Since we've moved from rural Michigan to the city, I've had more encounters with wild life than I bargained for. I knew the South had her share of large cockroaches and other pests, but I honestly didn't plan on finding such critters in suburbia. Thankfully, the roaches have not shown their creepy faces, but we've had close encounters of the first kind with many other species:
1) rabbits. I have never seen so many rabbits in my life. TAME rabbits. Walked 2 feet away from Peter Cottontail before he moseyed off. They believe they own the yard.
2) ticks. Pulled 2 off my 4 year old a few weeks back. Ugh. Still gives me the creepy-crawlies.
and the latest: 3) lizards. While I was sunning myself on the deck after cleaning up lunch dishes, I peeked one eye open to see a good 8" THING slithering across the other end of our deck. Long skinny fellow with a nice tail. 30 seconds later his friend joined me in a sunny spot a foot from my leg. This guy had lost his tail, so I'm assuming he lost the battle with reptile #1. Since he was so close, I was able to determine that he was a salamander, and not a lizard.
So when you come visit, you don't have to worry about finding any reptiles. Salamanders are actually amphibians. :)
The reptiles...we have canebreak rattlesnakes over at the park closest to us. The park is fine, just don't run around in the woods!
ReplyDeleteThe only cockroaches I have seen are the occasional few who have wandered in from outside.
I grew up with cockroaches (New Orleans) those I can handle, it's the FLIES that creep me out! Yuck!
if there is one thing i came to appreciate about good ol' west michigan after living overseas, it was that i could RELAX in my own home without having to keep an eye out for cockroaches the size of small mice and spiders of both the poisonous and furry variety. no ticks, though, thankfully. we also did have a little lizard in our house once, which was interesting trying to catch, but he was actually kind of cute compared to the others. oh yeah, and there were the magpie birds that would swoop at us and try to peck us in the head (got me once). now i just have to figure out how to keep the crickets out of my house this summer!
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