FOR dinner. We have lived on the James A Chicielo Wildlife Preserve for six years and it has brought us great pleasure watching the wildlife that has at one time or another lived in it or visited it. We have watched a coyote dig for frogs, we have been loudly serenaded by frogs after a long period of drought and then abundant rain. It seems they can live months without water and then when it rains they come out and sing for hours. We love to hear them, and yet I spoke to a neighbor who can’t stand the noise. We have seen large turtles exiting, a bobcat has been known to visit, Sean and other neighbors have seen him. We have had the ducks, coot hens that look like black chickens with a red comb, have their chicks right outside our back door. There was nothing more fun than to see them navigate across the small pond at the foot of our yard on the lily pads. It seemed they were playing a game of tag as they jumped from one pad to the next, their mother watching dutifully over them. We watched a coot hen and a mallard duck try to protect their nests out in the larger part of the preserve, as an alligator slowly made his way toward them. Their racket had alerted us to the fact something was happening and it sure was. I didn’t want to watch, but did. Sean always says that is nature, but he normally doesn’t want to watch, but he did too. As the alligator got closer the coot hen’s and the duck’s screeching got louder, they jumped up and down in desperation flapping their wings, but he just kept coming. Finally the duck abandoned her nest and let the coot hen alone to take on the monstrous predator. The little coot hen did not give up and just when we thought it was over for her and her chicks, the alligator backed up, turned around and disappeared under the water. It was as thrilling as a super bowl toouchdown. We were left wondering what discouraged the alligator, he was so close yet it seemed he took mercy on the hen at the last minute. We wondered what the coot hen might have communicated to the duck when the she returned shortly after abandoning her post. After all the duck was quite a bit bigger and the hen certainly needed her assistance. Sean and I knew who we would want to be our Mother if we had to make a choice. We have also had armadillos, raccoons, and possums, and of course our forever sandhill crane couple, that present us with two babies every spring.  I once again got sidetracked as I really wanted to write about our visitor yesterday that we unfortunately were not home to see, a baby alligator. This will be the third time we have experienced a baby one at our house.  The first time one came into the garage, the second one came up on our patio in the back, and yesterday we got a message from our neighbor when we got home, Sean there’s a baby alligator under your car! Although we checked, he was gone.  I haven’t figured out why they come, we have never seen the parents, but we do get them.  They are roughly two to three feet long, so perhaps they are kicked out to find their own home and we just happen to be in their navigational route to the next preserve.  We love their visits but fortunately for us and unfortunately for him, he left hungry as there was no dinner waiting for him at this inn.