Is it a Florida Black Panther or a Black Bobcat? Turns out it’s neither. It’s a neighborhood house cat that stops by periodically to drink from my swimming pool (It’s a non-chlorine pool).


We get all sorts of critters drinking out of the pool including raccoons and opossums and on more than one occasion I’ve see frogs swimming around in there. A local once warned me to check the pool for snakes before swimming at night.

While I haven’t seen any snakes in the pool, I have seen them in the yard. The Black Racer snake that was lying on my doormat recently was three feet long and fast moving. He gave me such a start that I screamed. I’m sure, in his own way, he did the same when he saw me marching towards him, grocery bundles in tow.


In early September, I saw a giant toad out in the yard.  It stood 6 inches tall and raced me to the gate waiting, I presumed, to be let out. Why he just didn’t open the gate himself was beyond me, he was that big!


And back in August I saw an iguana on the side of the road by the Intracoastal drawbridge. At first I thought it was one of those plastic lizards available at The Discovery Channel Store that some kid had chucked out the back window of his daddy’s car, but when the iguana winked at me I knew better.

I’ve discovered many adventures here in South Florida each more fascinating than the last. Sometimes it takes me forever to get to my destination simply because I’m compelled to stop and take pictures of everything. Sometimes I just have to leave my camera at home!

My wish for you today is that you create your own adventures if for no other reason than to keep you young and alive and interested in the world around you.

<*(((><

copyright 2009 Diana Taylor, Pug At The Beach
Photo credit: Diana Taylor (cat), Marcia (snake) Bill Wuller (toad)

I’ve given credit here in these photos where appropriate along with a web address if you’d like to explore the subject further. Regarding the Black Panther, visit wptv.com our local TV channel for more on Florida’s Black Panther, which, according to wptv’s Danielle Dubetz, is the Loch Ness Monster of South Florida.

For cut & paste:
http://www.wptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=796d0da5-7674-495e-b4d7-1261e366fc24 (panther)
http://www.floridaconservation.org/viewing/species/snakesn.html (snakes)
http://www.myspace.com/mmeara (photo of snake)
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extension/wildlife_info/frogstoads/bufo_marinus.php (toads)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License (photo of toad)
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2008/07/080703160749-large.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080703160749.htm&usg=__p9dymDPn0O-gmMoJ9B-ixMGJmro=&h=385&w=600&sz=50&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=OG6Q41D4kuxrmM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgiant%2Btoads%2Bin%2Bflorida&um%3D1&hl%3Den&client%3Dfirefox-a&rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official&sa%3DN (more toads)