NW Florida, very conservative. Saw one in Taco Bell a month ago. Before that it had been a couple of years.

Flew half-way across the country on a private plane for a business meeting.

The mayor used to know my name. Hollered at me at Mardi Gras!

Went to a party at the woman’s house who owns a vast chunk of downtown. Got to see the Mardi Gras parade from above.

Me too! I have a pile of broken or malfunctioning guns and I want to figure out each problem. Had dropped out of gunsmithing for the past year or two, want back in.

That’s all because you’re bored. The world isn’t geared for genius level intelligence.

No voltage drop, but it’s an easy 80’, maybe 100, maybe even a little more. Hard to say as it cuts through the woods.

Picked up an old Fluke at the store, I’ll try an figure out how to read amps.

Well?! Gonna just leave us hanging?

Finally spotted some vipers in my area so I started researching what to do if bitten. Basically, clean it up and “Call me if it’s not getting better.” Still, I’m wearing my combat boots every time I’m in the wild from now on.

Dunno know about Cretan dragons, but I’ve never even heard of someone getting bit in the South (US). I’m around them all time.

Think one nipped me as a child, but I’m around them all the time and never heard of anyone getting bit. We get some absolute units down here!

Would you like to know more?

https://sh.itjust.works/comment/13603951

You just scared me into weighing myself. Looking in the mirror yesterday worried me that I had suddenly lost a bunch of weight. Actually gained a couple of pounds!

Had an Akita in the day. Dude looked like a black bear cruising the house, and he was bigger than the actual bear I caught on my trail cam last week.

Ha! I’ve been bitten by rodents a time or three and never had a spurting wound! Little dude must have been infected with rage.

Thought I was allergic my whole damned life from a childhood incident in '76. Had a long talk with the CVS doc one day. We really hit it off and shot the shit for almost an hour.

He told me the same! When I related getting hives when I tried penicillin later in life he told me that mono is often mistaken for strep throat, and yes, treating it with penicillin often results in hives.

I’m going to quit telling doctors I’m allergic.

BTW, just imagine how we could all benefit from being able to chat with a doctor for an hour now and again! Also, he knew I had just lost my job and my insurance wasn’t working. He gave me two antibiotic prescriptions for future use, even though I didn’t need it at the time. Also fudged the insurance paperwork to make it look like a software issue so I could just pay later.

Got bit fishing a mouse out of the trash can at our wedding. When I sobered up the next morning I was seriously sweating about rabies.

Turns out mice don’t carry it, or at least have never infected a human. Plus, despite all the woods around here, rabies is very rare in this county.

Is DC why my 12V water pump doesn’t run but the LED bulbs on the same circuit are fine? The pump is by the creek and I’m thinking it can’t pull enough amps over the length of the run. Working on that today.

Seems like a young crowd to me based on the often naive and idealistic post replies. OTOH, I’m very often surprised that so many seem my age (50s).

Love about everything outdoors around here, but the swamps are special. There’s one right down the street where I kayak. Teeming with life! Bugs are no issue once you get a few feet from shore. The dragonflies do not allow anything alive over the waterline.

If you really drill towards the back, there’s a monster rookery of some kind. Great Ibises I think? Hoping to spy a gator some day. There almost has to be one in there given the size of the area and food supply. Tried looking for eyeballs one night, nada.

Anyway, it’s peaceful. My wife and I have tied our kayaks together and just floated in the night.

Americans tend to equate “county” with “poor” because they don’t have first-hand experience with country people. They might also be confused because ostentatious displays of wealth are considered tacky here in the South.

A day or three after Hurricane Ivan finds me (white), my two roommates (white and Taiwanese) and a stranger (black) from around the corner playing cards on the porch. No power or water, it was all we had to do.

Black guy keeps getting us white guys mixed up. He gets our names wrong again and the other white guy says, “I’m John, he’s Jules.”

This guy is stumbling over himself apologizing and I cut him off, “It’s all good! I know we white people all look alike to y’all.”

An intense 2.54 seconds follows while everyone looks around the table to see if it’s OK to laugh. Then we just started howling. Whew.

Oh my friend! Ever heard of Iron Horse?