My new house, just minutes from the ocean :) power deposit paid, everything’s on, cleaned it top to bottom last night, rent paid, and every bit I pay on it means it’s closer to being actually MINE. This year is starting off awesome. I’ll be posting lots of photos of the progress as I decorate, paint, etc :D It’s going to look like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse exploded. I bet you’re all SO EXCITED! :P Well, I am. :B
Brevard Zoo, Valentine’s Day. I had never been to a zoo in my life, but Jonathan (bogleech.com) surprised me with a trip there with our friends Kristy and Jesse. It was amazing, I’ll never forget it. I chose 10 of my favorite photos out of the dozens and dozens we took, and there were still tons of animals I didn’t get photos of… there was something amazing around every corner. I’ll have to remember my extra memory card for my camera next time we go! I can’t wait to take Carina later this year! I’ll upload videos tomorrow :)
Epic animals that made me cry to see: Giraffes, giant anteater, toucan, kookaburra, king vulture. ;_;
Figured it was about time I posted about my Halloween party, which was actually on the 2nd (Day of the Dead). Dylan, Jesse, Jenny, Kristy, Katie, Jonathan and I had fun playing in slime, I put a Twister mat under the clear plastic and let me tell you it was very challenging, even though we were all cheating :P For dinner, I made veggie pumpkin pot pies with ginger chicken. Also made pumpkin seeds with yummy seasonings, white chocolate eyeballs with a pretzel center, pumpkin tea and other Halloween-y treats. After that, some people left, but Jonathan, Kristy, Katie and I watched my AAAHH!! Real Monsters dvds in a plushie pile. It was a relaxing conclusion :o)
Before my party, Jonathan and I made a trip to Orlando and thoroughly enjoyed Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights. Most epic haunted houses I’d ever seen, and I instantly fell in love with (and semi-stalked) Chance, the clown girl. Her and Jack were awesome, I’ll have to upload some of the videos I took there soon!
This was definitely the most eventful and long-lasting Halloween I’ve ever experienced. We did so much. Went to an enormous costume contest at Meg-O-Ween, where Dylan won first prize of $1,000 with his awesome Mr. Chiggers costume, which was essentially Dylan on stilts and covered in tree bark and moss with red glowing eyes. Had a spider hunt, a mummy wrap contest, and a second costume contest. I won the plastic spider hunt contest by finding a real spider, a little jumping spider, and won the awesome award created by Katie. Woo :o)
I think I might ACTUALLY be in the mood for Christmas this year after such a satisfying Halloween ;oP
We spontaneously drove down to south Florida the other day, and it was incredible! My carpal tunnel has been killing me lately, so I’m just going to basically copypaste what my Squish wrote to his LJ about our trip, with a couple other details about how it went :)
We all stuffed ourselves into Jesse’s Geo Metro and drove for an eternity, stopping here and there for snacks, watching the gradual change in the plant life (there is a tree with fucking horns, wow) Got stuck in Miami traffic for a while on the way there, went through the Everglades and saw a crocodile! Admired the surreal and tropical scenery untill finally we got to the park in Key Largo that Jesse was talking about. It was really lovely there. Despite only having an hour to poke around until it closed, we had a lot of fun.
Found and filmed a horshoe crab, and then we all swam out to the ruins (well, recreated ruins) of a Spanish galleon. We got to crawl around a slimy old anchor, kick off from cannon to cannon, saw some lovely Mermaid’s Wineglass under the water as well as rock crabs and grunts swimming all around us, one even investigated my toe when I slowly moved my foot towards it. :) That had to be some of the clearest water I have swam in ever. We had a brief scare with huge fins poking out of the water, but it turned out to be the Atlantic Tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) that were gathered in the deeper areas coming up to feed. It was incredible, watching them one by one come out from the dark abyss where the drop-off was, and all you could see was black. Once the park ranger came around and said it was closing time, we all got out, showered and hit the road.
After poking around for food, we found many beautiful snails, bumblebee millipedes, pink millipedes, giant moths and other amazing inverts just chilling on the plants around the store. There was an awesome presumably homeless guy surrounded by surprisingly healthy looking cats that were all very friendly :) Once back on the road towards Key West, we came across a HUGE plaster staue of a spiny lobster, with INSANE amount of detail paid to the anatomy. The photos do no justice! I wish we could have seen it in the day. After gawking at that a bit, we trespassed in the little art mall, which looked like a super colorful little tiny town that was behind it, the place was absurdly quaint, it was a shame it was closed down for the night.
After another small eternity of driving (that was entertaining regardless, thanks to a wide open expanse and tons of heat lightning in the distance) we got back into Miami. and walked around on the beach for a few minutes. I’m amazed at how warm the water is evrywhere right now… I wasn’t personally fond of the less natural beaches there… the sand was too coarse and it reeked of cologne from the clubs across the street.
I felt quite uneasy in Miami, being aware of its crime rate and how shady some of the places we went through were. We got lost for a bit, but by this point it was about 3 a.m. and I was so tired I didn’t care anymore lol. Listened to a seriously whacked out guy spout drivel at an intersection before we cleared Miami and headed home.
I showered and went to bed without eating or even getting fully clothed, and god our bed never felt so inviting. I can’t wait til we can go back to the Keys, I really loved it there - I want to see all the quaint and quirky little shops in the daylight!
Eurycotis Floridana, aka the Florida Skunk Roach or Wood Cockroach, is and always has been one of my all-time favorite cockroaches. I’ve kept these for 2+ years now after capturing them in Florida, where they are often called Palmetto bugs (as well as a variety of other roaches including brown, American, Australian etc) by Florida natives. The old-timers called them “darn stinkin palmetto bugs” when they would hide out in their swamp cabbage.
Perhaps the most distinguishable characteristic of these roaches besides their beautiful, solid deep maroon color (of which they have all throughout their life, except for a nymph phase where their thorax has two clear, white streaks on either side) is their defensive odor. Some say it smells like amaretto or rotten cherries, or the rotten palmetto berries from the saw palmetto fan palms where they prefer to live. When they expel this defensive odor, you can hear a faint rattling/hissing sound. I happen to be quite fond of the smell!
These beauties can also be found in coatal areas of Alabama and in the Caribbean, and are a tropical or sub-tropical species. They lay a rather large eggsac which may contain 40-50 eggs. They are climbers, but do not fly.
Whew, it’s been a busy couple of days. Between packing and cleaning and now currently staying at my mom’s for the night after spending all day in the garage… you guessed it… PACKING, I’m exhausted as well as excited. I’ve been busy also contacting the Florida University of Entomology and various Florida insect-hunting groups, as well as several of my insect-obsessed friends… trying to find out exactly what I would need in order to get the permits to own all my pets in Florida. Worst case scenario, I’d have to leave them here with a friend until I was able to get the degree I may need in entomology in order to get said permits. I’m setting my hopes pretty high here, but my ultimate plan is to go to the entomology school that my friend from IG is currently teaching at, and is giving me some tips. Florida has one of the best entomology departments in the country, and even if I have to find new homes for half my pets… it would be worth it in order to finally pursue the dream I’ve had since childhood….
