[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by moviefan

And watching all those episodes of House Hunters and Beach Front Bargain Hunt with people buying in Florida isn't helping matters any! LOL!

I'd recommend taking those shows strictly as entertainment, and with a very large grain of salt. You certainly can't consider watching an episode of HGTV as research activity into an area of interest, LOL.

[Travelassie]

[quote=SoFLGal;34009931]I believe Palmetto bugs are located throughout FL. They are commonly referred to as the state bird. LOL If you get a good pest control company that will reduce your chances of seeing them in your home. You will see them outside, mostly under rotting logs, in mulch, etc.

I always thought mosquitoes were Florida's state bird. Perhaps they're the first runner-up to palmetto bugs for that category. Or vice versa!

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

If you buy the stuff - just remember that you have to give it some time to work. Also - it apparently works better on some types of surfaces than others (read the reviews on Amazon). Robyn

Will do! We've generally just used diluted bleach ( 1 part bleach/2 parts water) to get rid of mold- it
always seemed to do a better job than some of the commercial liquids advertised for that purpose. I just wondered if those other products would be easier on metal surfaces than bleach sometimes is. Or not bleach clothing if you accidentally spill or drip it on yourself ( my favorite thing to do).

You have to give bleach some time to work too, but it's generally efffective within an hour or less...

I'll read those reviews.

Thanks for the information.

[rubygreta]

[quote=oh2pa;33947674]My fiance(soon to be wife in August) and I are from Ohio but currently live in Pittsburgh, PA. We absolutely love it here, but after the winter we've had we are seriously considering a relocation. /quote]

I've heard great things about Pittsburgh. I'm surprised you would leave it when you love it.

Don't know if you've spent any time in Florida from May to early October, but it's pretty awful between the oppressive humidity and afternoon thunderstorms. So while the weather in Pittsburgh is beautiful, you'll be suffering.

There's only one place I know of that truly has perfect weather - San Diego.

[moviefan]

Originally Posted by Travelassie

I'd recommend taking those shows strictly as entertainment, and with a very large grain of salt. You certainly can't consider watching an episode of HGTV as research activity into an area of interest, LOL.

ANYTHING that gets my mind off the winter we had here in Chicago (#1 coldest and #3 snowiest on record), is good enough research activity for me as far as I'm concerned! LOL!

I know. It's just hard not to fantasize watching a couple look for a house in Jupiter where the whole neighborhood seems like something out of Better Homes and Gardens and there's not one pothole in the streets. Coming off a winter like we had, it's hard not to dream about a place like that. Of course reality always sets in quick enough no matter where you go. But regardless, at the end of the day, and especially having visited Florida several times, I'd much rather have my problems and whatever life throws at me in Florida in February than Chicago in February Last year we had a totally opposite winter though. It was the 9th warmest on record. On St. Patrick's Day, we had temperatures in the low 80's. If winters were like the one we had last year, I'd maybe think twice. But that's not always going to happen. That was a definite exception to the norm.

[moviefan]

[quote=rubygreta;34055635][quote=oh2pa;33947674]My fiance(soon to be wife in August) and I are from Ohio but currently live in Pittsburgh, PA. We absolutely love it here, but after the winter we've had we are seriously considering a relocation. /quote]

I'm right there with you. After our coldest and almost snowiest winter on record here in Chicago, I am fed up too. I think people who never lived up north and talk about the negatives of Florida don't realize how many negatives there are here too. Winters aside, we also have oppressive humidity, mosquitoes, and our share of bugs. True, we don't have the rains they have (not as often), but with some similarities on the summer front, I'd much rather spend my winters in FL than IL. IF my wife and I were able to find decent jobs, keep ourselves and our son happy, that is. Wouldn't want to end up on the streets or have to move back here!

Hey, what if all us snowbirds who are fed up with our winters, pool our resources together, go down to Florida and open up a restaurant or something that doesn't exist down there? Like a White Castle! Lol! Or maybe buy a dozen or so large freezers, fill them with snow, truck them down there and the kids can have snowball fights! Charge like 50¢ per snowball! Seriously, all kidding aside, if I had the money I WOULD think of opening a White Castle in Florida. Unless there's some corporate regulation from preventing that from happening. People would flock. Anyway, enough rambling. I'm going to watch an episode of House Hunters Florida I have recorded

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by Travelassie

Will do! We've generally just used diluted bleach ( 1 part bleach/2 parts water) to get rid of mold- it
always seemed to do a better job than some of the commercial liquids advertised for that purpose. I just wondered if those other products would be easier on metal surfaces than bleach sometimes is. Or not bleach clothing if you accidentally spill or drip it on yourself ( my favorite thing to do).

