[at-l] tract homes

[RoksnRoots@aol.com (RoksnRoots@aol.com)]

In a message dated 2/11/02 2:37:51 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
KellyGoVols@aol.com writes:


>  a man 
> made lake that you can't swim in, fish in, or canoe in and with a community 
> pool that's only open between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Thursdays.


    *** I hate sprawl too. Problem is it's so lucrative to the developers and 
such a solid component of our GNP. You'll bring cocaine cartels around before 
those guys. 
     We have the exact same set-up as you describe, however it isn't all bad. 
The pool is nice to swim in through most of the winter except for maybe 10 
days that are too chilly. 1 pool serves the neighborhood for over 50 houses. 
Restrictions disallow private pools on your lot for conservation reasons. 
(Not endorsing, just explaining)
    The man-made lake is about 4 acres. In it a sole alligator stakes his 
territory. It's a male that has grown to about 7 feet and fattened up since 
we moved in. He lurks, stalks, and groans keeping you alert whenever you 
visit the pond's edge. Gators won't stalk something they can't easily take, 
so most adults are safe. Not so for the numerous egrets, herons, curve-billed 
Ibis', and other tropical wading birds that frequent the pond looking for 
minnows and pond critters. Occasionally, while sitting on the porch, I'll 
hear a snap and thrashing and turn around to see an egret being ripped apart 
by the alligator's full body whipping snaps designed to instantly break the 
birds neck. Can't get used to that, but it turns out the breeding areas put 
out enormous new generations of young fledglings every year. So, it's part of 
the natural cycle. Just today I saw the juvenile orange and white patched 
plumage of a young Ibis hunting the pond edge. 
     In this neighborhood, mostly full of retired elderly folks, I've found 
the local wildlife to be surprisingly adjusted to human presence. I guess 
they don't have a choice, but the subtropical environment is so fecund and 
productive that most of what they need still manages to survive. Many days 
endangered Everglades Wood Storks light down and wade the pond's edge. I've 
watched their wing shadow hunting technique (the same one on nature programs) 
many a time right from the porch. Diving Anhingas often come up with a small 
pumpkin seed fish speared in their sharp-pointed beak. They'll bite it a 
couple times by flipping it up and catching it, then they'll position it head 
first in order to swallow with the scales and fins in the right direction. 
Every day I hear Osprey calling and sometimes see a group soaring and 
screeching over the pond. They move right into the man-made telephone 
pole-top nests as if they appreciated it. There's a family in the nest across 
the street in the neighbor's back yard. A Bald Eagle nest in an Australian 
Pine just froze another controversial development nearby.
    Yesterday I watched a Red Shouldered Hawk eat an Anole lizard perched 
across the street where the tree surgeons were propping up some blown over 
trees from Tropical Storm Gabrielle. The birds are smart enough to know that 
workers flush prey out of hiding. I saw a highway crew cutting overgrown 
swamp trees back from the highway. Dangerously close to the large hydraulic 
shovel were several egrets waiting for lizards to fall out of the branches. I 
had to marvel that this was probably the same instinct they had when waiting 
for a dinosaur to do the same while munching trees. I regularly watch Ospreys 
swooping into the man-made pond to try and snatch a fish. Seeing one perched 
on a pole or roof top devouring a fish is common place. Recently, I just came 
to realize that the haunting shrieking I occasionally hear at night while 
surfing AT-L is a rabbit being caught by a Bobcat or other predator. Poor 
rabbits are the bottom of the food chain fish of the terrestrial species. 
There's enough of them though, you won't see them, but there all over the 
place. Gopher tortoises and armadillos too. About twice a year I see a bobcat 
come out on the bike path. I followed one for a few hundred yards once. It 
didn't seem to mind me. Another time one was acting strange and sat down 12 
yards from me. I stood and watched making cat moans to see what it would do. 
It just sat and stared to the other side of the road. I soon saw a very thin 
and scared kitten poke its head up to see what to do. It was too scared to 
cross. The mother crossed over to get it and came back next to me. I left, 
not wanting to spook the kitten back into the road. Those green Bobcat cats 
eyes are like looking into another dimension. Funny for something that is 
rare on the Trail to be common in your town! It's not all a happy ending 
though. I just saw a local talking about how much less wildlife there is here 
from just 30 years ago.
     Our backyard has strict restrictions. It's a real Amazon-type wetland 
that reliably floods every August to September. It's strange to see 12 inch 
fish swimming amidst the landscaping in summer when it's high and dry now in 
winter. Well, I guess the only moral to this description would be suggesting 
that inhabitants surrender the middle-class landscaped yard and let natural 
vegetation grow in where possible. The other day I found a wild Guava tree in 
the subtropical bush (I can't call it forest). Guava is a tropical fruit 
tree. I can't help but imagine it came from the droppings of a migrating bird.
     We are allowed a garden if it doesn't infringe on wetlands. Winter is 
the best season, so growing a garden isn't a problem in the dry swamp. I use 
earthboxes that grow vegetables in soil-filled plastic troughs with automatic 
watering. This week our spring happened with our citrus trees throwing new 
sprouts and new bird calls being heard from the deck. The tomatoes are 
planted as are the peppers and beans. There are at least 4 months here where 
heating or cooling isn't necessary for an AT person...


  



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