The Dentist Will See You Now

by

An American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) with grinning open mouth in Everglades National Park, Florida. (© Jonathan Gewirtz, jonathan@gewirtz.net)

 

11 thoughts on “The Dentist Will See You Now”

  1. I seriously considered joining a friend in practice in Fort Myers in 1972. Probably should have although he was having marital trouble and I thought it might complicate financial agreement later. Cape Coral was a brand new development.

    Another reason was the fact that the golf course water holes were full of gators. Nobody looked for lost balls near water holes. I had a friend in Naples, just south of there. There, they would feed the gators and crocs from the deck during cocktail parties. Not a great idea. They lost a lot of dogs to them. Gorgeous place, though. You could walk out into the Gulf from his house and walk a half mile before the water got to your chest. Warm as a bathtub.

  4. That gator’s annoyed, not angry. Its mouth would be open wider for a stronger threat display. I’ve seen gators throw fits when cyclists sped by them. They’ll calm down after a few minutes.

    Once I was standing by a bayou, a few feet away from a gator, when a cyclist road up, stopped, put his feet down, and asked me if I’d seen any gators. “Like that one by your foot?”

  5. I think the open mouth may be a way to regulate body temperature when they are basking. They open their mouths slowly and keep them open, and not always when people are around.

    I went to the Anhinga Trail this morning. Lots of gator noises. They make a sound that is sort of a cross between a bullfrog sound and a grunt.

  6. Years ago my uncle took me on a day bass-fishing trip to Lake Okeechobee. What an interesting trip that was – leaving Vero Beach at Oh-dark-thirty – having breakfast right outside the lake in a little town (biscuits and gravy) that would make you think you were in the rural deep south (well I guess we were) – getting on that bass boat – screaming down a waterway and seeing all these gators on the shore scurrying to the water.

    Dozens of them.

    The lake was interesting – out in the middle you could hardly see land – but maybe 10′ deep.

    Water as still as glass.

  7. Bill, at Fort Myers the Caloosahatchee River is a mile wide and three feet deep. There is a dredged channel in the middle but you can wade across except for that.

  8. Michael – I think that whole area of FL is interesting. (the middle third) My aunt bought a condo at Vero Beach along the Indian River before that town became urbanized – then she moved to Lake Wales – about 50 miles S of Orlando. Ft Pierce is to me an undiscovered gem.

    And “Alligator Alley” – the cattle ranches – and Yeehaw Junction.

    Nothing really interesting at Yeehaw Junction except to say I like to say it ;-)

    That trip to Lake Okeechobee was so memorable – the boat was out so far you couldn’t see land – and yet you could see the lake bottom – 8-10″ down?

    Ir’s an area of FL that doesn’t fit the stereotype.

  9. There is a road on the levee around Lake Okeechobee. It’s more than 100 miles in length and closed to motor vehicles. People go there to do long bike rides.

  10. >>> The Dentist Will See You Now

    I don’t care what they say, that’s just a total croc.

  11. >>> Gorgeous place, though. You could walk out into the Gulf from his house and walk a half mile before the water got to your chest. Warm as a bathtub.

    Funny, I’ve always DESPISED the Gulf beaches for exactly that reason. Give me the Atlantic coast any day.

    Just goes to show how preferences vary wildly from person to person.

    Which shows the folderol of one-size-fits-all government central control.

Comments are closed.