Predatory Living

Posted on May 10, 2016 by joey

I read Marian Allen’s short story about alligators today and thought maybe I’d tell you about the alligators in Georgia.

First off, there are alligators in Georgia.

As a Hoosier, my experience with alligators was limited. I’d pet and eaten alligator in Florida, how tourists do, but alligators are not native to Indiana, and so not once had I left my house and thought gee, i sure hope no alligators eat me today.

I moved to Georgia mid-June, which means I thought I had moved to the sun. The climate itself was inhospitable, so I had to adapt before I could learn to fear local predatory animals.

I immediately became Uptight White Lady Who Never Leaves Her House.
Things I said that first summer:
“They want to walk around Savannah? In daylight? On purpose?”
“How do people live here? WHY do they live here?”
“There are so many dermatologists…Divorce, pawn, dermatologist, divorce, pawn, dermatologist, divorce, pawn, dermatologist…”
“It don’t rain right here.”
“Does the sun ever even set?”
“They need to plant some fuckin trees, Goddamn!”
“Drink water or you will shrivel up and die like my goat’s beard.”
“Does anything grow here? Can you eat any of this? I don’t think God intended people to live here.”

Within a few months of living in Georgia, we all went to Family Night at the swamp.

Y’all remember the swamp, yeah?

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This was called Mandatory Fun, which The Army was fond of, and which was regularly scheduled so that you could test your endurance for mental anguish. First I was taken into a large screened-in pavilion where I was told my husband would likely die over the winter, then I talked to someone about Pink Floyd because I didn’t know the guy was The fucking Company Commander and then I spent all night worried about the alligators. Specifically, I worried about the alligators eating my children.
I could easily visualize the scenario. A swarm of alligators, their yellow-green eyes glowing in the night, rising from the pond, chomping up Army Brats as they scoured the playground for bigger prey. Everyone running and shrieking as more and more alligators emerged.

When my husband deployed that winter, I took to long walks, which helped me not think as much about his imminent death. I walked sidewalk trails in our neighborhood, one of which curved around a swamp. I hadn’t thought a thing of it — all the walkin and joggin mommies frequented these paths. One day a neighbor kid told me to be careful because he’d seen an alligator in there.
An alligator. A few blocks from my home. Good gravy.
Army wives from Florida said if I didn’t bother the alligators, they wouldn’t bother me.
I used to say the same dumb shit about yellow jackets.

I decided I preferred jogging around the swamp.

After my husband didn’t die, he came home and we made a lot of trips to the VA hospital in Augusta, because what doesn’t kill you will kill your spine. We saw a lot of things on those trips, but mostly we remember the tornado and the alligator. An alligator crossed the road in front of us, and let me tell you, they are WAY faster than my imagination can handle!

I didn’t see another alligator for almost a year.

As every worrier knows, it’s when you stop worrying about things, when you think everything is right as rain, bad stuff happens. One day, on that trail by the swamp, an alligator heaved itself up from behind the cattails and plopped down on the mud in front of me, like it was no big deal.

I ran home.

Several years passed without an alligator sighting.

When we adopted our Sadie dog, I frequently took her to The Swamp of Mandatory Fun to let her walk off-leash. Yes, it was against the rules, but there was never anyone there. Sometimes True and I would take the kids out there to play. It was the closest thing to my version of nature we had. (Sometimes I even saw birds there!) The sun would kill me if I stayed on the sidewalks, the woods harbored wild boars and creeped with stinging nettles and poisonous plants.
The swamp, even with its occasional alligator heads surfacing, was the clear choice.


Coyotes are not frequently spotted in Indianapolis. What predatory animals live where you live? 

