Hermes Cafe Bon Temps~Good Times Cafe

[chicinthecity777]

No, I don't think you do, xiangxiang. They tend to like consistently hot climates, so are mostly found in the US in the Southwest and West. They are also found in jungle environments around the world, I think. Big, furry spiders, eeesh.

Thank GOD for that! I do seem to recall being warned of them when we visited Death Valley.

 

[chicinthecity777]

Lolol! I imagine the spiders talking and saying to each other, "Eegads! Did you see that human? Eeewww, they really give me the creeps!"

Absolutely! And as I scream to my SO about how scary they are, they are screaming in tiny voices about how scary I am! And if you think about it, we are those giants compared to them and we must be very scary to them!

 

[Mindi B]

Only FOUR limbs! And of unequal lengths, to boot! Those critters are UGLY!

 

[chicinthecity777]

^^^

 

[prepster]

Absolutely! And as I scream to my SO about how scary they are, they are screaming in tiny voices about how scary I am! And if you think about it, we are those giants compared to them and we must be very scary to them!

Reminds me of the funny tire commercial... I particularly like the grasshopper (or whatever it is) lol!

 

[HavLab]

Oh Cordie. You are a hearty soul...Mind and body...to do that. Show us a photo after they start to grow please. I'm ashamed that I haven't worked in my garden at all because it's too warm- in the 80s.

No wonder my dear mil loves Florida. She's from Australia and says it feels like home.

My mother in law is from Australia also. She loves Florida but I am not sure if it is the climate or the outlet shopping...

 

[EmileH]

My mother in law is from Australia also. She loves Florida but I am not sure if it is the climate or the outlet shopping...

Too funny. Mine is not a shopper. She says Australians can never be too far from the ocean. She's 94 now and swims every day.

 

[HavLab]

Too funny. Mine is not a shopper. She says Australians can never be too far from the ocean. She's 94 now and swims every day.

That's what I should be doing!

 

[gracekelly]

Apparently they have gotten used to me because I have quite a few who like to visit inside the house. Of course they don't realize it is a one way trip with no return ticket.

 

[gracekelly]

Ohh, I can so relate!
I live in the subtropics in Australia, so I understand rain, humidity and flash flooding.
And pests....
Here the local brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) are ravenous and my potted plants have to be kept inside cages that look like mini aviaries.
Last week, I asked DH to move one of the cages, which he obediently did, but I failed to notice that he had left the plants outside the cage instead of putting them back in. Sigh. He is very much a 7/8ths of the job, type of man.
Here are what the geraniums in the small cage, which were not left unprotected, look like...
View attachment 3773830

Here is what happened to the plants that were left out of the other cage OVERNIGHT!

View attachment 3773833

Yes, those twigs represent two geraniums, one rose, and a kaffir lime tree. I'm hoping that they will recover.

It's days like these that I remember how much I used to love my possum fur cushion as a child before the brushtails become a protected species!

Are you still speaking to him?? Poor plants! I get upset when a squirrel steal a tomato or a fruit and takes one bite and then leaves it on the ground. I never once had a fig from the fig tree because of them. The rabbits have also be doing a number on plants. I purchased rabbit repellent crystals and they have done nothing. In act I suspect the rabbits think they are candy. I knew this would be a bad summer for critters because we had all that winter rain.

 

[EmileH]

We pay a service to spray our yard on a regular basis. They use this spray. Our yard is too large to do it on our own with a small sprayer. It is egg based (makes it sticky and waterproof) and garlic based (makes it smelly and repels animals.) It smells terrible for a day after they spray but it works. Our hippie dippie Gardener had us switch to another service for a year and a half and we almost lost the entire garden. The previous owners did lose it once and replanted the whole thing. They told us about the spray service. I'm not sure you want to put it on food that you plan to eat but it's good for flowers and plants.

 

[gracekelly]

We pay a service to spray our yard on a regular basis. They use this spray. Our yard is too large to do it on our own with a small sprayer. It is egg based (makes it sticky and waterproof) and garlic based (makes it smelly and repels animals.) It smells terrible for a day after they spray but it works. Our hippie dippie Gardener had us switch to another service for a year and a half and we almost lost the entire garden. The previous owners did lose it once and replanted the whole thing. They told us about the spray service. I'm not sure you want to put it on food that you plan to eat but it's good for flowers and plants.

View attachment 3774549

Thank you! I will look for it. The granules are a total bust.

Edit: Just found it at Home Depot!

 

[Cordeliere]

Now this is a good story. I think the snails deserved being slowly fried then eaten by you. Actually, that's probably a bit cruel b/c lizards and birds whom I assume are their natural predators either unfurl their tongues quickly and zap them or gobble them quickly. But considering your almost obliterated boxed potato plants, it's a pleasant thought even if you don't saute them.
How quickly did the snails devour the leaves? A couple of days? A week or two?
I think potatoes came from the Incas. They probably had to grow them up high on mountains so the snails couldn't crawl from the lowlands and eat the plants. I love that your plants are still perky: they will survive to leaf another day!

Actually these were slugs, or as Mindi described them, homeless snails. When we lived in CA, our yard was invested with very large snails that were the kind they makes escargot out of. I researched eating them. The issue is sort of like the issue with shrimp. You don't want to eat what they have eaten but not yet expelled. So what you have to do is feed them corn meal to clean their system. I did that. But I never ended up cooking them. I am an infrequent cook and I think they died before I got around to cooking them.

Let me tell you how I purged my yard of them. I bought Killer Snails. The escargot snails have the round fat shells. The killer snails were much smaller and had long spiral shells like a sea shell. The killer snails eat the others. And after they finish off the other snails they eat leaf trash from the ground and leave plants alone. It took them about 2 seasons to wipe out the other type of snail. It was great. But of course, only in CA can you find someone who raises and sells Killer snails.

I don't know how long the slugs had been munching on my plants. They sat out in the yard unplanted for 2 months. They were under a shrub and out of sight so I don't know.

 

[Hat Trick]

ROTFL...killer snails! I know what you mean, I've used biological control for aphids, but I just can't get an image of ninja snails out of my mind.
Ducks also like snails and slugs.

 

[rainnebeauxday]

Hi all, I popped on and saw a couple of comments directed at me, but it has been a few days and I cannot remember what page they were on. I know one was about chocolate porn and another from Cremel mentioned moving etc. Thank you for quoting me & I'm sorry that I cannot find them now or I would reply to them here.
I am completely overwhelmed by this move. I did received my package from Matches Fashion, they shipped super quickly but DHL slowed down the delivery (they were supposed to be here Friday, did not come & finally showed up today around 8pm). I took a few pictures and will post them, the packaging is extraordinary! It's wasteful if not recycled or reused, but it sure makes a lovely presentation. I found two more dresses, one at Yoox and one at Net-a-Porter, once they arrive my summer dress wardrobe will be complete . The seasons are a bit skewed here & we have warm days well into fall, I'll attach a picture from the beach a few days ago, it is surprisingly warm for July/August.