Florida Life - good food and alligators

Randy's in a high-gear baking mood again. He started with puff pastry things, filled with Nutella, Raspberry Jam, and Apricot jam, each in a dollop of cream cheese. These were awesome.

And he's baking most of our bread again.  This homemade bread is so good that I could live on it; seriously, just this and a little butter and I've got a meal.

Then he revisited palmiers. He used to make these a few years ago but since he loves to try new things, sometimes it's hard to fit in an oldie-but-goodie. In this case it was worth the wait because he improved on his original recipe. The only problem with these is that I want to eat the whole plate. 

This morning I looked outside our bedroom window and saw the largest alligator I've ever seen in our canal! These animals are amazing; in spite of their size they move through the water without making a wake. In fact, the only alligator wake I've seen was from very young ones, who may not have learned the trick yet. However, we've learned that a mass of tiny bubbles may mark the spot where they submerge. This guy went under and in the black water he was invisible. But a group of little bubbles marked where he went under, and soon he appeared nearby.

I don't know how long he was, but he had a very long snout. The little bump of his nose was far enough away from his eyes that I almost missed it. They say that an alligator's length can be estimated by the distance between the eyes and nostrils - for each inch, calculate one foot. Now I want to know how to get close enough to measure that. 'Cause he's not having any of it.