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I'm virtually always glad I don't live in Florida
message 151:
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Sally, la reina
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Jan 15, 2010 02:16PM
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I predict snakes in Florida will be a major issue in the coming years.
Are you sure there aren't any snakes in your bathtub, Sally?
Wait, I thought snakes were TOTALLY the point right now!
Hey, now - there's lots of great things in Florida. There are beaches. And lovely weather in January and February - we'll be 75 and sunny while you are scraping ice off your windshields. And hurricanes are rare events! We also have gators, which are quite tasty when fried and make great shoes and belts. Don't count bugs against us, because you have bugs too. Mostly we have great weather while the rest of the country is freezing their hind ends off. The python issue is man-made - dumbasses keep dumping their "pet" pythons in the Everglades when the pythons get big enough to eat a toddler. Usually they do this before the python has actually eaten a toddler, but not always. Very sad when that happens. But, really, Florida is great. And I'm here. Can't be all bad, right?
And I'm here. Can't be all bad, right? Yes of course.
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This thread is old, old, back from the day when I kept coming across weird news story after news story, and they all happened to occur in Florida. That's all. I just find strange stories and have gathered them all together. I'm sure if I started paying attention I could come up with a ton of funky news about New Jersey or Idaho.
BunWat wrote: "New Jersey especially."*nods vigorously in agreement*
:-)I'm not really offended. Just offering up some defenses. And the pythons really aren't all that big of a deal, unless you are a toddler.
And the pythons really aren't all that big of a deal ....Yet.
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mmmmmhmmmmm. I'm still not booking any travel.
I've been thinking about Sally's comment 167 and just had to add that I'm kidding about the python thing. We are not overrun with pythons - and they are not a danger to your toddlers or you, unless you like to leave your toddlers out in the Everglads. What's been going on is that people have these lovely little snakes as pets, but when the pet gets to be 20 feet long and does things like eat the pomeranian in the house, they drive out to the swamp (an interstate runs through the Everglades) and dump their lovely now-giant pet snakes. These aren't usually native breeds and they are killing out the native breeds, adding to all of the other many problems that are destorying this wetland. And don't get me started on the sugar producers - they are robber barons. And this leads me to Haiti. Many Haitian immigrants work the cane fields. And so do some imported Mexicans, but the Haitians tend to sue the farmers when the imported Mexicans (to clarify, I'm using the term imported to differentiate the immigrant farm workers from Mexicans who are here with regular work authorization) get the jobs, alleging wage and hour and violations of the immigrant labor laws. Really. Okay, but other than all that crap, we've really got a fairly decent state. And since so many other states have their own problems, I think we compare pretty well, especially if warm climate is important to you. But stay out of Belle Glade, Florida, which is on the edge of the swamp.
All that rambling aside, I've never seen a snake in Florida that wasn't a pet or in a zoo.
Well put, BunWat - I haven't been to many nature preserves. And the ones I've been to may have had many snakes slitering around that I just didn't see. It helps to stay on the dock/path/walkway.
SANIBEL ISLAND!!! OMG! ♥I saw my first sea cucumber in Sanibel Island(ish... we spent alot of time on Captiva, as well). We stayed in a cottage for a couple of weeks - our neighbors would spend the morning exploring on the beach and the woman brought me a sea cucumber one morning. It was the neatest thing I'd ever seen in my life up until then.
I've never been a big fan of Florida ever since I was stranded in Daytona Beach with no ride home after spring break in 1978, when my friends, too stoned and worn out from a week of chasing girls and drinking Molson Canadian, didn't realize they had one less passenger on the way back than they did on the way down. At least until they hit Atlanta, where they took a vote and decided they’d already traveled too far to turn back and probably didn’t have enough gas money anyway. I had to eat a pair of Boomtown Rats tickets because of them. One day, they’ll all pay. Bastards…
When I was in college, one spring break my parents got it into their heads to take us all to..... (wait for it)....Naples. NOT Naples, Italy. Naples, Florida. WHY??? It was sooooooo boring. Plus it was overcast if not actually raining almost the entire time. And we stayed in a condo that I am pretty sure was located in a retirement community.
In my early 20's, after college, I lived in Panama City Beach for a couple of years waiting tables and living across the street from the beach. I had a good time, but I would never in a million years go back. Living on pennies in a Spring Break town is something I could only do for a very short period of my life as a very young person.
