good intentions, but . . .

I had every intention of doing several sketches last week. After all, we had 4 1/2 days camping in this beautiful forest alongside Lake Raven. But the day we headed out, I discovered that I had indeed caught Bill’s head cold (he was over it quickly). And let’s just say it was bad enough to go through a new box of tissues per day.

I loved experiencing the peace and quiet (interrupted by my hacking) but had no energy for hiking the many nature trails or sketching anything at all. Even with the Huge Alligator nearby as a “model”.

On the day before leaving, I was determined to get at least one sketch in . . . and the above is the sad result. Totally failed to capture the beauty around me.

I was leery of camping so close to alligators at first. But I came to love this old geezer of a ‘gator after listening to stories from the park host and a couple of fishermen. He hangs around the pier as people fish, sometimes stealing their catch as it is pulled to the water surface — hook, line, and all. It’s an added challenge for the fisherman to get the fish out before he nabs it.

About 14 feet long, he has scars on his back from people throwing bricks at him. I saw a family sitting near the bank throwing branches at him, trying to get him to move around. If he had wanted to, he could have easily pulled one of them into the lake. Other visitors have been known to throw whole chickens to him, not realizing that ‘gators who look to people as a source of food have to be destroyed. This old guy does not come on shore (possibly being so heavy?) but there are a couple of younger alligators northeast of the pier who have been seen out of the water. The host moved some tent campers to a safer location for now; she said they will need to be captured and relocated in a non-public area.

People visit this park but it’s home for the wildlife. We all need to respect that and leave these creatures alone.