Post #254992 by Rattiki on Sun, Sep 17, 2006 5:10 PM

On 2006-09-17 07:58, tikiyaki wrote:
Tho' Hawaii has it's bugs, I don't think anything compares to Florida in that dept. No offense, but I don't think there's a place I would want to live LESS than Florida :) Hawaii has those dreaded centipede's tho' which pack a NASTY bite from what I hear, and cockroahes too, but not those B-52 ones (Palmetto bugs) you guys get there.

Well I wouldn't want to be on the mainland of FL (though that is better than say a lot of the COLD, drab Northeast US) :wink: but the Keys are a different place. Key West is a small 1 X 3 mile island that has a diversified, tolerant and close-knit community where you always see people you know everywhere, everyday. Very much the same '50s type lifestyle that I experienced whilst living in Australia in the late '80s, and as I finished High School here and my folks have been here almost 30 years, we know a LOT of people! :D

Now to bugs; the Palmetto bugs are just land based tanks and don't fly, the cockroaches on the other hand fly and if you catch them (as I had to when I was a kid to feed my tarantula) they spray a musk as well :P I have seen these same roaches in the Philippines so I am surprised they are not found on the Hawaiian Islands. Truly though my experience with bugs has been making sure to seal all food items from the ants and you end up putting a lot more in the fridge than you would in a colder and/or drier climate. Now the scorpions are a worry when it rains and the termites can eat your house......:o

On 2006-09-17 07:58, tikiyaki wrote:
Your parents have to get used to the idea that their place COULD be destroyed by a lava flow, but it's certainly not as risky as those damn hurricanes in key west, and the danger is not mortal, because the lava moves so slow, it's just your property you have to worry about, not necessarily your life.

Wilma brought the most damage here than has occurred in our history on the island (and most living people's) and that was from the storm surge flooding. If the indigenous Conchs had had the smarts enough like their forefathers to build up off the ground (and on high ground) instead of filling the swampy part of the island in the 1950's and then building right on the slab next to the canal, :roll: then this would have not been a problem at all. We were spared any real flood damage, just some saltwater seepage into the garden, but I DO know a guy here who lost his whole property on the Big Island of HI from a lava flow :o

[ Edited by: Rattiki 2006-09-17 18:15 ]