More from the beach

SANDY: I saw an appledater!! I saw an appledater!!

JODIE: Hold it Sandy, you're too excited. You're thinking of alligator, but even at that you are wrong. It was a crocodile.

SANDY: Appledater, alligator, crocodile.....who cares? What's the difference?

COCO: Gosh, people think that I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know the difference between alligators and crocodiles. Heck, I'm a Florida dog and I thought that all Florida dogs knew about alligators and crocodiles.

SANDY: So how come you guys know so much about alligators and crocodiles?

JODIE: Well, Sandy, alligators are a fact of life. That's why we NEVER get to go swimming in a lake or stream at home, we always swim in the pool.

COCO: Ya know Jodie, Sandy wasn't with us when we went all over the country, swimming in all kinds of lakes, rivers, and oceans. She missed out on swimming into the current of a river and letting it bring you downstream. Then we get out, run up along the shore and do it again.

JODIE: You are 100% correct. Mark this down......on this date Coco was right. I think we aught to explain what we're talking about.

COCO: OK, I'll go first. Nearly every day for the last several weeks we get to romp in the surf. We chase tennis balls or sticks and have a great time. Mom and Dad are very patient and let us stay out until we get tired.

SANDY: Actually, they let us stay out as long as we stay engrossed in the water. When one of us turns our attention to grubbing along the high tide line looking for fish bits, the day is OVER.

JODIE: They don't like us to roll in dead fish either.

COCO: Yes, yes, but the point is that we have been going out every day and each day is about the same as the last. That's why we've been behind in our blog. Now we have something new to add.

SANDY: Yup, the appledater.

JODIE: No!!! The crocodile! Dad puts us in the Jeep and drives way down the beach so we can play rough where there are no people. He drives beyond the place they call "The Lagoon", which supposedly has a crocodile in it.

COCO: Supposedly my paw! We saw that sucker on the way home. Dad didn't have a camera so there was no picture to prove it.

JODIE: Aha!! Today he had the camera and the crocodile was there and we have proof.

This is the "Croc". Dad says that if you look at the distance from the nose to the eyes, it seems like a lot of his tail is underwater and others have estimated his length at 10 or 11 feet.



This is the "Lagoon". It doesn't connect with the ocean except when extremely high tides was a wave or two far enough in to add to the lagoon. It really backs up to a swamp.



Here we are frolicking in the surf.

And here we are running back to get a stick or a tennis ball.

JODIE: So we just wanted you to know that there is a little excitement down here and we want to make sure that Sandy knows that crocodiles are not dog friendly. Crocodiles EAT dogs. Thankfully, Dad and Mom keep and eye out and don't let us get too close to danger.

SANDY: OK, I get it. What ever else we do, we do not get near alligators and crocodiles.

COCO: Now you've got it, Sandy. As time goes on you'll be swimming in a lot more places and you can be sure that Mom and Dad will make sure they're safe.

JODIE: And they always end up the same way, we go back to the camper and get washed down and well dried with a number of towels. AAAHHHH, what a life!