Just about 10 years ago, Hubby and I made a trip to Florida to help friends of ours celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. As sometimes happens other friends of ours were out of town and needed someone to care for their dog, Woody. Hubby and I were arriving late and agreed to watch Woody, in exchange for a place to stay. Woody was a Golden Retriever, and at that stage I’d had no real experience with caring for a large dog.
Our friends lived on a canal and as often happens in Florida especially for those who live around water, you get the occasional ‘gator. I’m the type of person who doesn’t care for confrontations, but when they are inevitable, I prefer to meet them head on and get it over with quickly. Unless of course, I’m dealing with a wild animal that has the potential to be deadly. Then I’m full on chicken, turning tail and running.
It was late one night and quite dark and I took Woody out for his last potty break of the night. I felt like walking so Woody and I headed down the road. We got about four houses away from where Woody lived, when I noticed something very still on the front lawn of a dark house. I stopped and stared trying to determine what it was in the dark. From where I stood it looked like a fairly large ‘gator and so I turned around and began walking quickly but carefully back towards the house. I knew that ‘gators have the ability to move very quickly when they spot prey, so while I was hustling my ass out of there, I kept looking behind me to see if it was following us and to make sure that my ass remained behind me and not is some ‘gator’s mouth.
If I recall correctly, Woody was taking his sweet Golden time and I could feel the panic rising, but somehow, miraculously Woody and I made it safely back to the house, both of us with our asses intact.
In the bright sunshine of the next day, I realized the ‘gator I’d seen the previous night, was nothing more than a palm frond that had either been cut or had fallen from a tree. Being human I felt very foolish at my flight from the night before.
Dogs on the other hand, don’t feel foolish, I’m sure it didn’t phase Woody one bit that I dragged him away from a palm frond.
I was reminded of this story last week when Sampson dragged me across the street to inspect, what I thought and I’m fairly certain he thought was a lizard.
What is that?
But as the title indicates, and the gator story proves, things aren’t always what they seem to be.
Hmpf, it’s just a piece of bark.
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Haha, we’d avoid the late night walk if we knew gators were out there 😉
The amount of times I have crossed the road to avoid what has turned out to be a scary bit of leaf or stick, and on a couple of occasions I have been now to run away from a shit scary tree. Nature can be very frightening!!
My sisters and I get all worked up about stuff that is really nothing more than dirt or leaves or the like, it happens to Mom too. Eyes can sure play some good tricks on us!
Two words. Bring a flashlight! OK – that’s 3 words, but still… Don’t go out in the dark without a flashlight. Gah. I hate the dark!
Oh yea, I can see that happening…lol. I bet Sampson was disappointed at his discovery.
Great story! I can totally see myself doing the same thing. Then there’s the little things….how many times have the dogs had a piece of dirt on them that I was convinced was a tick (which totally freak me out every time I find one)?
Better safe than sorry, especially at night! Yeah, we do feel foolish at times for erring on the side of caution; but better to feel foolish than not be able to feel at all.
Woody sounds like a typical Golden — “hey man, I gotta stop and smell the flowers, rocks, grass, fire hydrants, and whatever else I see!” Callie and Shadow have gone from the hyper-happy, jump up and knock you over, lick you to death stage to the mellow yellow, stop-sniff-scratch, stage with seemingly no middle ground. But, I love their attitude even though at times it frustrates me and makes me impatient. Having Ducky around brings back memories of Callie’s and Shadow’s adolescence. And I love every minute of it!
We’d be lucky to get mom to leave the house if she thought they’d be gators out there.
These remind me of the GREAT scene from On Golden Pond … where the woman says…
THAT is a LAWN CHAIR… BaaaaWaaaah.
Lol! It’s amazing how our eyes (and minds) play tricks on us. I live in Louisiana, and gators are fairly common. I was driving along the interstate one day with my sister, and saw something on the shoulder of the road. “Oh my God! It’s an alligator”, I screamed. Then we passed it. “No, it’s not. It’s a tire,” she said matter-of-factly. She was right. Some vehicle had had a blow out, and the remains of the tire were stretched out on the shoulder of the road, looking suspiciously like the bumps on an alligator’s back. Guess I need to watch something besides Swamp People…..lol.
PS – Thumper gets freaked out about stuff in the yard. Fallen leaves really get his fur up. I imagine he found a critter under one once that scared the crap out of him, so now leaves are evil. 🙂
Better than a gator any time.
BOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!! Things can look so deceiving in the dark!!!! And even sometimes in the light! I am just glad that it wasn’t a gator and that you made it back ok! There was a time when I was walking the dogs down by the river and it was after dark, it looked like there was something GIANT swimming in the river! I had to get a bit closer to inspect, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Needless to say, I went back the next day, and there was a huge log stuck part way under water, and the current was turning a corner right over top of the log, so it made ripples as if something was swimming. I had my foolish moment at that point! BOL!!!
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I’ve done that so many times. FYI – gators aren’t too quick on land. Water? Stay out of the water. But they’re slower on land. Unless you’re falling down drunk in Florida near a pond. Plenty of fun gator stories involve people stumbling out of bars near ponds. Heh.
Things that go bump in the night are often very harmless in the light of day. I’ve never been in gator country but I’ve seen a lot of bears that turned out to be bushes.
Too funny!!! I’m glad I’m not the only one this kind of thing happens too. A couple of weeks ago I was going home and was sure I’d seen an injured cat on the side of the road. I went through 3 lanes of rush hour traffic to get turned around and back to the spot (not an easy thing to with exits so far between), and when I got to where I was sure the cat was, I realized it was a piece of tire… Don’t ask… I laugh at myself every time I pass “the cat” now! 🙂
That happens to Veruca and I all the time. It is usually a fallen tree branch in the road, but in the dark it could be anything!
Too funny…that happens to me frequently – not alligators, but seeing something in the distance and assuming the worst!
Too funny. I’ve done similar things a few times. I should blog the story of the baby seal… Long story! But just yesterday I was convinced a small dog in the distance running loose was a coyote – not as crazy as it sounds, since it came up out of the canyon, where coyotes are known to hang out. Once we realized it was a dog we tried to catch it, but no luck. 🙁 It kept hanging out by this one house, so hopeful that as it’s home!!
We’ve been there and done that. Once my dogs saw a tree trunk from far away, and they were convinced it was some kind of animal that was hunched stiffly and therefore threatening. We had to walk up to it slowly. A few sniffs later and they were all, “Oh, we knew that all along.”
–Wags (and purrs) from Life with Dogs and Cats
hahaha glad you got out of there with your asses intact! Love it! Those dogs have to check everything out. Have a great night.
Oh, I don’t blame you! I’m terrified of gators–that is one thing I do not miss about living in the south! I once thought a large tree stump in the distance was a bear. Our apartment complex just did some work in the yards and there are little brown stakes all over the place that I’m pretty sure Barley thinks are squirrels. So, you are definitely not alone with your eyes playing tricks on you!