About joey

Neurotic Bitch, Mother, Wife, Writer, Word Whore, Foodie and General Go-To-Girl
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82 Responses to Predatory Living

  1. Ally Bean says:
    May 10, 2016 at 5:08 PM

    I don’t like alligators at all. Creepy. I didn’t know they were in GA. Taking that state off my “where to retire to” list. As for around here, we have coyotes. That’s about it.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. eschudel says:
    May 10, 2016 at 5:12 PM

    Living in the city, you wouldn’t think there would be any predatory animals of the four-footed variety, but we have had cougars in our ‘hood. Sometimes even confirmed sightings (as opposed to the hazy photo that reminds you of bigfoot photos)! I remember seeing alligators in Florida – I especially remember my father running over one on the highway. Wasn’t expecting that!

    Liked by 1 person

    • joey says:
      May 10, 2016 at 5:14 PM

      Yes, I have some friends who’ve encountered the big cats as well. They’re out in the country here, as are the coyotes, but as we city dwellers know, as the cities expand…
      I’m suddenly grateful we didn’t run over the alligator. :/

      Liked by 2 people

  3. ghostmmnc says:
    May 10, 2016 at 5:15 PM

    Never heard of an alligator where we are, but there are coyotes. I saw one run across the road in front of the car. Saw some buzzards the other day, too. Glad you and your kids and dog didn’t get eaten by an alligator! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  4. S.K. Nicholls says:
    May 10, 2016 at 5:31 PM

    I live in FL and once owned a house on a large bass lake. It was 14 miles long and eight miles wide but only a few feet deep, eight at it’s greatest. Alligators thrived there and I would frequently come home in the afternoon to a half dozen fourteen footers and few three footers hanging out on my lawn. Needless-to-say, I rarely ventured to the dock.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. joannesisco says:
    May 10, 2016 at 5:42 PM

    I’ve never seen an alligator … not even in a zoo. Nor do I feel like there is any major gap in my life’s experiences because of it. I’m good with it.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. vanbytheriver says:
    May 10, 2016 at 5:42 PM

    Alligators were common in So. Carolina, so we were prepared. Not so much for the wild boar that charged the fence at a neighborhood pool. ☺

    Liked by 2 people

    • joey says:
      May 10, 2016 at 5:43 PM

      OMG. No. That is NOT okay.

      Liked by 1 person

    • baldjake70 says:
      May 10, 2016 at 6:34 PM

      During my three month stay at Marine Corp Recruit Depot Parris Island, SC we were told stories about alligators. There was one obstacle on the Confidence Course that had a rope suspended over water. It was a single line that required us to slide down on our bellies the first third of the way down, then flip over and pull ourselves head first another third of the way, and finishing with flipping our feet to the front to go the rest of the way. The Drill Instructors would tease us that they spotted Wally Gator in the area so we best not fall in the water. I never fell once!

      Liked by 2 people

  7. undiscoverdimagesamongstus says:
    May 10, 2016 at 6:14 PM

    Your blog is like reading or watching a horror story/movie waiting for the monster to jump out (LOL). Just wondering, do they sell gator insurance there? It wouldn’t help you if you’re the victim but your beneficiaries would have a whale of a story to tell. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  8. John Holton says:
    May 10, 2016 at 6:36 PM

    Mandatory fun comes with civilian jobs, too.

    Pardon me for asking it this way, but: What kind of idiot tells you your husband’s going to be killed?

    I’m glad I live far enough away from the swamps of south Georgia that I don’t have to worry about alligators. Our predators are smaller than that. In fact, the only one I can think of are the hawks. We have a few in the neighborhood and they do their best to rid it of squirrels, chipmunks, and smaller birds. We’ve seen a couple fly off with dinner in its talons. Beautiful birds when they’re soaring overhead, though.

    Liked by 2 people

    • joey says:
      May 10, 2016 at 6:44 PM

      My husband has successfully avoided civilian jobs that include mandatory fun. We are all so glad.
      The guy who told us that was some important guy, I don’t know. Death is an inescapable theme on Army bases. It’s the warning, the paperwork, the sound of artillery at home and abroad, the funerals, the injuries that lead to ICU, the tree-planting ceremonies…it’s everywhere.

      I’m glad your critters are more the hawk sort. Why, I’ve never seen a hawk carry off a child. (And I hope I never do!)

