Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for September 08, 2017

Forget it, she’s rolling.

“It’s so dangerous that Gene needs us close.”

The shotgun might work on some of those things. But the others?

She was about to get to lions and tigers and bears. Oh, my!

The stuff that dreams are made of.

You mean you get the points. Plenty of pointy things.

“…oh my!”

The comment about hurricanes — how timely & sad

She forgot the copperheads. Lots of those down here.

If you want a place near the kids, get a small condo :)

Chiggers are nasty…..make you scratch yourself raw. I’ll gladly take mosquitos and black flies here in northernmost Maine over chigger bites any day!

Small price to pay to live in Paradise.

Mosquitoes, ticks and chiggers would scare me far worse than Alligators, Coyotes, and Moccasins.

My in-laws (northern Wisconsin), get snowed in for weeks, I’ll take Florida. The hurricane is a problem only if you flood. I just “batten down the hatches” and start the generator.

Build where you shouldn’t and the bill will come due

Just like the sailboat, reality sets in.

Get a nice screen porch with plants in pots and all those things are to be observed, not experienced, Janis. Arlos can enjoy the danger in the wild outside!

Let’s not forget the Fire Ants!!

It occurs to me that I have all of those. Any body of water in South Texas is likely to have an alligator or two. Got plenty mosquitoes. The wind blows them away mostly. Moccasins in the pond and the river where I swim, plus rattlesnakes, about one a year close to the house. Coyotes singing all around. Ticks, chiggers, and hurricanes, too. A mountain lion, now and then. Wouldn’t live anywhere else. I’ll be on this place ‘til I just can’t. (Or until someone offers me half a million for it, whichever comes first.)

What a wonderful place to retire to?!

Forget the place near the kids, the kids need a place near them!

Odd thing is, I’ve lived in Florida, and none of the flora has looked like Florida.

n, n dimethyl metatolumide

Keeps the little bugs from getting under your hide.

I like where I live, no hurricanes, the hollers keep us from tornadoes, I live far enough up a hill to keep away from the flash floods. Heavy snows almost non existent. I am on 22 acres of woods by myself, yet within 15 mins of a small city. I keep a natural balance so few mosquitos too.

lions and tigers and bears!, Oh my!

Don’t worry, Janis. FEMA will help you rebuild after a hurricane flattens the house.

For many years there have been sporadic efforts to make the Mississippi Gulf Coast more like Florida to attract tourists. But royal palms and orange trees just won’t survive there, any more than they will in northern Florida, where the tourists expect white sand and palm trees but get red clay and pines. There seems to be a rather sharp line separating sub-tropical south Florida from the slightly-chillier remainder of the state.

Alligators are relatively common on the Gulf Coast but will occasionally show up near Jackson, etc. When I was a graduate student at Mississippi State U we had a semi-legendary one in Starkville, up along the Alabama border.

They’re making a huge mistake. I blame Gene’s wife, she’s led the son into one bad choice after another.