Costs of living on a canal

[yachtcare]

Originally Posted by dreemcatcher

Are there benefits of living on a canal besides having the water in your backyard? For example, can you have a dock and get to the ocean from your canal? Can you canoe in it or would you even want to with all of the alligators? Are there more snakes and other critters if you live on the canal?

You can do all the things you've mentioned, and more.

In my 18 years in SW Florida, I have lived on various canals for 14 of them, and of course I work on a canal or in a marina almost every day. In all of that time I recall seeing one gator, in the canal off the fuel dock at Sanibel Marina. In some of the larger (wider) canals I have seen plenty of Manatee, the occasional Dolphins (usually in pairs). In the standard variety canal, which I believe are in the 80' wide range that are behind most houses in SW Fl you'll typically see plenty of Mullet jumping, and the occasional school of Jacks feeding. Of course there is an occassional undesireable critter as well. They use the concrete seawall caps as sort of a superhighway for themselves. The large lizards are becoming more of problem in certain areas, but I've only ever seen one myself in SE Cape area. They are thought to keep the rat population down(along with the stray, unfortunate cat here and there). Snakes sightings are few and far between, but usually the "black racer" is what you'll catch a quick glimpse of as he streaks out of your way. Only seen one rattler while I've been here, beside a pond in northern Collier county in a very "wild" setting.

The places where I have seen more critters is where poor "hygeine" is practiced. Lawn uncut, yard overgrown with unkempt vegetation, citrus or other fruit bearing trees with riped fruit allowed to lay on the ground, will always attract rats, snakes, and an abundance of insect life. But that is true if youre off canal also. And here, like almost everywhere, it is also true that there is "one" of those yards in every neighborhood. Keep in mind vacant lots fit that description pretty well, and even today there are parts of Cape Coral where plenty of vacant canal front lots can be found. The city generally does a good job of keeping them mowed down in the summer (rainy) months however. If the yard is clean, they generally just keep going on down the highway I mentioned, til they find an "exit" they like.

That being said, there are rare circumstances where the (high) water level is just right, or a crumbled seawall nearby where a gator may get into a yard and wander around a bit. Again, if your yard is clean you'll see the huge lump of green in the lawn, or on your doorstep. If you have low shrubs or overgrown areas in the yard, keep your adored poodle Fifi away from those areas..........

[TerriC]

Yachtcare!!!!!! LOL

Thank goodness I've finally read the same thing I've been saying.........OMG my ice cubes are melting in my glass of water.......the water is going to go over the top of my GLASS !!!! hahaha

And as far as global warming I just came home from my Grandsons baseball game and we were all freezing in Michigan. lol And we've had the worst winter's the past few years with record snowfalls.....The problem is a ship can only carry so many people. Maybe we need to stop or at least slow down people coming and staying in our country???

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by TerriC

Yachtcare!!!!!! LOL

Thank goodness I've finally read the same thing I've been saying.........OMG my ice cubes are melting in my glass of water.......the water is going to go over the top of my GLASS !!!! hahaha

And as far as global warming I just came home from my Grandsons baseball game and we were all freezing in Michigan. lol And we've had the worst winter's the past few years with record snowfalls.....The problem is a ship can only carry so many people. Maybe we need to stop or at least slow down people coming and staying in our country???

Ice caps melting will trigger colder weather. Don't confuse climate and weather.

[mrcoolmrcool28]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Ice caps melting will trigger colder weather. Don't confuse climate and weather.

That's good!! Colder weather will trigger less melting of the icecaps therefore less "global warming" huh??? We live in Wisconsin, ANY global warming is wecome, it's been below average temps for three years in a row now!

