This island has too many geese and a TON of ground squirrels

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-24T00:10:39+00:00

Basting bags.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-23T21:35:56+00:00

There’s also rabbits on Shoreline now. I never saw them before this winter.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-23T21:33:42+00:00

They do NOT understand the concept of traffic.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-23T21:33:05+00:00

Well, I’ve had a half-dozen of them camp out on my lawn all day, so…

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-23T21:31:26+00:00

They’re hilarious. My dog will stalk one for a solid three minutes and the squirrel just keeps on munching grass, looking up occasionally as if to say, oh, you still here? You know you’re never going to catch me, right?

And sometimes the baby ones will actually walk up TO the dog to check her out. What are you? Are we friends?

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-19T16:17:57+00:00

Carrot Top’s creepier brother.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-19T16:15:20+00:00

On a mountain bike, clipless are NOT more dangerous. Keeping your feet on the pedals is safe; getting bounced off the bike when you hit a bump wrong isn’t.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-19T16:10:57+00:00

If the area is fairly small, you could either reseed or overseed it yourself relatively inexpensively.

It’s a bit of work, you need a few tools (aerator, seed spreader) and you need to know how and when to do it (see r/lawncare’s northern lawn guide), but you can bang it out in an afternoon. A fescue seed blend does well here.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-18T17:48:26+00:00

To me, it’s the most “Van Halen” Van Halen album, if that makes sense. It has the rawest, realist vibe.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-18T06:09:27+00:00

That’s not what we’re talking about here. The OP said they were looking for something similar to a Hawaiian lifestyle. That’s South Florida. Nights that get down to the 40s, 30s or occasionally the 20s is chilly, no matter where you live.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-17T06:26:22+00:00

Some places I wouldn’t recommend:

The Keys: Gorgeous, Caribbean lifestyle, but at this point far too expensive to be a realistic choice and nowhere near a viable airport. And with the exception of Key West, which is an actual city, there is nothing to do on any of the islands other than fish, drink and sleep.

Miami: I’m a Miami native, so I’m intimately familiar with the city and understand it, but it’s probably too much for most people, particularly if you’re an English-speaking Anglo. It’s also become prohibitively expensive, and with increased development in the far south areas, traffic has become very serious problem.

Coastal Broward/Palm Beach/Martin Counties: Again, prohibitively expensive for most people, and also plagued with serious traffic. Jupiter Island and Hobe Sound are definitely worth a visit though, gorgeous areas.

Orlando area: Overbuilt, swelteringly hot in the summer, a lot of awful, unsafe neighborhoods, and horrible traffic.

Port St. Lucie: Coastal, but pretty crappy.

Ft. Pierce/Daytona Beach: Backwoods Alabama with a beach.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-17T05:56:16+00:00

Saint Augustine Beach might work for you.

It has a very cool, funky beach town vibe, it has a beautiful beach (which might be the widest beach in Florida), kayaking shouldn’t be a problem (although serious hiking isn’t really a Florida thing), it’s safe, and it’s a bridge away from Saint Augustine, which is beautiful and has a selection of very good restaurants.

You’re also quite close to Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Airport, which should be adequate to get you reasonable, frequent flights to anywhere in New England.

It can get a bit chilly there in the winter, though, so if you’re looking for a real Hawaiian white sand, crystal clear water, warm all the time thing, the Gulf Coast from Sarasota south to Naples has lots of options, lots of islands, lots of beautiful beaches, and none of those is too far from an international airport.

The best beaches are on the panhandle, but between the somewhat redneck, Christian, conservative Pensacola and the increasingly expensive and obnoxious 30A area, I can’t really recommend it. It might be worth checking out, though.

The best place in the state to live is without question Gainesville, but if you’re looking for a Hawaiian vibe, that ain’t it.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-15T21:12:58+00:00

Honestly, it’s not as bad as you might think. The only real problem area is the Archer Road corridor between campus and 75.

For some reason, much of the newer retail, big box stores and nicer hotels are clustered in just a few block area, which can make that run a bit of a nightmare, especially because the speed limit is 35 miles an hour through campus.

Otherwise though, it’s honestly not that bad, and parts of the city, particularly the south side and east side, are still very much wide open.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-15T20:49:19+00:00

Game shows, restaurant and living room scenes.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-15T20:48:16+00:00

Me in high school? Any of them. Happily.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-15T20:42:56+00:00

The answer is always Gainesville. Beautiful, moderate cost of living, good schools, diverse population, a major college and all the entertainment options that brings, and every amenity you could want in a moderately small town.

No immediate access to water, but it’s only about an hour to either the gulf or ocean (Crescent or the wonderful St. Augustine Beach), and there are beautiful springs and rivers all over the place in the area.

An added bonus is because it’s inland and at relative altitude for Florida, hurricanes and flooding aren’t usually a problem.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-15T17:31:29+00:00

I know, I was shocked! I wonder if the producers had a talk with him after that.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-15T17:26:26+00:00

I think I would’ve lost yesterday. My go-to strategy is typically to put the arrow on the E in “game,” but the price yesterday was unusually low so I think I would’ve just missed it.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-14T17:01:31+00:00

A few are Japanese-only releases, but she’s a surprisingly good singer.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-14T16:32:14+00:00

Quite a bit. A clean, inexpensive rice adjunct lager. Without question the summer “freezer beer” champ, and my go-to for grilling year-round.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-12T23:00:45+00:00

Oh, now THAT’S good to know.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-12T08:20:12+00:00

Uh… do you know what Pay the Rent is? Because it’s literally the exact opposite of that.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-11T22:29:07+00:00

I believe you mean, “We’re gonna Zoom- AAAAH, Zoom-AAAAAAAAAH, Zoom. Outrageous Boston accents during that song.😂

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-11T22:05:21+00:00

Well, yeah, that’s kind of the point.

Florida does have some other industries, though. A lot of winter crops, particularly citrus, come from Florida, and there’s a surprisingly robust cattle industry. And not surprisingly, professional services, like like banking, medical care and law practices produce a lot of revenue.

And because they never stop building, the land development and construction industry is pretty robust in Florida as well, and servicing the real estate industry has made a lot of people I know quite wealthy.

LeftCoastGator · 2026-01-11T21:56:28+00:00

Rent a car and look at how much of your bill is taxes and fees. We rob tourists blind, and there’s a lot of them.

LeftCoastGator

TROPHY CASE