Groan. I don't know that story, but the lead-in indicates that if Dreaded Guest tells it, it'll be pretty yellow. (I heartily dislike Dubya, so that isn't the reason I groaned). Find a link, perhaps?

There are many places I've lived over the years, quite a few in Texas, but also in Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee, Kentucky, and New York. Work as a seasonal park naturalist is one way to see the some of the better parts of many different places over time.

A couple of hints: anyplace looks more interesting close up than from a car (there are exceptions to this, and I'm not generalizing to the degree that dumps or marginalized ghettos become sunny places). If you find yourself in a place that is new, and you have the time to take a walk, take the walk. An example comes from the first place I tested this theory: I worked at North Cascades National Park in Marblemount, Washington a long time ago. The park headquarters is a mile back from the highway along a nondescript little 1 1/2 lane road. As an experiment to test this theory, one day I walked out to the highway along the road I usually drove. Amazing the stuff I saw! Wildlife and flowers in the roadside ditches, the way driveways were constructed, leading up to houses with little interesting features, gardens, pastures, horses, hobbies I didn't have time to see when I drove past, lots of birds, just the feel of the road was nice. It's hard to set aside the comparisons (I've struggled with that ever since I left Washington, which I still think is one of the most beautiful places in the nation to live), but if you can, you'll see a lot worth seeing.

I took a walk like this with my kids just recently, through a greenbelt that starts across the street from us. We only walked the equivalent of about a half mile, but they were astonished to see all of the neat geological and botanical features that are very close to the house.

I agree with DougR (for once!). We haven't experienced the annecdotal scorpions in shoes and snakes under the furniture. We've seen some of these animals, but not regularly, and except for geckos and the one tarantula, not in the house. Like horny toads, they're kind of rare around here. That doesn't mean we assume there are none here. We know that living next to the water we're more likely to have critters come through the house as go around it. Frankly, it's part of the reason we enjoy living here--so we might see some of what lives in the area.

SRS