For my Florida friends!

Florida Blessing

Bless this house, oh Lord, we cry.
Please keep it cool in mid-July.
Bless the walls where termites dine
While ants and roaches march in time.

Bless our yard where spiders pass
Fire ant castles in the grass.
Bless the garage, a home to please
Carpenter beetles, ticks and fleas.

Bless the love bugs, two by two,
The gnats and mosquitoes that feed on you.
Millions of creatures that fly or crawl,
In FLORIDA, Lord, you've put them all!

But this is home, and here we'll stay,
So thank you Lord, for in sect spray.


Love & Hugs

Jo

Jo, Thank you!

:^)))

Love and hugs back!!! Love the poem and it's going to be shared with DD's and DDIL...when I get time between scratching! LOL
Pati

Boy does that say it all or what.
Tim

LOL....home,sweet buggy home! Thanks,Jo!!

Gosh,
I'm laughing so hard I have tears in my eyes.
Jan...

Just remember...I lived in Florida for 10 years...and was so amazed when I saw my first "Love Bug" LOL Jo

Who's the boss in those love-bug affairs?

I understand that SHE is...that he has to fly backwards for the rest of his life...then drops off dead after the deed is done! LOL Jo

And that's just as it should be!!!!

From an woman with an "attitude"
:^)))

I will add my AMEN to that [not- a man]

LOL Nasty little buggers!! I remember when some nice people along some roads would leave buckets of water out by the road for motorist to use to clean the dead love bugs off the windshield!! Talk about Good Neighbors!! Jo

The latest thing for love bugs is to spray your grill and hood with Pam. Don't know if it works or not.......but ANYTHING is worth trying. UGH
Pati

Pati,

They have been saying that ever since Pam came on the market. I have never tried it, but then we don't get the "clouds" of them down here like you do in Central Florida.

I imagine if you spray the stuff on the grill, using the flavored kind, you'll smell like a mobile restaurant. Hmm, makes me hungry thinking about it. :^)))))

I never thought about that! I guess when you parked at night you would have to contend with the Racoons looking for a meal. Bugs or Racoons.......hmm, have to think about that
Pati

Thanks, Jo!

Great Poem!! I shall post it conspicuously in my house.

If I may be so bold as to suggest an addendum to the last lines"

"And if you don't want me insane
Please keep away the hurricanes!"

Jeremy

LOL nice little addition Jeremy! Jo

Very timely addition *sigh*
Pati

MollyMc said, "I imagine if you spray the stuff on the grill, using the flavored kind, you'll smell like a mobile restaurant. Hmm, makes me hungry thinking about it. :^)))))"

Throw one of those steaks on the engine block and you could have a little picnic on your way to a round up! LOL

I haven't seen the thick swarms of Love Bugs that we had when they were first introduced (back in the early 70's?). I recall then that you couldn't drive a vehicle more than about 10 miles without getting out to remove all the squished couplers from the windshield. Did someone finally find something to kill them, or did some natural predator evolve to eat them. I once heard that possums (I think) were the only creature in our environment that would eat the Love Bug eggs, but I don't know if that panned out as truth. I rarely see them anymore in our region (and am very glad for that!!)

Jeremy

Jeremy,

I find them more on the few occasions I travel up that way, right in the center of the state. I believe they do that mating thing in the spring and in the fall, kinda like the flying termites do.

Maybe they decided they don't like being so close to the ocean as you are.

Molly
:^)))

They loved the Homosassa Springs area....LOL Jo

Sheesh, it's so hot now, you could put the steak on the front seat of my car and it'd be well done within minutes. I get grill marks on my hands from the steering wheel...

"Love Bugs that we had when they were first introduced (back in the early 70's?)."

WHAT? You mean someone brought them here on purpose? Why?

Probably someone with the same mind set as the one that thought Kudzu was just the thing for erosion in the south. DUUH!
Pati

The rumor was (and maybe there is someone here with more entomological experience than I that can set the record straight) that the Love Bugs came in as hitchhikers in the luggage of soldiers returning from Viet Nam. Lacking any natural control in our environment and owing to their proclivity for continuous copulation during their short life span, they quickly multiplied to the swarms that stopped traffic, clogged radiators, and made my Mom gag from feeling she was being suffocated by the thick clouds of them that once filled the air.

Sort of like the insect version of the water hyacinth (Eichhomia cassipes? no photos in our DG plant files, which surprises me!)http://davesgarden.com/pf/adv_search.php?search_type%5Bcommon%5D=contains&searcher%5Bcommon%5D=water+hyacinth&search_type%5Bfamily%5D=contains&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&search_type%5Bgenus%5D=contains&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&search_type%5Bspecies%5D=contains&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&search_type%5Bcultivar%5D=contains&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&search_type%5Bhybridizer%5D=contains&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&Search=Search

The Water Hyacinth was another alien invader that once totally clogged all Florida waterways to the point that motor boats could barely operate. Someone saw the water hyacinth in its native habitat (Brazil, I think?), thought it was very pretty (it is, I plan to do a painting of it within the next few days), brought some water hyacinth home with them for their fish pond, let it escape into the state's waterways, and resulted in the thousands (if not millions!) of dollars spent in eradication efforts.

And now we have the pesky Dioscorea bulbifera (Air Potato Vine) trying to take over our world!!

Jeremy

Well, then Norma, it's a good thing you don't have leather seats! ;>)

JFG, thanks for the info. I fought the air potato vine for years in Miami, and just saw one growing in potted palm I brought with me up here. They just never die!

Don't forget those fish that walk across the roads too!
Pati

And the camphor trees and the melaleucas, and..... it seems to be just a part of life in the sub-tropics where many plants find an ideal home and want to push out the natives.

Jeremy

Just have to tell you about the large stand of melaleucas across the street in several acres of woods. After the hurricanes passed last year, they had stripped everything of leaves. The melaleucas had also been stripped of their paper-like bark leaving a slick shiney trunk. With no electricity anywhere in the county, the full moon was brighter than you could imagine. Waking up in the night, I looked out and the melaleucas were glowing a bright yellow. They looked like giant golden organ pipes, all different heights and sizes. Just a peaceful, magical moment in the midst of so much destruction.
Pati

Oh Pati, you should have had a picture of that....I can't even imagine.....

Molly
:^)))

I found something to day to sorta equate with the Love Bugs...
I volunteer at Coronado National Memorial...and when I got to work today (5500 ft ) there were swarms of these bugs that looked like Honey Bees. I asked what they were and was told they are Bat-wing Beetles...and they come in right before the monsoon season...which is due any day. Hurry up rain! LOL Jo

Hey, Pati. I loved your poetic description of Melaleucas by Moonlight! Ain't it amazin' how even detested things can have their own moments of beauty! Here's one of my recent paintings: "Dying Melaleucas." It was based on a photo I shot on a trip to the Everglades about 5 yrs ago. The trees had been defoliated with a poison spray to try to control their invasive growth.

Jeremy