Sunday, November 27, 2011

Ants in My Pants! There Better NOT Be!

Ugh! I kid you not, I felt something crawling inside my clothing, and it was a little itsy bitsy teeny tiny ant! We've still got 'em, those darn stinkin' sugar ants and stink bugs, I think...and.....BLACK FLIES! Well, what do you expect? We're in Florida! And now they tell me some of the ants we're seeing outside can be FIRE ANTS! Well, shoot! We've been full timing for a year and a half, and this is the first time we've had bugs of ANY kind in great numbers! I will say I'm not sure about fire ants, that is, if they are in this area or not. I was sort of half way joking on that one. Everybody says fire ants bite and they HURT! These little sugar ants don't bite, thank goodness...But I'm starting to feel like I did when I was teaching school and we'd find out some kid had head lice and IMMEDIATELY we'd start itching and scratching our scalps!

I'm getting so I feel like there are little critters crawling up my legs or arms, just knowing that we haven't eradicated all our little insects on board. I think the stink bugs hopped on board back in Elkhart. They were in full force there all over the outside of the rig and have now found their way inside in various devious ways! The black flies and little eensy teensy tiny gnats outside or no see-ums are bad at certain times of day, but with bug spray, it's tolerable. Thank goodness, a breeze helps as well..... This is what I call a "stink bug" but it could be something else. It's pretty big and crunches when you squish 'em. Ew-w-w-w!

I have this thing about apologizing for every little creature I squash. I always feel I have to apologize out loud when I kill any of God's creatures, I don't know why. I started doing that when I was a kid, and have never stopped. I say, "I'm sorry, little _________" every time I kill anything, spiders, ants, bugs, plants. I read once about a study that hooked plants up to polygraph machines and the plants responded with a huge spike on the electrograph machine or whatever you call it-- to a leaf being torn off or cut. For a long time I couldn't bear to throw away a plant. And no, that blank space is not a cuss word! Substitute bug of your choice in the blank. ( I didn't know she was that way! says E.)  I'm starting to think maybe we should fog the motor home! But that's extreme....and I hate chemicals, so we're not gonna do that. Eldy is just shaking his head, he did not know this about Sparky being a little weird about plants and bugs. He's wondering "what else don't I know?" Time will tell.........

Time to change the subject......We checked out some more parks in the Cedar Key, FL area today...Rainbow Country RV Park...which is right across the street from the Cedar Key RV Resort where we are staying. Rainbow Country has a really nice office staff, but the park is very old, quite a few of the rigs in there are quite old. People have been going there for years, nothing wrong with that....but a lot of the sites looked like it, too--abandoned RVs, overgrown vegetation, messy sites. Sites are gravel/grass and somewhat uneven, road thru the park is sandy and uneven, and I didn't see any really big rigs in there. Plenty of shade, great rates...cheaper than Cedar Key RV Resort.  But, cheap is not always best! We think we prefer Cedar Key.....Next on the list to visit is Williston Crossings RV Resort....here is the pool, nice, don't you think?

Williston Crossings  RV resort back in site
This is a VERY nice park, decent space between sites, beautiful pool, very nice clubhouse, some activities but not a lot. Some amenities still being developed. They have cable TV, free wi-fi, and decent rates, but there's nothing to do there....the town of Williston is just a very small town, your average small town....If you are happy sitting in a park, doing a lot of reading, or riding your bike around inside the park, crafting, sitting at the pool, this is a great spot for that. It's quiet and in the middle of nowhere. If you need a bigger town to visit for activities, Ocala is 25 miles away and Orlando is 97 miles from Williston.

Rates are grass sites--21.95 a day, 135.00 weekly, 450.00 monthly--no cable or wi-fi at these grass sites if I remember correctly...Back in sites: 29.95 daily, 175.00 weekly, 495.00 monthly..There are no monthly rates available for pull throughs....which is too bad, because they were very nice sites with borders of trees on each side, a little more "private"......

Back home we came to our Cedar Key RV park and a quick last drive back into the town of Cedar Key for some fantastic chowder...We'll share some great photos of the town tomorrow, as it is a travel day for us. We are headed to Bushnell, FL tomorrow.....Exploring the possibilities of places to stay for future winter visits!  See you later......

6 comments:

  1. I respect all those itty-bitty creatures when I am outside, in their home, but all bets are off if they make it inside my home.

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  2. Those bugs are why we changed our minds about spending the winter in FL! And believe me, you'll know when you run into fire ants. There were lots of them at the SKP park in Summerdale.

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  3. Hmmmmm. Now I'm changing my mind about whether I'm anxious to go to Florida. I'm with E & Mui. Outside I'm very careful and try not to invade their homes. Mice, bugs, whoever. But I expect them to do the same and avoid mine. Otherwise - drastic measures.

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  4. Sparky,
    When you ever have a 'episode' with fire ants, you Will know and remember it.I have had several encounters with those little devils and there is no doubt!

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  5. Have you ever heard of boric acid? I get it at Dollar Tree. If you mix it with a little syrup. . .I like Karo, and leave it out on a piece of foil. . .I just tuck it behind a canister, or the coffee pot. . .the sugar ants will take it back to their nest. . .it's how I finally eradicated them from our place. . .they were driving me crazy. . .good luck!

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