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| Just Chilling |
Someone commented recently asking that I do a post on house hunting in Florida. This will be far from scientific, but I would love to share my experiences in looking for two homes over the past year in Sarasota/Venice. I was in the D.C. area for 40 years and I adored it. I never planned on leaving. But life had other plans for me and here I am in Florida. And guess what? I am in love with it.
This is one thing I absolutely adore about Florida. The animals. Last evening, this guy was sitting and chilling just feet from my front door for about an hour. There were sandhill cranes in the back yard, and an alligator swimming lazy laps in the lake behind our house. On any given day I see dozens of egrets, heron, deer, turtles, geckos, armadillos, eagles, cranes, rabbits, frogs, snakes, alligators, the list goes on and on. The other day there was a horse just relaxing in my back yard. We are surrounded by farms. There are roseate spoonbills too - such beautiful birds.
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| Roseate Spoonbill |
And I forgot to mention the wild hogs in our community. Unbelievable.
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| Wild hogs |
If you love wildlife as I do, select a home that is near lakes, a golf course, preserves, or marshes. We have all of these, and there are animals in our yard nonstop. None do any damage really. We use a natural deer repellent on a few plants and if armadillos dig holes anywhere, we stick a fallen prickly palm frond in the hole and they move on to more hospitable surroundings. My new home backs onto beautiful preserves with ancient palms, and the community has lakes, canals, a golf course, and preserves, so I am optimistic I will have lots of wildlife there too. I don't think I can bring all these guys with me - just the puppies. Getting ready for our drive to Venice this past Sunday - they wanted to drive.
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| Harper and Margot |
