Caturday
1 hour ago
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Things that eat you
The other day I was talking to one of the mechanics who works at the garage. He asked where I spent my winter. Turns out he used to live in the same town in Florida my dad lives in. The guy is a real avid boater so I thought he must have loved Florida. After all, it is a peninsula.
Nope, he hated it.
Sure, he loves the lakes and rivers here in New Hampshire, but there’s nothing here that will eat you. The ocean has sharks, he said, and the lakes have alligators. He wasn’t too keen on the land either, as it has poisonous snakes.
What the heck did you do for the seven years you lived in Florida? I asked.
Anything that could be done on pavement.
Right.
-Sixbears
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I suppose we really should quit encouraging the tourist to hand feed the gators marshmallows. They're such a tender bunch of folks...
ReplyDeleteTender . . . and tasty!
DeleteIt doesn't happen often but our bears can get pretty fierce in the wrong kind of circumstances. And, well, there's the mooseflies. (and horseflies and noseeums and blackflies and mosquitos and deerflies and...)
ReplyDeleteWe do have plenty of bugs, but they take little bites . . . thousands of little bites.
DeleteAlways seems to be something hiding in the shadows...just waiting to eat us!
ReplyDeleteEven those things that wouldn't eat us can sometimes make us hurt ourselves trying to get away!
Most serious danger walks on two legs.
DeleteMoving to Florida from Michigan I felt the same way for awhile. Bugs everywhere & it seemed it would take forever to rid our home of them - having been a fish camp, it sat empty a lot.
ReplyDeleteAnd snakes! I soon learned that our compost pile was attracting a lot of critters. In Michigan it was coons, here it was every creature within a mile.
A compost bin is on its way, until then we collect it in coffee cans that remain in the house with the lids duct taped.
And I carry a rake with me when picking up palm leaves, old lumber and what ever else I find in a yard that's been neglected. One time picking up a board was enough lesson for me!
I always rinsed our recyclables and plastic wrap or other burnable garbage so that lesson from a previous visit to S. Carolina stuck with me.
Once good, common sense habits are in place, Florida is great - if you stay out of the woods with no trails.
They're so dense here I wouldn't step foot in them for any thing. Must be why so many homeowners clear huge areas around their homes & keep it mowed. Less fire and animal food and less opportunity to give critters a taste of yourself.
The trick is to accept things are different and adapt.
DeleteI guess we all pick our risks. People ask me how I can live 30 miles from a volcano, and put up with occasional earthquakes. I ask them how they can live with several annual tornados or hurricanes.
ReplyDeleteWe have no poisonous snakes this side of my state and that is great; but our woods are full of stuff to eat you---bears and cougars.
I'd rather be cat food than hit by the lady in the minivan talking on her cellphone while doing her eye make-up
Nothing more scary than a driver on a cell. I'll take sharks and gaters instead.
DeleteThere are bad and good things in every location.
ReplyDeleteVery true Dizzy. The trick is to learn what they are and to learn how the locals deal.
ReplyDeleteFear: the stuff of a really boring life...
ReplyDeleteIndeed. No fun at all. It's another box.
DeleteMy fond memory of a Florida gator is stopping by the side of the road to take a picture of one... and as soon as we had done that, it turned and started swimming straight at us. We hopped in the car real quick and hurried on our way.
ReplyDelete