      Liked by 2 people

    • baldjake70 says:
      May 10, 2016 at 6:48 PM

      He was our commanding officer. It was, for a lack of a better way of saying it, to inform the families of the severity of danger we were about to face, and to be honest that some would not be making it home alive. The truth is that our company did not lose a single person. We had people that were injured, but no one died. We pretty much came home with the ones we left with.

      Liked by 2 people

  9. baldjake70 says:
    May 10, 2016 at 6:42 PM

    I have been places that have poisonous spiders, scorpions, and snakes. Obviously the gators and boars were fun to contend with as well. One night at a professional development school a wild boar got trapped in the basket ball court that was fenced in next to our barracks. We heard a strange sound that prompted us to go look. We started banging on the windows, which freaked the boar out. He would keep ramming into the fence trying to escape. Finally he charged one last time and forced himself under the fence. He injured himself in the process, but escaped victoriously to run in the wood another day. There were coyotes that used to sing to us at night at 29 Palms. They were off in the distance a good ways. We knew they were waiting for us to fall asleep so that they could scavenge any food we had left out in our training area. They did not dare to do it except at night though.
    Oh the stories of nature. There are so many! The field exercises in the military are filled with them.

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Susanne says:
    May 10, 2016 at 7:06 PM

    Got coyotes on the crik path that I can see from my back deck. Have encountered them on my walks with the small white dog (aka prey) in winter and summer and promptly turn and walk away and don’t look back and head for cement.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Fannie Frankfurter says:
    May 10, 2016 at 7:09 PM

    I’d never given any thought to alligators in Georgia (probably because I don’t think about gators in general on the regular), but I would be on high alert constantly if I knew they were in my area.
    I would be that way with most creatures though. After watching Ghoulies sometime I check the toilet before sitting down.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. orbthefirst says:
    May 10, 2016 at 8:35 PM

    Bears, mostly, but theres others, too. Cougars, badgers (which are mean af btw,) coyotes, Brown Recluse spiders, all types of predatory birds, turkey vultures probably being the worst, and eagles being the biggest..the one animal Im NOT looking forward to seeing though that Ive heard we have but have not yet run into: rattlesnakes. Ive seen plenty of snakes out here, mostly harmless..but I get nervous when digging through brush piles because of those.
    Closest we get to alligators though are snapping turtles. Theyre dangerous..and they get HUGE..but theyre slow, mostly. At least on land. They closed a swim area of the Apple River out here because of one. It lives around where I fish. 😛

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Dan Antion says:
    May 10, 2016 at 8:45 PM

    A friend of mine and I drove from Orlando to the Space Center. On the way back, we saw several alligators on the side of the road. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. I thought “what would you do if you had a flat tire?” Not a fan. Not a fan of yellow jackets either, but at least they can’t have me for dinner. We do have coyotes here, and hawks and eagles.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. startswithmyra says:
    May 10, 2016 at 9:19 PM

    Living in the city has it’s adventures like the smell of a skunk or is that just some good weed! I did pass a full shopping cart today on my walk and wonder what was in it.
    The only predator I must avoid on a daily is the creepy hairy guy who lives next door.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Josh Wrenn says:
    May 10, 2016 at 9:25 PM

    Yeah, alligators would freak me out. The only thing I can think of here, since it is a city, is the HUGE raccoons. They live pretty much everywhere, but here, they are massive!

    Liked by 1 person

    • joey says:
      May 10, 2016 at 10:06 PM

      If I recall, you also have some crows as big as basketballs, yeah? We rarely see raccoons in the city here. Now and again, they prove to be a nuisance in attics and whatnot, but it’s rare, like squirrel infestations.
      I am lucky and our squirrels live in my neighbor’s huge maple tree, about 200 feet above us. I have never seen a raccoon here in this neighborhood, but I’ve seen a pile o’ possums and my dog has been skunked.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Josh Wrenn says:
        May 11, 2016 at 1:29 AM

        Yeah, we have pretty big crows. They are cool, usually. Skunks are awful, I’m sure there is some on the outskirts. No possums, unless kept as a pet by the musician who bucks for cash at Pike. The squirrels here stay outside, I think. They are large here. Much bigger than in Reno. Big fluffy, tails. They run on the power lines behind the building. Not exactly what I’d call a predator though.