You have to give bleach some time to work too, but it's generally efffective within an hour or less...

I'll read those reviews.

Thanks for the information.

Our problem with bleach is if any of it runs off onto plants - it not only kills the plants - it poisons the soil too. As for metal - I haven't tried Wet & Forget on the main area where we have metal outside (gutters). Robyn

[oh2pa]

[quote=rubygreta;34055635]

Originally Posted by oh2pa

My fiance(soon to be wife in August) and I are from Ohio but currently live in Pittsburgh, PA. We absolutely love it here, but after the winter we've had we are seriously considering a relocation. /quote]

I've heard great things about Pittsburgh. I'm surprised you would leave it when you love it.

Don't know if you've spent any time in Florida from May to early October, but it's pretty awful between the oppressive humidity and afternoon thunderstorms. So while the weather in Pittsburgh is beautiful, you'll be suffering.

There's only one place I know of that truly has perfect weather - San Diego.

Pittsburgh is great because it has the feeling of home but near a big city with a lot of things to do. We understand that Florida isn't perfect and if it weren't for another 3 hours of flying time and the highest taxes in the country we would seriously consider So. Cal.

That being said, I'm willing to bet we can handle the trade off of a smoking hot summer(which we have in the North as well just not as persistent) for freakishly cold months upon months in the winter. Yes we will be sweating a little more than our friends and family back home but while they are shoveling snow, wasting half of every tank of gas on warming their cars up and being cooped up inside, we'll still be outside enjoying life.

Atleast that's the mindset right now...

[Travelassie]

[quote=rubygreta;34055635]

Originally Posted by oh2pa

My fiance(soon to be wife in August) and I are from Ohio but currently live in Pittsburgh, PA. We absolutely love it here, but after the winter we've had we are seriously considering a relocation. /quote]

I've heard great things about Pittsburgh. I'm surprised you would leave it when you love it.

Don't know if you've spent any time in Florida from May to early October, but it's pretty awful between the oppressive humidity and afternoon thunderstorms. So while the weather in Pittsburgh is beautiful, you'll be suffering.

There's only one place I know of that truly has perfect weather - San Diego.

Maybe they're just wanting a change of scenery. I'm originally from the Pittsburgh area ( went to school and worked for several years in Pittsburgh), and I left there many years ago, basically to pursue a graduate degree ( West Virginia University, not that far away) but I set my sites on Florida after I finished that. It was long enough ago in Pittsburgh that the steel mills were still in operation, and the natural beauty of the western PA area was obscured by pollution, and I was just terminally tired of the same ol' same ol' I had grown up with, the cold weather, driving in awful conditions in the winter, etc etc and I just wanted a change....

Florida was definitely an adjustment too, although I never had problems finding and keeping employment ( that was then), but I've been here ever since.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by moviefan

ANYTHING that gets my mind off the winter we had here in Chicago (#1 coldest and #3 snowiest on record), is good enough research activity for me as far as I'm concerned! LOL!

I know. It's just hard not to fantasize watching a couple look for a house in Jupiter where the whole neighborhood seems like something out of Better Homes and Gardens and there's not one pothole in the streets. Coming off a winter like we had, it's hard not to dream about a place like that. Of course reality always sets in quick enough no matter where you go. But regardless, at the end of the day, and especially having visited Florida several times, I'd much rather have my problems and whatever life throws at me in Florida in February than Chicago in February Last year we had a totally opposite winter though. It was the 9th warmest on record. On St. Patrick's Day, we had temperatures in the low 80's. If winters were like the one we had last year, I'd maybe think twice. But that's not always going to happen. That was a definite exception to the norm.

I can understand that, in fact, I sometimes look at the HGTV House Hunters shows because of the fantasy factors that IMO are built in, where they of course don't show the potholes on the street- unless they're built into the script as an "ewwww" factor against buying one of featured properties. I also like looking at the shows when they feature an area with which I'm familiar, as they've done for some of the Florida shows.

I agree with you about preferring to spend the winters in Florida, and I feel for you folks in the areas hard-hit by the winters, especially this last winter. I'd venture to guess that you're probably more likely to have a relatively warm winter in any given year in Chicago, than we are to have a relatively cool summer here in Florida ( I've lived in Florida for 38+ years and never seen one), but it's also likely that at least some of your Chicago summers could be as miserable as our Florida summers can be- or so the folks I know who are familiar with Chicago tell me. Guess it's a tradeoff, which is why I'd likely put weather as a dead last on my list of why I'd want to move anywhere. Just because weather ain't perfect all the time anywhere!

Geez, if you like Florida that much ( warts and all, LOL) I hope you can find a way to live here somehow, or at least get to spend as much time as you want to here!