The Nelson's Beach House: Critters.....

So I wanted to explain where exactly it is that we live. I could sum it up by saying it is the "country" or in the Everglades. We are both very thankful we have white cars because they get dusty fast and many people do not think that dirt roads actually exist in our part of Florida.

When we first moved in we saw many creatures. I think many took over the area around our house since it was a foreclosure and the brush around the house was rather high. I can't lie when we first moved in ALL creepy crawlers scared the heck out of me. We found a BIG hairy spider in the house the first week we moved in and we were both amazed at the mutant size that can exist in our new neck of the woods. Jeff jumped 12 feet high and I think I was screaming/crying. Needless to say this was just the start of all things creepy.

Since then we have had bears, panthers, and bobcats on the property. Many birds and ducks wake us up in the morning, and many owls can keep us up at night. We have a mating pair of alligators that return to our canal every year. Snakes and spiders are always around and we have "palmetto bugs" which are really just abnormally large cockroaches. We tried our hands at being chicken farmers (not very successfully).

All of that said, we would not trade it for the world. When the sun goes down we have no street lights, which make the stars in the sky that much more special. The mister fishes in the canal and we watch sunsets from our balcony. I suppose our life could be summed up in three words: Life is Good. :)

Here are some pics of the critters as of lately...

Snake on the stairs up to our front door...