        Liked by 1 person

  16. Nancy says:
    May 10, 2016 at 9:31 PM

    The worst we have here are the occasional raccoon and some mutan squirrels that can chew through my plastics garbage cans. I don’t think I would like to have to worry about dodging alligators during my evening walks and I have seen some news stories about people who have found them swimming in their in ground pools (not sure if this occurred in Georgia 😉)

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Lisa Lancaster says:
    May 10, 2016 at 11:56 PM

    Oh gosh, alligators. In Australia we have crocodiles. Luckily I live in Sydney and not Darwin where they live. I did go on a holiday to Darwin once and did a boat cruise to feed the Crocs. Yes, we encouraged then next to the little boat to feed them hunks of meat. Yes, I paid for the privilege. I’m nuts. Motoring out on the river you could see all their heads poking up. Still makes my skin crawl. In Sydney, we only really have venomous animals – redback spiders and brown snakes are pretty bad. Especially inside the house. Oh and the great white and bull sharks are pretty vicious.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Prior-2001 says:
    May 11, 2016 at 4:06 AM

    that swamp sounds like a really nice get away – and a little off leash time is ok at times.. right?

    Liked by 1 person

  19. dalecooper57 says:
    May 11, 2016 at 5:34 AM

    Owls, buzzards and other birds of prey and foxes, that’s about as dangerous as it gets round here.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Benson says:
    May 11, 2016 at 6:28 AM

    Oh no the dreaded gator jackets. When I lived in New Mex I stayed in a trailer outside of town and I had a coyote come close up and howl. I started bring him/her scraps from the kitchen which only increased our bond and the serenades Now the only predatory critters around are the two legged kind.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. bikerchick57 says:
    May 11, 2016 at 8:02 AM

    I face a predatory animal every morning at 4:00 a.m. He stands on my chest and looks at me as if I were a pork chop in need of a chomp.

    In all seriousness, there are no alligators in Wisconsin other than in a zoo. We have coyotes, wolves and bear, mostly in the northern part of the state. In the city, I only have to deal with chipmunks, squirrels, an occasional lost deer, and a pack of wild turkeys. It’s pretty safe to go out for a walk or bike ride.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. coldhandboyack says:
    May 11, 2016 at 9:10 AM

    We have all kinds of stuff here. They usually remove a mountain lion from town every winter. Every spring there is a bear. Two weeks ago there was a coyote outside my office window. We have wolves in the backwoods too.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. caligirl559 says:
    May 11, 2016 at 1:48 PM

    I cant believe you encountered so many gators when you lived in GA! I didn’t see any except when we went to The Crab Shack by Tybee. I shared the photo collage I made memorializing that moment on your timeline. I saw turtles or tortoises by our neighborhood there and deer. We took the kids exploring and we saw a boar. I mostly stayed in the car with the girls. On another day all the boys went hunting and I did not want to go on that adventure.You did live there longer though, so I guess that would increase the spotting of dangerous wildlife. Here in Port Hueneme, CA the biggest predators are the seagulls and blackbirds..lol they attack the trashcans when they gather together on Tuesday mornings. The devastation is real! In TX it was scorpions and tarantulas. When they were out in the field and they said they would just walk across their boots and they had to shake out there clothes in the mornings! No Thank You! Nothing really in WA, too much rain kept me mostly indoors. Oh, one day when we were on a walk, a swarm of bees passed by. I’m glad gators are not in the inlets here. I don’t go in the Ocean because a lot of things live in there and I don’t want to advertise that lunch is served!

    Liked by 1 person

    • joey says:
      May 11, 2016 at 3:17 PM

      Thank you, now I know WHO YOU ARE! Ironically, it’s your eldest who warned me about the gator behind the circle! Ferreal!