I have sooo many wonderful memories from visits to Florida - my stepmother's parents lived on Key Biscayne, and eventually added to their home so they could run a B&B there. Her sister lived in Coral Gables, and her brother ran a hotel in San Destin (they were a family of hoteliers). So I spent alot of time in Florida... We'd also vacation in Pensacola. And I've been to Disney World a couple of times... One summer, we spent the entire summer traveling around the state and vacationing... we went to San Destin, then Sanibel/Captiva, then across to Key Biscayne/Miama, then down to Key West, then back to Key Biscayne/Miami, then to Disney World (where we all got a stomach bug), then back to Key Biscayne/Miami, then to St. Augustine... and eventually back home. And a friend of mine who worked with me in news took a job reporting in Fort Lauderdale (he's in Dallas now)... so we visited him there. And now one of my besties lives in Boca Raton. Most of my really great memories have been connected to Florida in some way or other.
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I looove that when you're driving to Key West on the 7 Mile Bridge, the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait/Ocean meet like under the bridge(ish)... and on one side of the bridge, you can see blue water and on the other, it's green. It's so dramatic and AMAZING to see... and it keeps going on like that for miiiles. I used to be able to google a picture of it on the internet, but I'm not finding any today. I'll keep looking, though. Maybe hurricanes have changed that?
Clark wrote: "I've never been a big fan of Florida ever since I was stranded in Daytona Beach with no ride home after spring break in 1978, when my friends, too stoned and worn out from a week of chasing girls a..."
Holy shit Clark, I was in Daytona Beach for Spring Break 78. Very few memories of it, except for the people next to us who would wake us in the morning by walking out onto the deck and yelling Schnectady at the top of their lungs. Still not my favorite way to be woken up.
Holy shit Clark, I was in Daytona Beach for Spring Break 78. Very few memories of it, except for the people next to us who would wake us in the morning by walking out onto the deck and yelling Schnectady at the top of their lungs. Still not my favorite way to be woken up.
Jim wrote: "Clark wrote: "I've never been a big fan of Florida ever since I was stranded in Daytona Beach with no ride home after spring break in 1978, when my friends, too stoned and worn out from a week of c..."
Fuckin' New Yorkers... You can't take 'em anywhere.
Fuckin' New Yorkers... You can't take 'em anywhere.
Thirty-five years in Florida netted me a snake in the shower (a black racer, poor thing)---I became so panicked I killed it with wasp spray...see, I was *in* the shower, actually *taking* a shower at the time I spied the little devil. Also another black racer in my pantry closet, quickly removed by my Ranger Rick daughter. Many, many bugs of interest, only a few causing fear. And...the beach, the water, the sun, the heat...Florida is great in some ways, not so much in other ways, like most places. Still visit often, as we still have kids and grandkids there.
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Well, I lived on adrainage canal, so we had lots of wildlife, particularly some amazing birds, including roaeate spoonbills. It was a trade-off and a bit of an adventure as well.
Sally wrote: "Why do you think his dad is holding onto his head like that? "He was probably trying to run away
Roaeate spoonbills are really cool.
It was a trade-off and a bit of an adventure as well. I will try to frame all of my horrific experiences that way in the future.
Seriously, I ever look down at a snake more than six inches long in the shower, all my environmentalism goes out the window. First, I'll scream about ten octaves higher than my voice's usual level. Then I'll get whatever weapons are available in the bathroom (blow dryer) and kill that fucker. Ok, maybe if I have a moment to think and know the snake isn't dangerous I'll be ok. I don't know.
I love roseate spoonbills--isn't there an s in there somewhere?I will confess I haven't read this whole thread, but I live in Florida and I love it here. Of course there are dumb things going on all the time, but isn't that true of everyplace human beings live? Or don't live, and the animals are doing all kinds of nutty things, there just isn't anyone from Animal Planet to film it and make it into a new show?
The things I don't like are the heat, the heat, the heat, the heat, the lack of seasons, did I mention the heat? The threat of a really bad hurricanes, having hurricane shutters to mess with, hurricane season, all that.
The things I do love here--in Sarasota/Bradenton are the bookstores, the museums, the galleries, we're close to lots of places like Tampa, St. Pete, Orlando. There are artist's colonies in both towns, lots and lots going on with art and writing and theater. So much that I love. It's beautiful--although sometimes the lack of variation causes me to take the natural beauty for granted.
