Rock Snake and a Gator

This post was inspired by recent events at a local park that includes a shallow lake and our town’s 9/11 memorial. The rock snake is a project started by the borough to allow residents to express themselves by adding a painted rock to the ever-growing snake (named Victor, for the park in which it resides). Click the link for details and photos - https://www.middlesexboro-nj.gov/latest-news/rock-snake-2023. The gator was a mystery resident of the lake that appeared a couple of weeks ago. Not something one would expect in a small NJ lake!

First, the snake. I noticed it on a bike ride through the park in the early spring before I knew what it was. I thought it was just a few painted rocks as part of a class project, but when I came back a few days later there was a small sign explaining the purpose. The snake had also grown considerably. Riding by, the lengthening snake always makes me smile and slow down to check out the new additions. It has now reached a path crossing and is turning back on itself like a real snake thanks to so many residents participating.

Victor the snake will be leaving us soon, but it’s been a great example of community spirit and connectivity. It’s allowed a creative outlet for many residents and become a destination for many more. In times of such polarization and division, our rock snake is a reminder of what communities can do to bring people together. I’ve enjoyed watching Victor grow and watching the reactions of other residents as they stop to check out the rock art.

On to our gator. The 3-to-4-foot alligator appeared in our little lake in late August. As gators don’t usually vacation in NJ from their natural habitat, there was great interest in it. News helicopters and drones flew over town for days and local news networks sent reporters daily to cover the story (sadly, the NJ News network got our town name wrong). Speculation about how it got there swirled, with the most likely cause being someone local who had it as a pet deciding it was too big to keep.

It was such big news that a friend in Spain emailed me asking about it. Our gator was an international celebrity! After a few initial sightings, an officer shooting at it, and several tries to catch it, the gator disappeared for several days, leading to much trepidation about its whereabouts. Then came the surprising news that it had been caught in the next town about 2 miles from where it was first sighted. Not only was the distance surprising as the gator had to navigate several very shallow sections of the stream it followed out of our lake, but it was found in the road several hundred yards from the stream and well outside a park. As a side note, the police officers who caught our fugitive gator have had fun teasing our police department about letting it get away. Oh, and the gator is now in the Cape May Zoo reptile rescue unit.

These were two fun stories I wanted to share. Each brought the community together in its own way and brought out the creativity of our residents. Several “Gator Crossing” signs popped up on the lawns of homes around the lake, a few inflatable gators roamed the neighborhood, friends put a small plastic gator in the pool of other friends while they were away, and our local brewery had a special “gator” beer. If there’s a lesson in this post, it’s to find creative ways to bring people together and to find the humor in what life throws at us.

The photo below is of one of the signs posted in our park – probably a first for NJ

www.RetiredandInspiredat55.com 9-18-2023