Exploring My New Neighborhood

This afternoon I took a walk to get some exercise. (Don't want the occasional Twistee Strawberry Sundae to ruin my regimen.) I am just up the street from a large housing area called Timber Oaks. I drive through it quite frequently to get to other places, but this was my first walk.  I was very surprised that very near to an intersection I use often is a Nature Area that includes this little lake. The reason I missed it from the car is that it from the car is that it sits in a large depression in the landscape.  I walked around it in a few minutes.  It is shaped like a doughnut, round with an island in the middle.  There were a few Muscovy Ducks which were no big surprise.  The really big fish I saw was a bit of a surprise.  I think it might have been a catfish, but I'm not sure. There were also some smaller fish of a different kind and some tiny minnow sized ones as well.

I think my friends Laura and Ashley would like the neighborhood.  There is a fenced in area where this fellow sat sunning. There are lots of other visible burrows in the same area.  One wonders if this is where gopher turtles were evacuated to during the construction of Timber Oaks?

Then when I got back home I looked over the railing on the landing of the stairs an saw this fellow (or gal?) strolling across the yard munching on plants as it went.