Lizzie Borden Society Forum

Here's looking at you, Kat!

Kat says she'll be happy to send some company your way!

She's got plenty for everybody!

Actually, the above are postcards from the St. Augustine Alligator and Ostrich Farm. It billed itself as the Wolrd's Largest with "Over 6000 live alligators on Anastasia Island, near the Lighthouse Route 140 South."

The Alligator-Ostrich Farm was actually established in 1893. It was founded "for the purpose of raising alligators for their hides and to supply living specimens to zoological gardens, parks and shows."

Their largest gator was Old Ponce who was believed to be "900 years old,
length 14 feet, weight over 1200 lbs., and who is capable of eating 75 lbs. of meat at one meal..." Oh yeah, I definitely want Old Ponce in my local park!

My father sent these home when he was stationed at Camp Blanding in 1943 before being shipped overseas during WWII.

OMG! That is Sooo Funny! Thanks!
Believe it or not, I've not seen a wild alligator- only the "farm" kind at Gatorland or Busch Gardens. I've had them pointed out to me in lakes: "See??-follow my finger-see it there? It's right there, just the tip of the top of the head-see it?" But no, I've never seen it!

That top Gator look's a lot like my third grade teacher, Cynthia.

But then I really shouldn't insult that poor Gator!

You sure you don't need a gun, Kat? With all those women getting attacked recently I was wondering about you and your proximity to where those women got killed. You can never be too careful!! Keep your eyes peeled.

-1bigsteve (o:

Gotta keep telling that girl, keep the cats in the house!

I think we did lose an apple-cheek, blue-point siamese cat, Rubyiat, to a gator up the street, c. 1982. At least that was the neighborhood story. That was awful but she was very adventurous and getting into scrapes occasionally.


But I really love those pictures!

2 gator stories from yesterday!

A man was attacked by a 3-foot alligator in Rock Springs which is a place we go to tube and swim our whole lives.
HE had to beat on it to get it to let go. He had grabbed it's foot in his struggle and it really grossed him out! He claimed, with a grimace, that it felt like a fat leather-covered baby's arm.

It took 32 staples to close his scalp wound. ooo they showed that on the news.

Also yesterday, my roof saleman called me from his cell phone from a boat crossing Lake Jessup. All I kept hearing was "Look at that one! Look at that! Will you look at that! Sorry Kat I was pointing out gators. There's 20,000 gators in this lake! Look at that!" Too bad he didn't have one of those cell phones that take pictures!

They just keep hatchin', don't they?

You've got some w e i r d postcards there, Cynthia!

Thanks for sharing the postcards, Cynthia. I really enjoyed them.

Here in Detroit, I hadn't heard about the gator attacks. But then, I haven't watched the news in a while ...

Eeeew! That description of that guy trying to get the foot off of him was awful! It's a wonder he lived.

Interesting that one gator park opened in 1893. Now I'm wondering if Lizzie went down south and saw something like that.

Did you know that there are man-eating sharks that live in fresh water?

-1bigsteve (o:

Well, I 've seen that they can live in the brackish water of canals- the water is part seawater/part fresh.
There certainly are lots of fossil sharks teeth in the Springs but that was from way long ago.
In fact, you can find a fossil shark tooth every time you go to the springs.

What do you know and from where do you know it?

Did you know that the ol' time Floridians had some weird ideas about babysitting?

The caption reads "Feeding Baby Alligators." I am unclear...is the baby feed the baby alligators or is he being fed to the baby alligators? At his age, he won't miss a finger or two.

kept getting some weird message about email operating in debug mode???

I have been getting one too...weird. I get to the forum through IE since I have AOL, because I knew AOL was giving Stef some grief. Must be a new problem ? Let us know what you would like us to do Stef...


Tracy...

There's a new Admin announcement.

Also, after you post and click on submit, go ahead and automatically refresh the page and you won't get the hiccups. At least for now.
(Don't use the backspace).

Kat @ Mon Jun 12, 2006 2:23 pm wrote:Well, I 've seen that they can live in the brackish water of canals- the water is part seawater/part fresh.
There certainly are lots of fossil sharks teeth in the Springs but that was from way long ago.
In fact, you can find a fossil shark tooth every time you go to the springs.

What do you know and from where do you know it?

I read about fresh water sharks in a book written by a shark expert. It was written for younger people. I think it was called, "Questions Young People Ask About Sharks" or something like that. The author said there are two types of fresh water sharks that live in Africa and both kill people annualy. He also said that the Lemon shark (I'm pretty sure it was the Lemon shark) can live in fresh water all it's life. They are found living hundreds of miles up the Amazon.

The Bull and Great White as well as other salt water sharks can live in fresh water for a short amount of time but have to return to the sea. It was said that it was a Bull shark that killed Lester Stilwell and a man trying to rescue him in a fresh water creek in 1916, miles from the sea.

I saw a strange show a few years ago about a Lagoon that got cut off from the Ocean and over the years the water lost it's salt. Divers went down and filmed all these salt water fish living in fresh water, sharks, stingrays, flounders, crabs, starfish, octopuss, you name it. It was odd.

Wasn't the Springs were they filmed so many underwater scenes for movies over the years? I think the Tarzan movies were filmed there. Louise Brooks filmed a silent movie down there in the '20's.

-1bigsteve (o: >::::^:;>

Thanks for all the info.
I'm no shark expert.
It's amazing to find shark teeth in the springs so it sounds like they can adapt. I don't know about the other species.

Creature From The BLack Lagoon, I believe, was filmed in Cypress Gardens. Those are natural springs there. I didn't know if Tarzan was shot here.

Yeah, there's an upcoming news program about the increasing amount of shark attacks on people. I guess no one asked the sharks whether they thought they got a bum rap from Jaws.

Now I hear there's a gator on the loose in L.A. I can think of a few Hollywood celebutants I wouldn't miss....

Now Kat...when Audrey and I come to visit...we will want to go collect some of those shark teeth. Audrey is looking for some more shark teeth so she can complete her shark tooth necklace/earring ensemble.


Tracy...

See... ?




Tracy...

BTW: the photos of the postcards are gone!