[nhkev]

not to speak for hiknapster but I think what she meant was that warmer temperatures cause the ice caps to melt which puts more moisture in the air which does cause more precipitation which in the winter will cause more snowfall. if a winter is super cold the air is usually dry and therefore less snow. so warmer weather can actually cause a potentially harsher winter. but being from new hampshire's snow belt I too could appreciate a little global warming. in fact history has shown that humans and primates flourish during warming trends and suffer during the colder trends, global warming could actually be saving us because we should be naturally going through a cooling stage. my other problem with the climate change argument is that no one really knows what the earth is suppose to be for a temperature maybe it's suppose to be warmer.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by nhkev

not to speak for hiknapster but I think what she meant was that warmer temperatures cause the ice caps to melt which puts more moisture in the air which does cause more precipitation which in the winter will cause more snowfall. if a winter is super cold the air is usually dry and therefore less snow. so warmer weather can actually cause a potentially harsher winter. but being from new hampshire's snow belt I too could appreciate a little global warming. in fact history has shown that humans and primates flourish during warming trends and suffer during the colder trends, global warming could actually be saving us because we should be naturally going through a cooling stage. my other problem with the climate change argument is that no one really knows what the earth is suppose to be for a temperature maybe it's suppose to be warmer.

Well, you definitely understood what I was saying. Initially, in some parts of the world it will get very cold once those ice caps melt. And they are. The point is, we just don't know what could happen. Global warming could trigger a global freeze, too.

What temperature should the earth be? There is no answer, except from a selfish point of view, then it would the temperature that we can survive at.

Remember, eventually you just won't be concerned with if you have to shovel your driveway. Since the industrialized age, we have begun to alter our atmosphere and the consequences will affect food supplies and water sources. Eventually, it will be a matter of life and death. And the shockingly rapid speed at which we are changing our atmosphere may mean that we will live to see the results, pun intended. And Cape Coral would be VERY affected.

If everyone would slightly conserve it would enormously help. It's not just Americans, either. If China would stop it's massive pollution it would have immediate results.

[yachtcare]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Well, you definitely understood what I was saying. Initially, in some parts of the world it will get very cold once those ice caps melt. And they are. The point is, we just don't know what could happen. Global warming could trigger a global freeze, too.

What temperature should the earth be? There is no answer, except from a selfish point of view, then it would the temperature that we can survive at.

Remember, eventually you just won't be concerned with if you have to shovel your driveway. Since the industrialized age, we have begun to alter our atmosphere and the consequences will affect food supplies and water sources. Eventually, it will be a matter of life and death. And the shockingly rapid speed at which we are changing our atmosphere may mean that we will live to see the results, pun intended. And Cape Coral would be VERY affected.

If everyone would slightly conserve it would enormously help. It's not just Americans, either. If China would stop it's massive pollution it would have immediate results.

Hmmm, do I believe in "Global warming"? I believe it is a vehicle to make $$$

Nobody knows what will happen from one day to the next, other than the fact someone will try to sell me something I dont need, to legally pick my pocket.....

And by the time Cape Coral is effected, so will everywhere else also, so no biggy there either....

As far as China stopping their polluting, because the USA decides they will unilaterally do so, dont count on it. Neither from the Indians, Europeans or anyone else for that matter.

I remember in the late '70's "they" were saying we were heading into a new ice age...what happened to all that? Now, I'm being told it's getting colder, because it's getting warmer, but if we buy "carbon credits" and pay more taxes, it will somehow just all be hunky dory in the end..........WTF?

It's all a big smoke screen to keep you confused, and your eyes averted from whats really happening.......I dont profess to know what that is, I just know it seems to involve me giving more of my hard earned $$$ to some cause that is supposed to make us all feel good.......but in the end, wont have any effect at all, how could it?

And all the tidy, science speak, with explanations that contradict common sense doesnt change that fact, Global warming is as much a "ghost" to do battle with, as "terrorists" and "swine flu". All the boogy men coming to get us, but if we just keep throwing $$$ at them, they'll leave us alone?

The threat to your actual investment in living on a canal in Cape Coral, or anywhere else for that matter is absolutly ZERO when it comes to the myth of "Global warming", other than what it will do to your finances when you are frightened into taking unnecessary radical actions to counter the particular boogey man du jour...........but then again, most of us are doing that on a daily basis already anyway, arent we?