Close Call

At the beginning of the month we got our community's monthly newsletter with a note that said:

I didn't think much of it because until then I hadn't seen the alligator in our lake and assumed it was just a one time sighting.  However, very quickly I began noticing him/her whenever I'd look over by the lake.

The first photo I caught of "Ali" was while standing on the pier overlooking the water.  The gator just swam up expecting me to feed it.  I took some photos and backed away slowly...

Now whenever I go near the lake I'm extra careful.  Especially now that I have Chelsea who walks with me near the lake.   So today, during the storm I knew Chelsea had to go out because she kept walking over to the gate by the stairs.  So I put the leash on her and picked her up knowing she wouldn't walk down the steps in the rain.  But since it was still raining heavy and there were still a few bolts of lightning in the distance I didn't want to leave the shelter of the building, so I figured I'd take her to the other side of our building, through the breezeway and take her to go on the grass by the stairs by the lake, which was sheltered from the rain a bit by our building.

As soon as I got to the first floor I put her down and walked to the lake area.  But as soon as I stepped out onto the grass I noticed not by 10 feet in front of me there were two eyes peering at me from the water's edge.  And to make it worse, the water had risen from all the rain so what used to be a little wall of land between the water and the grass was now non existent.   The owner of the 2 creepy eyes could have easily lunged out of the water and right onto the land to come after me.   

Without thinking twice I reached down and grabbed Chelsea in my arms (thank God she didn't run from me or freak out) and I took off running back to the other side of the building and up the stairs.  I decided to go to the other end of the breezeway once I got on the 2nd floor, just to look over the lake and see if the gator moved or came out after me.   

He was still there, watching.  So I snapped two photos, with Chelsea still in my arms, before running back to my door:

Here he is peering, you can just make out his eyes and nose.

 Sorry it's so blurry, between the rain and the iPhone zoom

And here is the photo from the top of the steps, so you can see how close he was!  

I was literally right on the grass there, under the steps when I first saw him.

I just feel bad for Chelsea since she has no idea why I'll be changing out walking path from now on...