      Like

  24. garym6059 says:
    May 11, 2016 at 2:06 PM

    So tell me how do you really feel about a Georgian summer? Not much to worry about in Indiana a pack of coyotes or a copperhead is about it. Or a pissed of goose after they have babies.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. jan says:
    May 11, 2016 at 3:20 PM

    Every now and then someone spots a mountain lion in my neighborhood, generally chasing a dog, cat or deer. Not a kitty you want on your lap!

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Laura says:
    May 11, 2016 at 3:32 PM

    We have large hawks & buzzards that swoop overhead. I used to get nervous when we let the dachshund out & would hustle her back in if they started circling near the house. Oh, and there are bobcats near the cabin (10 minutes from here) — we don’t fool around when we take the dogs out there!!

    Liked by 1 person

  27. bedlamanddaisies says:
    May 11, 2016 at 4:09 PM

    Diamondback Rattlers and Alligators were all over when I lived in Florida. I think there are bears and coyotes that roam around here, but I’ve yet to see one. Fingers crossed that I never do!!

    Liked by 1 person

  28. larva225 says:
    May 11, 2016 at 8:30 PM

    Gators are a huge thing here in Louisiana. My husband and I have been in our kayaks and had 10 footers surface fairly close. Honestly, though, I worry more about the damn fire ants!!!

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Anxious Mom says:
    May 12, 2016 at 2:48 AM

    Lord, alligators. Some relatives of my live in the swampy parts of SC and when I was a kid, we’d go down to visit, and were always told to watch out for gators. Well, my dad decided that I should go night fishing on a flimsy ass little boat in the swamp when I was 13, and let me tell you, if you want to see someone’s anxiety go from 0 to 60, that’s it when the lights shine on the water and you see those damn red gator eyes all around.

    Liked by 1 person

  30. reocochran says:
    May 12, 2016 at 4:58 PM

    I have heard of wolves, coyotes and feral animals, mainly an occasional bald eagle or hawk. Ohio is rather “tame” in animals, Joey. I do think it was scary when we saw a few alligators in a lake in Florida. It wasn’t supposed to have them! Then, when we were fishing I saw a snake that looked poisonous, but cannot be sure! It made me shriek!

    Liked by 1 person

    • joey says:
      May 13, 2016 at 11:14 AM

      For me, after spending so much time at the lake as a kid, any snake that’s in the water is to be feared. I would shriek too!

      Like

  31. April says:
    May 13, 2016 at 10:45 AM

    I enjoy your stories of Georgia so much. I felt much the same thing when we moved here the end of June. Three days later I got sick and was sure it was a fungus from all the humidity. There are rare sightings of alligators in the Chattahoochee, love that word, but I think the worst predatory animal where we live are the natives. (no offense, bless their hearts) They don’t like Yankees.

    Liked by 1 person

    • joey says:
      May 13, 2016 at 11:08 AM

      I too, love the word Chattahoochee! 🙂
      No Ma’am, they don’t like Yankees, not that they’d ever be so rude as to admit it.
      We had strep in our family so often when we lived in Georgia. They say it’s the fire ants and the humidity — perfect culture for it. It was awful. And the pine tree allergies…
      I’m glad you enjoy my Georgia posts 🙂 Thanks!

      Liked by 1 person

      • April says:
        May 13, 2016 at 11:13 AM

        We came from the Pacific Northwest and air conditioning is a real luxury since it is only hot enough to actually use one for about 5 days a year. With all the pollen here, we sometimes turn on the a/c in March because we can’t breathe and it’s too hot to sleep. We have lucked out this year with some cooler days after the great pollen fall.

        Liked by 1 person

        • joey says:
          May 13, 2016 at 11:18 AM

          That doesn’t surprise me in the least. If I remember correctly, you live farther north in the pretty section of Georgia? I lived two hours from Jacksonville, Florida. I pretty much ran my air all year. There were two winters I never even used the heat. When I did run it, I only did it downstairs.
          Too hot to sleep is a miserable problem!

          Liked by 1 person

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