Animals, Ants and an Announcement..?

Oh but I’ll save that announcement for the next entry. I’m such a tease, I know! Oh, and it’s not anything about children:P Haha!
When I slack, you all suffer with massive entries. I swear, I am trying to curb this procrastination….I really am!
Easterlin Park in Ft. Lauderdale was a blast….what a little gem that place was. The view of my parents set up.

 

There was no shortage of cool creatures in the park….be it wild animals or other peoples pets! From crazy looking birds wondering around, to Iguanas and ‘Jesus Lizards’, to next doors African Grey parrot, I was quite occupied with the camera - most of you know I’m an animal freak:-)

An interesting shot!

 

Cute! 

Such a funny head….

 

We spent the time here relaxing and catching up on the rest of the website work, with frequent breaks outside in the sun. At one point we took a break to play basketball….well, a game of 21 to be precise. It was my dad, Bryan and myself, so I pretty much figured I was done for! Not so;-) By the end I started catching up, and then won the game….it was probably luck:P
Clubbing night was fun, the nightlife was amazing as Bryan wrote below. However, we ended up having a taxi drop us off at the wrong place on the way back….we were lost for ages before we found the campground at 5am. Probably not the smartest/safest thing to have happened either….next time we’ll be a little more careful!
From there is was off to Paradise Island Resort, which was also in Ft. Lauderdale. My parents had told us it looked terrible from their drive by. Everyone was packed in like sardines apparently. We decided to go anyhow, and experience everything we could….heck we needed a bad campground review at some point here! No such luck though. While the campground was more ‘packed in’ we received a pull through because of the size of our rig. We found the staff to be very nice and helpful, and everyone to be friendly. It was more of a social place than anything, so I guess it really depends on what you look for in a campground. I guess that means my parents are anti-social? LOL! 
We’ve learned that you can’t form opinions about places ’till you actually experience them:-P

After our brief stay at Paradise, we were off to Miami Everglades Campground. What a wonderful place! More pictures are going to be put up in our campground reviews section which will be completed by the end of the week! (Or end of the year at this rate:P) I had seen many reviews about this particular campground….quite a few people said it was overpriced. It was a tad expensive, but I really really liked the vibe there so I can’t complain. The staff were also super friendly and we do hope to go back at some point.
My parents joined us a day after we arrived and the next few days were filled with ‘ant problems’ again. Sugar ants had now infested their RV as well. My god, they were EVERYWHERE and my folks were feeling my pain! Even my dad was completely fed up….they were thinking about going back to Canada! I managed to calm them both down (Imagine that! I was calming OTHERS down about ants?!), and convince them that there were other ways. After killing a whole bunch and alcoholing their walls and cupboards, I found one of the nests in between the carpet and the wall at the back window. My dad sprayed like mad, so one nest down, who knows how many to go? My parents thought it was crazy how I found them right off the bat....I call it EXPERIENCE:D HA!
My folks also talked to another RVer a few sites down and received some tips….then came back from town with a truck full of ant poison. Well then, aggressive measures it is! So far, so good….they vanished in a couple of days!
But with one victory, there comes another problem….we got the sugar ants again, as well as those big nasty carpenter ants. After finally getting rid of the infestation in our kitchen table and wall, there are a few by the fridge again. We think nothing of the few, and continue on, traveling with our friends scurrying around in the walls. Fun.
Then, we hit the jackpot! While in the Keys (more about that in the next post, along with that other announcement:P), the Queen of the carpenter ants came out! I think I almost died when it happened. I heard Bryan say in a terrified voice: “OH MY GOD”. When I turned around, there were a slew of carpenter ants running down the wall near the steps to the bedroom area. At that point I could only muster out a scream, as I ran to the couch and buried my head in a pillow. In about two seconds I had recovered from the shock that nearly left me unconcious on the floor (they give me a headrush, I am not kidding you!), ran over to grab some paper towel, and aided Bryan in smushing them all to smitherines! It was disgusting….they were running so fast....I think I must have held my breath the entire time!
Then, he sees one last ant running back up into the area where the door slides along the ceiling. Bryan announces “THIS ONE IS HUGE!” and then SMOOOSH. And so it was. Behold, the Queen….?

Check out her head size compared to the others….hmmmm….could it be?
Upon reading about these vile little things once again, I realize that maybe this is the end of our ant woes. Without the Queen, they are toast! Lets hope this was the Queen and not some mutant worker on steroids!
I think they were being driven out by the poison we’ve put all around outside and underneath in the storage area. That and a couple of days before Bryan left an empty coke can out by the sink….they were coming in all over the counters trying to get to it! A few were inside and I took great joy in drowning them. Look at what they have done to me! Maybe they were on a search for more food….re-locating….since there are no more little sugar ants to feed on (we can only hope).
And so, we’re in the Keys now, which have been somewhat of a let down. I’ll write more on that tomorrow or the day after (I promise). It’s lovely here, the weather and all, but compared to the stories we heard, it is not all that impressive. We had this idea in our head that it was this lush tropical type place with turquoise water. Instead we find mostly barren marsh land, but at least with the beautiful coloured water. The campgrounds, while nice, are over priced, minus the State Parks which we were lucky enough to score last minute upon another cancellation. I’ll get into it all with the next entry. I’ll leave you with some pictures that pretty much make up for the Keys let down….I must say, the sunsets here are very very beautiful….

This is for everyone dealing with the cold and snow. Na Na Na Na NA NA! /end cruelty 

Sorry, I just HAD to! Now you know for sure, that I have a mean streak somewhere in the sweetness:-P

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Cats Journal

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