As I was walking two of the dogs this morning along Burnt Mill Creek, as I do nearly every morning, I happened to look over the brush crowding the bank and saw a 12 foot alligator slowly swimming upstream.  I know that alligators are indigenous to the area, and have heard of sightings along Burnt Mill Creek.  In the 15 years that we have lived here, I've never seen one though and usually brushed off such stories as imaginative. When I saw this one swimming upstream, I let out an audible "oh my!" and ran back home to get the camera. By the time I got back, he had found a quiet spot in the shade beneath an overhanging tree.