And then, of course, my friends, my family, the places I like to go are here. Which isn't exclusive to Florida, but since it is true of here, it just makes me love it more.
All except for the heat! But I've never shoveled snow in my whole life!
i am going to FL this wed for a few days. when i return i will post why i am glad i don't live there
Larry wrote: "Schenectady, Jim?"
If you are asking about the spelling Larry, I have no clue, I can still here them yelling it though.
If you are asking about the spelling Larry, I have no clue, I can still here them yelling it though.
Oops on the "s" in roseate.RA, I left out the parts about the hysterical screaming...I was alone in the house at the time...gasp. And believe me, when you're naked and wet, rational thought is just not happening.
Leslie, we lived in Bradenton. I think Florida is a pretty cool place to live. We got tired of the steadily increasing traffic, the unfortunate increase in crime, and we wanted to try four seasons again. And one does come to take that beauty for granted.
Of course, we are now freezing our asses off in Alabama. Just one more in a long line of small adventures. At least here, so far, the snakes have remained outside. So far...
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I'm trying to imagine possible escape routes/ways to fall and hurt myself in panic and I need more details to fill in the scene.
It was a separate shower stall, with the glass door that shuts nice and tight. There I am, blissfully soaping up. I casually look down and think, "Geez, I wonder how that gasket came loose from up there...oh my sweet Jesus! Ahhhhhhhhrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh....." None too gracefully, I leapt from the shower, slammed the door shut, ran out of the really, really quite small bathroom, stuffed a towel under the bathroom door, of course still naked and dripping wet, screaming all the while. Then I ran to the kitchen, skillfully picking up my running shoes on the way. I put the shoes on, the rest of me still unclothed and wet, and leapt onto the kitchen counter to contemplate my next move.
After my heart slowed from freight-train to more or less normal speed, and after I stopped screaming because I was too hoarse to scream any more, I thought, "Oh, hell. Now how did hubby kill/chase out that little bugger that was under the water heater? Ummmm...oh yeah, bug spray." Still naked except for running shoes, I sprinted into the garage, grabbed up the spray, cautiously crept back to the bathroom, opened the door, bug spray at the ready, opened the shower door without looking and emptied just about the entire can of poison into the shower, carefully slamming both doors when I was finished.
About two hours later I finally stopped shuddering (did I mention that I have a morbid fear of snakes?) and put on some clothes. It was not a fun night, believe me.
And we stayed there for a long, long time after that, occasionally finding snakes in the garage, and once a tiny ring-necked one under the china cabinet---we didn't kill those. Many lizards took up residence in our home, but they couldn't find enough to eat and thus starved to death under pieces of furniture, where we would find their small dessicated bodies while cleaning.
Yep. I actually did like Florida, hard as that may be to understand.
The python thing is not a big issue, it just happens, like someone said earlier in the thread, dumb people buy little pythons, not realizing that pythons become very big, and they decide to release them in the Everglades as a solution to the problem. Another dumb decision because it never works good to release a non-native species into an eco-system. That's the main problem, not the pythons eating children. It also came out recently in our county that a "snake-catcher" or whatever they would be called, staged an incident of finding a 20 ft python in the middle of Manatee County, supposedly to raise awareness. Most people think it was more to get publicity. Snakes aren't a big deal in most places here. Yeah, they are here, but most are non-venomous and not aggressive. Just learn what the four venomous snakes native to America and run away if you see one. We had two 6 ft yellow rat snakes living on our patio for a long time. It wasn't a big deal--we just co-existed. I think dogs are a lot more dangerous. I bet more people are hurt by dogs than snakes. And any dog can become aggressive and bite--it's not like some would do it and some wouldn't. Anyway, I don't worry about snakes. I'd rather have a non-venomous one in my house than the squirrel that got in!
stage an incident to raise awareness? isn't that what dwights do?
RandomAnthony wrote: "With all due respect to our dear Floridians, due to my fear of alligators and general hatred of very hot weather I would personally amend this thread title from "sometimes" to "virtually always". ..."I recently moved from FL to GA and is is snowing here in GA today. I hate alligators, too, and can't stand the Hades-like heat, but just for today, I would like to be back in FL, visiting. ...sigh...
Snowing in GA, raining in Vancouver, go figure.
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Books mentioned in this topic
Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics (other topics)Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics (other topics)
The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (other topics)
