Florida. I just had never seen one till today, after the rains from Tropical Storm Fay came around. He's a small fella, which would only indicate that there may be a much bigger one around there. My neighbor says his momma is about 3 times bigger, that's 6 feet for those of you counting fingers. Yup, I got a new pet gator, and today he seems to like being just outside my balcony, just slightly close to the edge of the lake.

When I sent this image to mys sister in Puerto Rico her response was that of a person who just came face to face with Godzilla. I told her not to worry, the kids don't like playing outside anyways and so far have yet to hear about any incidents with gator, though the kids from around the area don't seem to be scared at all. I, on the other hand, find myself terrified every time I see them playing near the lake. I just don't see myself transforming into the Crocodile Hunter and jumping into the water to save one of these kids. Scooby Doo would seem more appropriate for my reaction.

So there you have it folks, I got a new friend, and I am glad to have him as a long distance one. This is one lake I will definitely enjoy from a distance. Amazing the world we live in.